A Dictionary
OF
MODERN
ENGLISH
USAGE
BY
H. W. FOWLER
Joint Author of The King's English
The Concise Oxford Dictionary
and The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
Oxford University Press , Amen House , London E.C.4
GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
KARACHI
r APF TOWN IBADAN NAIROBI ACCRA SINGAPORE
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First Published April 1926
Reprinted June 1926 , August 1926 , October 1926
1930 (with corrections), 1933 , 1934
937 (with corrections ), 1940 , 1944 , 1947 , 1949 , 1950 , 1952 , 1954 , 1957
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
TO THE MEMORY OF MY BROTHER
FRANCIS GEORGE FOWLER, M.A. Cantab.
WHO SHARED WITH ME THE PLANNING OF THIS BOOK,
BUT DID NOT LIVE TO SHARE THE WRITING.
I think of it as it should have been y with its prolixities
docked , its dullnesses enlivened , its fads eliminated , its
truths multiplied. He had a nimbler wit , a better sense of
proportion , and a more open mind , than his twclve-year-
older partner ; and it is matter of regret that we had
not , at a certain point , arranged our undertakings other -
wise than we did.
In igil we started work simultaneously on The Pocket
Oxford Dictionary and this book ; living close together ,
we could , and did , compare notes ; but each was to get
one book into shape by writing its first quarter or half;
and so much only had been done before the war. The one
in which , as the less mechanical, his ideas and contribu¬
tions would have had much the greater value had been
assigned\ by ill chance , to me. In 1918 he died , aged 47,
of tuberculosis contracted during service with the B.E.F.
in 1913-16.
writing ; but , having been designed
it is the last fruit of a partnership that began in 1903
our translation of Lucian.
H. W. F.
I cannot deny myself the pleasure of publicly thankmg Lt-Col.
or considerably reducing its bulk.
in consenting to publish, at no high price, an amount much greater
than that originally sanctioned. , : f ,, m n n i on e have
On behalf of the Press, Mr. Frederick Page and Mr. C. 1. Onions ftav
made valuable corrections and comments. _
The article on morale has appeared previously in the frm& L^ary
H^hem inversion, Mekphor, Split infinitive. Subjunctives, and
other matters, in S.P.E. Tracts.
H. W. F.
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION
VOWELS
a e i o u do (mate, mete, mite, mote, mute, moot)
& £ i 6 ii do (rack, reck, rick, rock, ruck, rook)
a e I o u oo = a or &, do or do, &c.
aeiouar er or These italic letters stand for light vague
sounds (stigma, silent, cousin, contain,
submit, beggar, pertain, motor),
ar er Ir or ur (mare, mere, mire, more , mure)
ar er or (part, pert, port)
ah aw oi oor ow owr (bah, bawl, boil, boor, brow, bower)
CONSONANTS
of which the value needs defining
ch (child, each : not as in chaos, champagne, loch)
dh (dh&t, mu'dher, —that, mother)
g (gag, gel : not as in gentle)
j (juj =judge)
ng (singer : not as in finger, ginger)
n gg (H'ngger = finger)
s (saws = sauce : not as in laws)
th (thinketh : not as in this, smooth)
zh(roozh, vl'zhn, = rouge, vision)
For h, r, w, in ah, ar &c., ow, owr, see Vowels
LIST OF
GENERAL ARTICLES
distinguished from those on me
:ionarv. the titles of most such
dictionary, the
small capitals.
individual words,
ich articles are 1
In the
are printed in
m
Those of which the titles arc bracketed in this
list contain only cross references to others in which their
subjects are dealt with. A few individual words such as and ,
do , each , that , important rather as framework than for them¬
selves, are also included ; the articles upon these, dealing with
points of grammar or idiom that arise every day. arc in effect,
of the general kind ; but they are here distinguished from the
others by italics (as, not As).
a, an
A-, an-
-able, -ible
Absolute construction
Absolute possessives
(Adverbs)
m , as
-ae, -as
-(al)ist
-al nouns
Analogy
and
Anti-Saxonism
any
(Apostrophe)
Arch, arche-, archi-
Archaism
are , is
as
-atable
Avoidance of the obvi¬
ous
Baek-fonnation
Barbarisms
Battered ornaments
•b-, -bb-
be
hater
between
By, bye, by-
Cannibalism
(Careless repetition)
case
Cases
Cast-iron idiom
-c-, -ck-
-ce, -cy
Centenary Ac.
Centi-, hecto-
-cephalic, -cephalous
-ciation
claim
Co-
Col-, com-, con-
Collectives
(Colon)
(Com-)
(Comma)
(Comparatives)
Compound preposi¬
tions Ac.
connexion
COUT8C
Curtailed words
dare
(Dash)
-d-, -dd-
Deca-, deci-
Diaeresis
Didacticism
different
Differentiation
Diphth-
dn
Double ease
Double construction
Double passives
doubt(ful)
dry
due
each
-ed A 'd
-cdly
ei thcr
Elegant variation
Ellipsis
else
Em- A im-
-en adjectives
(En- A in-)
enough
Enumeration forms
-en verbs from adjec¬
tives
equally as
' -er A -est
-er A -or
(-est in superlatives)
etc.
even
ever
every one
(Ex-)
(Exclamation mark)
VI
LIST OF GENERAL ARTICLES
-ex, -ix
-ey & -y in adjectives
-ey, -ie, -y, in diminu¬
tives
Facetious formations
fad
fail
False emphasis
False quantity
False scent
far
fellow
Feminine designations
Fetishes
few
-fled
first
follow
for
Foreign danger
For-, fore-
Formal words
French vrords
Friday
-ful
(Full stop)
Fused participle
Gallicisms
Generic names &c.
Genteelism
Gerund
-g-» -gg-
Grand compounds
Greek g
Hackneyed phrases
had
half
Hanging-up
hardly
have
Haziness
he
help
his
hon.
hope
however
Hybrid derivatives
Hyphens
-l
(-ible)
(*ic)
-ic(al)
-ics
i. c.
if & when
Illiteracies
Illogicalities
Im-
-in & -ine
In- & un-
inasmuch as
Incompatibles
Incongruous vocabu
lary
Indirect question
(-ine)
(Infinitive)
-ing
in order that
in so far
in that
into
Intransitive p. p.
Inversion
(Inverted commas)
-ion & -ment
-ion & -ness
Irrelevant allusion
is
-ise) (-ize
-ism & -ity
-ist, -alist, «fec.
it
Italian sounds
Italics
its
-ize, -ise
jargon
Jingles
judg(e)menl &c.
just
kind
lady
last
Latin plurals
-latry
latter
lay & lie
Legerdemain with two
senses
less
-less
lest
Letter forms
(-her)
like
-like
-lily
Literary critics’ words
Literary words
-lived
- 11 -, - 1 -
Long variants
lord
Love of the long word
lu
-ly
Malaprops
Mannerisms
me
means
-ment
Metaphor
(-meter)
million
Misapprehensions
Misprints
Misquotation
-m-, -mm-
moral(e)
more
-most
much
mulatto
Muses
Mute e
need
Needless variants
Negative & affirmative
in parallel clauses
Negatives
neither
(-ness)
never so
next
-n-, -nn-
no
nor
not
Noun & adjective ac¬
cent
Noun & verb accent
Novelese
Novelty-hunting
Number
-o-
Object-shuffling
(Oe, oe, e)
-o(e)s
of
(Omission of it)
-on
once
one
LIST OF GENERAL ARTICLES
vu
(One word or two)
only
onto
or
-or
other
otherwise
ought
our
-our & -or
-our- & -or-
Out of the frying-pan
Overzeal
pace.
Pairs & snares
Parallel-sentence dan -
gers
Parenthesis
Participles
Passive disturbances
Pedantic humour
Pedantry
Perfect infinitive
Period in abbrevia¬
tions
Periphrasis
per pro(c).
Person
Personification, nouns
of multitude, meto¬
nymy
-phil(e)
Phonetics
Pleonasm
Plural anomalies
Poeticisms
Polysyllabic humour
Pomposities
Popularized technical¬
ities
Position of adverbs
Positive words
Possessive puzzles
possible
&.- pp -
preferable)
Preposi tion at end
Presumptuous word-
formation
Pride of knowledge
nuns
Ps-
Pt-
Purism
qua
Quasi-ad verbs
Quotation
(Quotation marks)
rather
re
Rc(-)
-re & -er
Recessive accent
regard
relalion(ship)
(Relative pronouns)
Repetition of words
replace
resort
rcspectivc{ ly)
Retro-
reverend
Revivals
Rhythm
-r-, -rr-
’s
said
sake
same
Sanat-, sanit-
save , conj.
Saxonism
scarcely
scilicet
Self-
Semi -
(Semi colon)
Sentence
Sequence of tenses
shall & will
sic
Side-slip
Simile & metaphor
’s incongruous
Singular -s
sir
Slipshod extension
so
Sobriquets
some
-some
sort
Spelling points
Split infinitive
(Split verbs)
-S-. -ss-
(-)stich
Stock pathos
Stops
Sturdy indcfcnsibles
Subjunctives
substitute
such
Super-
Superfluous words
Superiority
Superlatives
Superstit ions
Swapping horses
Synonyms
-t & -ed
Tautology
Technical terras
(Tenses)
than
-til & -dh
that adj. A adv.
that conj.
that rel. pron.
the
their
therefor
therefore
they
-th nouns
those
though
thus
-tion
Titles
to
too
Trai lers
-trix
True & false etymology
-t-, -tt-
Twopence coloured
-ty & -ness
-ular
-um
Un-
Unattached participles
Unequal yokefellows
Unidiomatic -ly
unique
unless until
unthinkable
us
-us
(Variation)
various
VI11
LIST OF GENERAL ARTICLES
-ve(d), -ves
Verbs in -ie, -y, -ye
(Vers libre)
very
vice prep. & prei.
view
viz, sc(il)., i.e.
Vogue-words
Vulgarization
Walled-up object
Wardour Street
-ward(s)
we
Wh-
wk at
whatever
Where compounds
which
which) (that) (who
which with and or but
while
who & whom
whoever
ivhose
will , vb
-wise, -ways
without
Word-patronage
Working & stylish
words
Worn-out humour
worth) (worth while
(would)
write
-x as French plural
-xion, -xive
(-y) .
Y & i
yet
(yours)
-z-, -zz-
abbreviations, symbols, etc.
a., adjective
aa., adjectives
adj., adjective
adv., adverb
advl, adverbial
arch., archaic
A.V., Authorized Ver¬
sion
c., century
cc., centuries
cf. (—confer), compare
conj., conjunction
dim., diminutive
Dipl., Diplomacy
D, N.B., Dictionary of
National Biography
E, English
e.g. (=exempli gratia),
for instance
ellipt., elliptical
Enc. Brit., Encyclopae¬
dia Britannica
F, French
Gk, Greek
Gram., Grammar
i. e. (=td est), that is
indie., indicative
ind. obj., indirect object
int., interjection
L, Latin
Lit., Literature
lit., literally
Log., Logic
MS., manuscript
MSS., manuscripts
n., noun
nn., nouns
obj., object
OED, Oxford English
Dictionary
opp., as opposed to
Palaeogr., Palaeography
part., participle present
pers., person
pi., plural
p.p., past or passive par¬
ticiple
pr., pronounce
pref., prefix
prep., preposition
pron., pronoun
pron., pronounce
Pros., Prosody
refl., reflexive
rel., relative
Rhet., Rhetoric
R. V., Revised Version
s.f. (—sub finem), near
the end
sing., singular
S. P.E., (Tracts of the)
Society for Pure Eng¬
lish
subj., subjunctive
suf., suffix
U.K., United King¬
dom
U.S., United States of
America
usu., usually
v., vb, verb
var., variant
vol., volume
wd, word
>
&, and
&c., et cetera
)(, placed between words
to be compared
/, placed between sep¬
arate quotations
[], containing words that
are not part of the
quotation
Small capitals refer the reader to the article so indicated, for further
information.
ENGLISH
USAGE
a, an. 1. A is used before all con¬
sonants except silent h (a history, an
hour) ; an was formerly usual before
an unaccented syllable beginning
with h (an historical work), but now
that the h in such words is pro¬
nounced the distinction has become
pedantic, & a historical should be said
& written; similarly an humble is
now meaningless & undesirable. A
is now usual also before vowels pre¬
ceded in fact though not in appear¬
ance by the sound of y or w (a unit,
a eulogy, a one).
2. The combinations of a with Jcio
& many are a matter of arbitrary but
established usage : a few, a great
many, a good many, are idiomatic,
but a many, a good few, are now illit¬
erate or facetious or colloquial ; a
very few is permissible (in the sense
some-though-not-at-all-many , w here-
as very few means not-at-all-many-
though-some), but an extremely few
is not; see few.
_ 3. A, an, follow instead of preced¬
ing the adjectives many, such, & what
(many an artist, such a task , what an
infernal bore !) ; they also follow any
adjective preceded by as or how (I
am as good a man as he ; knew how
greed a labour he had undertaken ),
usually any adjective preceded by
so (so resolute an attempt deserved
success ; a so resolute attempt is also
English, but suggests affectation), &
often any adjective preceded by too
(too exact an, or a too exact, adherence
to instructions ). The late position
should not be adopted with other
words than as, how, so, too ; e.g., in
Which was quite sufficient an indica-
anyone choose more glorious
1351
an exit?/ Have before them far more
brilliant a future/, the normal order
(a quite or quite a sufficient , a more
glorious, a far more brilliant) is also
the right one.
4. A, an, arc sometimes ungram¬
matically inserted, especially after
no adj., to do over again work that
has already been done ; so in Sc
more sigtial a defeat teas excr inflicted
(no = not a ; with this ungramma¬
tical use cf. the merely ill-advised
arrangement in Suffered no less signal
a defeat, where no is an adverb A: a
should precede it as laid down in 3
above)./ The defendant was no other
a person than Mr Benjamin l)isrucli
(no other — not another)./ Glimmer¬
ings of such a royally suggested czcn
when not royallif edited an institution
arc to be traced (even . . . edited being
parenthetic, we get such a royally
suggested an institution).
a-, an-, not or without, should be
prefixed only to Greek stems ; of
such compounds there arc some
hundreds, whereas Latin-stemmed
words having any currency even in
scientific use do not perhaps exceed
four. There are the botanical acap-
sular & acaulous, the biological
asexual, & the literary amoral. The
last, being literary, is inexcusable, &,
non-moral should be used instead.
The other three should not be
treated as precedents for future
word-making.
abandon, n., abattoir. See Fbencu
words.
abbreviate, abdicate, make abbrevi-
able, ab die able : see -able 1.
abdomen. Pronounce ftbdd'mSn.
ABETTER
2
-ABLE, 2
abetter, -or. See -or.
Abigail. See Sobriquets.
abjection, abjectness. See -ion &
-NESS.
ablatively, ablativally, &c. Adverbs
from the names of grammatical cases
are best formed in -ively. There is
no doubt about the names used in
modern English grammar ; every¬
one would say subjectively, objec¬
tively, & possessively. And, though
the Latin case-names have adjec¬
tives in -ival, as datival, it will be
admitted that ‘ used vocativally 5
at any rate is hardly tolerable, that
none of the forms in -ively is very
objectionable, & that it is worth
while to secure consistency. The
adjectives, then, should be nomina¬
tival, vocatival, accusatival, genitival,
datival, ablatival, subjective, objective,
& possessive (though the attributive
use of the noun, as in the genitive
termination, must still be common),
& the adverbs nominatively &c.,
subjectively &c.
-ABLE, -IBLE, &c. 1. Normal use
of -able as living suffix. 2. -able &
other -ble forms. 8. Negative forms
of adjectives in -ble. 4. -ble words of
exceptional form or sense.
1. Normal use of -able as living
suffix. The suffix -able is a living
one, & may be appended to any
transitive verb to make an adjective
with the sense able, or liable, or
allowed, or worthy, or requiring, or
bound, to be - ed. If the verb ends
in mute -e, this is dropped except
after soft c or g ( usable, likable,
dyable, pronounceable, manageable,
bndgeable). Verbs ending in -y pre¬
ceded by a consonant change y into i
(justifiable triable ; but buyable).
Verbs with the Latin-derived ending
-ate that have established adjectives
drop the -cite ( demonstrable, abomin¬
able, alienable, appreciable, calculable,
17™> , ex ? crable > & c.) ; & nonce-
adjectives from such verbs should
adulteTnhJp foT V) ed ( accum ulable,
disyllabic ( dictatable, creatable C al
tratable, crematable, locatable; not
dictable &c. on the analogy of plac¬
able or probable) ; but see also
-atable ; administer & register
form similarly administrable & regis¬
trable. No verbs in -ble, -cle, -die,
-fie, -gle, -kle, -pie, -sle, -tie, -zle, have
established adjectives in -able ; but
adjectives made for the nonce from
them should drop the -e ( bafifiable,
hustlable, muzzlable, &c.).
Nonce-adjectives in - able may be
formed even from those verbs whose
established representatives are in the
list of words in -ible &c. given in 2,
especially when the established word
has to some extent lost the verbal or
contracted a special sense. Thus a
mistake may be called uncorrectable,
because incorrigible has become
ethical in sense ; solvable may be
preferred because soluble has entered
into an alliance with dissolve ; &
destroyable by dynamite may seem
less pedantic than destructible by
because destructible tends to be
purely adjectival.
2. -able & other -ble forms. The
following list (to which are to be
added the negative or positive forms
made by adding or omitting in-, un-,
non-) is intended to include all the
existing -ble adjectives other than
those in -able ; words not found in
it should be spelt with -able ; & for
the italicized words, though they
exist, it is recommended to sub¬
stitute the accompanying form in
-able. It may be observed that there
is only one word in the list, gullible,
of which the stem is not ultimately
Latin ; but the form, which should
have been gullable, may perhaps be
thought too firmly established to be
meddled with ; & the same plea may
prevent the rejection of such words
as conductible, distensible, & refrangi¬
ble, which, though it is a pity they
were not originally made of the more
easily understood & equally legi-
timate -able type ( refrangible, which
should be refringible, is actually less
correct than refractable), have at
least a technical, though hardly a
general currency. J
-ABLE, 2
3
-ABLE, 8
List of -We words not in -able
accessible ; adducible ; admissible
apprehensible ; audible ; avertible
coercible ; collapsible, collapsable
collectible, collectable ; combustible
comestible ; compatible ; compre
hensible; compressible ; conductible
conductable; connectible, connect
able; contemptible; contractible, con
tractable; convertible; convincible
corrigible; corruptible; credible; de
ducible; defeasible; defensible; de
pressible; descendible, descendable
destructible ; diffusible, diffusable
digestible; dirigible; discernible, dis
cernable ; discerptible ; discussible
discussable ; dismissible ; dissoluble
distensible, distendable ; divertible
divisible; edible; educible; eligible
cxcerptible ; exhaustible ; exigible
expansible , expandable; expressible
extendible, extensible, extendable
fallible ; feasible ; feeble ; fencible
flexible; forcible; fungible; fusible
gullible, gullable; horrible ; immis¬
cible, unmixable ; impartible (not
from impart) ; impassible (not from
pass ) ; imperscriptible ; imprescrip¬
tible; impressible; incontrovertible
indefeasible; indefectible; indelible
inducible ; intelligible ; invincible
irascible; irresistible; legible; ncgli
gible; noble; omissible; oppres
sible ; ostensible ; perceptible ; per
f eclible, perfectable; permissible; per
suasible, persuadable; pervertible
plausible; possible ; preventible, pre
ventable ; producible ; protrusible
protrudable ; reducible ; rejlexible
reflectable; refrangible, refractable
remissible ; reprehensible ; repres
sible ; resoluble ; responsible ; rover
sible, reversable ; revertible ; risible
seducible ; sensible ; soluble ; sub
mersible ; suggestible ; susceptible
suspensible, suspendable ; suppres
sible; tangible; terrible; traducible
vendible ; visible ; voluble.
The principle is that the normal
form -able should be used when
there is no objection to it; there is
an objection when a word is itself
well established with -ible &c. in
geiteral use, & therefore digestable,
Perceivable. are not to be substituted
for digestible & perceptible ; there is
also an objection, though a less
forcible one, when, though the word
itself is not established in the -iblc
form, it is one of a set that includes
an established word in -ible ; thus
incontrovertible & convertible should
decide the form of avertible , divert) •
ble, pervertible, & revertible ; digesti¬
ble, that of suggestible ; in favour of
adducible, educible, inducible, pro¬
ducible, seducible, & traducible, there
is added to the influence of ( irre¬
ducible & deduciblc a legitimate
dislike to the ugly forms in -cable.
The existence of a single established
-ible word of a more or less technical
kind need not be allowed much
weight ; e.g., fusible does not
suffice to condemn eonfusable, dif-
fusable, rcfusable, & suffusable.
3. Negative forms of adjectives in
-ble. The adjectives in -ble being
required with especial frequency in
negative contexts, the question
often arises whether the negative
form of any particular word should
be made with in- or un- ; the
following rules will perhaps be found
satisfactory :
(a) Negatives from -ble words other
than those in -able have in- (or ig-,
il-, im-, ir-) ; the only exceptions
are words already beginning with
the prefix im- or in- ( impressible,
intelligible), & feasible, feeble, plausi¬
ble, voluble, all of which take, or
would take if required in the nega¬
tive, un-.
( b) Negatives from words in -able
have un- unless they are in the
following list ; and the un- form is
recommended for the italicized
words, though the in- (im-, ir-, &c.)
form exists.
Negatives in -able not having un-
illimitable ; immeasurable ; immiti¬
gable ; immovable ; immutable ; im¬
palpable ; impassable ; impayable
(the French word; cf. unpayable from
English pay) ; impeccable; impene¬
trable; imperishable; impermeable;
imperturbable ; implacable ; im¬
ponderable; impracticable; impreg¬
nable; improbable; inalienable; in-
-ABLE, 4
-ABLE, 4
4
alterable ; inappeasable; inappellable;
inapplicable ; inappreciable ; inap¬
proachable ; incalculable ; incapable;
incognizable ; incommensurable ; in¬
communicable ; incommutable; in¬
comparable ; incomputable; incon¬
ceivable ; incondensable ; incon¬
siderable ; inconsolable ; inconsum¬
able ; incontestable ; incurable ; in¬
decipherable ; indeclinable ; indecom¬
posable ; indefatigable ; indefinable ;
indemonstrable ; indescribable ; in¬
determinable; indispensable; indis¬
putable ; indistinguishable ; indis-
tributable; indomitable; indubitable;
ineffable ; ineffaceable ; ineluctable ;
inequitable; ineradicable; inerrable;
inescapable ; inestimable ; inevit¬
able ; inexcusable; inexecutable; in¬
exorable ; inexpiable ; inexplicable ;
inexpugnable; inextinguishable; in¬
extricable ; inhospitable ; inimit¬
able ; innavigable; innumerable ;
insatiable ; inscrutable ; insepara¬
ble ; insufferable ; insupportable ;
insurmountable ; interminable ; in¬
tolerable ; intractable ; invaluable ;
invariable ; inviolable ; invulner¬
able ; irreclaimable ; irrecognizable ;
irreconcilable ; irrecoverable ; irre¬
cusable ; irredeemable ; irrefrag¬
able ; irrefrangible (unrefractablef;
irrefutable ; irremediable ; irremov¬
able; irreparable; irreplaceable; irre¬
proachable ; irresolvable ; irretriev¬
able ; irrevocable.
4. -ble words of exceptional form
or sense. The normal formation &
sense of adjectives in - able has been
explained in 1 ; & adjectives in
-ible have the same ordinary ran^e
of sense. There are however lar^e
numbers of words, & certain usages,
that do not conform to this simple
type, & to some of them (a reliable
man, perishable articles, dutiable
goods, feedable pasture, an unplay¬
able wicket, a carriageable road, an
actionable offence, a payable mine,
unwritable paper, & others) exception
’?• u°v en * aken - The advocatus
maboli who opposes their recogni¬
tion has the advantage of an in¬
stantly plausible case that can be
Put clearly & concisely : we do not
rely a man, nor perish articles, nor
play a wicket; therefore we have
no right to call a man unreliable, &
so with the rest. An answer on the
same pattern would be that neither
do we dispense a man, yet our right
to call him indispensable is not
questioned. But it is better to go
on broader lines, sacrificing the
appearance of precision & cogency,
& point out that the termination
-ble has too wide a range in regard
both to formation & to sense, & the
analogies offered by the -ble words
are too various & debatable, to
allow of the application of cut-&-
dried rules. The words & usages to
which exception is taken should be
tested not by the original Latin
practice, nor by the subsequent
French practice, nor by the English
practice of any particular past
period, even if any of these were as
precise as is sometimes supposed,
but by what inquiry may reveal as
the now current conception of how
words in - ble are to be formed &
what they may mean. In deter¬
mining that conception we cannot
help allowing the incriminated words
themselves to count for something ;
it may seem unfair that reliable
should itself have a voice in deciding
its own fate ; but it is no more unfair
than that possession should be nine
points of the law ; the existence of
the still more modern payable mine,
playable wicket, unwritable paper, has
in the same way its value as evidence ;
the witness-box is open to the
prisoner. Apart, however, from this
special proof that the current con¬
ception of -ble is elastic, it is easy to
show that at the present stage of its
long history & varied development
it could not be rigid. In the first
place the original formation & mean¬
ing of many common words con¬
taining it are obscured by the non-
existence in English of verbs to
they can be ne atly referred
( affable, amenable, amicable, arable,
audible capable, credible, culpable,
detectaifc durable, edible, equable,
fa hble, feasible, feeble , formidable.
ABLE, 4
ABLUTIONS
horrible, hospitable , impeccable, im¬
pregnable, legible, liable, miserable,
mutable, palpable, plausible, possible,
probable, terrible, visible, & many
others). Secondly, there are many
common words in which the sense of
-ble either is (as sometimes in Latin),
or (which is as much to the point)
seems to be, not passive but active
( affable, agreeable, amiable, amicable,
available, capable, changeable, com¬
fortable, conformable, conversable,
delectable, durable, fallible, favourable,
hospitable, impeccable, irascible, mut¬
able, passable, perishable, pleasurable,
profitable, sociable, stable, suitable,
susceptible, terrible, variable, vegetable,
viable, voluble, &c.). Thirdly, -ble
is often appended, or (which is as
much to the point) seems to be
appended, to nouns instead of to
verbs ( accessible, actionable, available,
carriageable, changeable, chargeable,
charitable, clubbable, comfortable,
companionable, creditable, dutiable,
equitable, fashionable, favourable,
forcible, impressionable, knowledge¬
able, laughable, marriageable, miser¬
able, objectionable, peaceable, person¬
able, pleasurable, profitable, propor¬
tionable, reasonable, reputable, re¬
sponsible, salable, seasonable, sensible,
serviceable, sizable, sociable, treason¬
able, unexceptionable, valuable, verit¬
able, &c.). To take a single example
in detail, no-one but a competent
philologist can tell whether reason¬
able comes from the verb or the noun
reason, nor whether its original sense
was that can be reasoned out, or that
can reason, or that can be reasoned
with, or that has reason, or that
listens to reason, or that is con¬
sistent with reason ; the ordinary
man knows only that it can now
mean any of these, & justifiably
bases on these & similar facts a
generous view of the termination’s
capabilities ; credible meaning for
him worthy of credence, why should
not reliable & dependable mean
worthy of reliance & dependence ?
durable meaning likely to endure,
why should not payable & perishable
feean likely to pay & perish ?
In conclusion, a selection follows of
words in -ble, some of them estab¬
lished & some questionable, that
illustrate the looser uses of the
termination ; the paraphrases are
offered merely by way of accommo¬
dating each word to what is taken
to be the current conception of
-ble :— accountable, liable to account;
actionable, liable to an action ;
answerable, bound to answer, an¬
swering (a. to expectation) ; ap¬
pealable, subject to appeal ; mail-
able, that may avail ; bailable,
admitting of bail ; carriageable , fit
for carriages ; chargeable, involving
charge ; clubbable, fit for a club ;
companionable, fit for a companion ;
conformable, that conforms ; con¬
versable, fit for conversing ; custom¬
able, liable to customs ; demurrable,
open to demur ; dependable, worthy
of dependence ; descendable . subject
to laws of descent ; dutiable , liable
to duty ; feedable, that will serve
for feed ; impressionable . open to
impressions ; indispensable, not ad¬
mitting of dispensation ; Know¬
ledgeable, having or capable of know¬
ledge ; laughable, providing a laugh :
marriageable, fit for marriage ; mer¬
chantable, fit for the merchant ;
objectionable, open to objection ;
payable, likely to pay ; peaceable,
inclined to peace ; perishable, apt to
perish ; personable, having person or
presence ; perspirable, permitting
perspiration ; playable, fit for play ;
pleasurable, affording pleasure ;
practicable, adapted for practice ;
profitable , affording profit ; propor¬
tionable, showing proportion ; re¬
liable, worthy of reliance ; revertible,
liable to reversion ; risible, adapted
for laughing ; salable, fit for sale ;
seasonable, fit for the season ; sizable ,
having size ; skalablc, fit for skating ;
statutable, according to statute;
tollable, subject to tolls ; uncon¬
scionable, not according to con¬
science ; unexceptionable, not open
to exception ; unwritable, not fit for
writing.
ablutions. See Pedantic humour.
ABOLISHMENT
ABSOLUTE POSSESSIVES
abolishment, abolition. See -ion &
-MENT.
aborigines. The word being still
usually pronounced with a con¬
sciousness that it is Latin (i.e. with
-ez), the sing, aborigine (-ni) is felt
to be anomalous & avoided or dis¬
liked ; the adj. aboriginal used as a
noun is the best singular.
abridgement. For spelling see
JUDGEMENT.
abrogate makes -gable; see -able 1.
absence. For conspicuous by a.
see Hackneyed thrases.
absolute. See lu ; &, for the sense
in grammar, Technical terms.
Absolute construction. 1. The
insertion of a comma between noun
& participle in the absolute use
is indisputably wrong ; it arises
from the writer’s or the compositor’s
taking the noun, because it happens
to stand first, for the subject of the
main verb ; & it puts the reader to
the trouble of readjusting, after he
has formed it, his notion of the
sentence’s structure. The King
having read his speech from the throne ,
their Majesties retired is the right
form ; but newspaper writing or
printing is so faulty on the point
that it would appear nine times out of
ten as The King, having read his &c.
2. The case in this construction is
the subjective ; e.g. There being no
clear evidence against him , & he (not
him) denying the charge, we could do
nothing. There is little danger of the
rule’s being broken except where
a pronoun stands as complement ;
though no-one would write me being
the person responsible, the form the
person responsible being 1 is likely to
be shrunk from ; me is ungram¬
matical & should not be used except
colloquially ; myself is usually possi¬
ble, but not always. The formula
whom failing (= or in default of him)
should be either who failing or
failing whom ; the justification of
failing whom is that failing has, like
during &c., passed into a preposition,
& whom failing is a confusion be¬
tween the two right forms.
6
3. The following example of one
absolute construction enclosed in
another is a pretty puzzle for those
who like such things : To the new
Greek Note Bulgaria replied by a
Note which was returned to the Bul¬
garian Foreign Minister, Greece, it
being declared, not wishing to enter
into any bargaining. It is clear
enough that that will not do, & that
it must be changed into (a) it being
declared that Greece did not wish, or
(b) Greece not wishing, it was de¬
clared, to ... ; but why will it not
do ? Because the absolute con¬
struction ‘ it being declared ’ cannot,
like the ‘ it was declared ’ of b, be
parenthetic, but must be in ad-
| verbial relation to the sentence ;
knowing that, we ask what ‘ it ’ is,
& find that it can only be an antici¬
patory it (see it) equivalent to ‘ that
Greece did not wish ’ ; but the
consequent expansion ‘ Greece, that
Greece did not wish being declared,
not wishing ’ makes nonsense.
Absolute possessives. Under
this term are included the words
hers, ours, theirs, & yours, & (except
in the archaic attributive-adjective
use, as thine eyes) mine & thine. The
ordinary uses of these need not be
set forth here. But a mistake is
often made when two or more
possessives are to be referred to a
single noun that follows the last of
them : the absolute word in -s or
-ne is wrongly used in the earlier
place(s) instead of the simple posses¬
sive. The correct forms are : your
& our <£■ his efforts (not yours <&
ours) ; either my or your informant
must have lied (not mine) ; her <&
his mutual dislike (not hers) ; our
without your help will not avail (not
ours). There is no doubt a natural
temptation to substitute the wrong
word ; the simple possessive seems
to pine at separation from its pro-
perty. The true remedy is a change
of order ’.-—your efforts & ours &
his ; my informant or yours ; our
help without yours. It is not
always available, however; her &
ABSORBEDLY
7
ACCESS
his mutual dislike must be left as
it is.
absorbedly. Four syllables; see
-EDLY.
abstraction, abstractness. See -ion
& -NESS.
abysmal, abyssal. The first is the
rhetorical word ( abysmal ignorance,
degradation, bathos) ; abyssal, for¬
merly used in the same way, has
now been appropriated as a technical
term meaning of the bottom of the
ocean or of a depth greater than
800 fathoms.
Academe properly means Acade-
tnus (a Greek hero) ; & its use as
a poetic variant for academy, though
sanctioned by Shakspere, Tennyson,
& Lowell, is a mistake; the grove of
A., however, (Milton) means rightlv
The Academy.
Academy. The A., the Garden, the
Lyceum, the Porch, the Tub, are
names used for five chief schools of
Greek philosophy, their founders,
adherents, & doctrines : the A.,
Plato, the Platonists, & Platonism ;
the Garden, Epicurus, the Epicur¬
eans, & Epicureanism ; the Lyceum,
Anstotle, the Aristotelians, & Aris-
totelianism ; the Porch, Zeno, the
stoics, & Stoicism ; the Tub, Antis-
thenes, the Cynics, & Cynicism.
acapsular. see a-, an-.
acatalectic. See Technical, terms.
acaulous. See a-, an-.
accelerate makes - rable ; see - able 1 .
accent. Pronounce the noun &'ksnt,
the verb nksd'nt; see Noun & verb
ACCENT.
In figurative senses
(draw attention to, emphasize, make
conspicuous, &c.) the long form is
now much the commoner ; in literal
senses (sound or write with an
aocent), though either will pass, the
tion is worth encouraging.
acceptance, acceptation. The words
once used indifferently inseverai
"y •. a r e “OW Jolly differentiated
means on) y the inter-
pretation nut nn cnmntu:_... _
word in its proper acceptation means
love ; the various acceptations of the
doctrine of the Trinity), while accept¬
ance does the ordinary work of a
verbal noun for accept {find accept¬
ance, be well received ; beg or ash
one’s acceptance of, ask him to
accept ; cf. ask his acceptation of,
ask how he understands ; cards of
acceptance, accepting an invitation ;
acceptance of persons, partiality ;
acceptance of a bill, drawee s accept -
ing of responsibility ; endorses my
acceptance of the terms, agrees with
me in accepting them ; cf. endorses
my acceptation of them, agrees with
my view of their drift).
accepter, -or. See -or.
accept of. This, formerly used
almost as widely as the simple verb,
is now restricted to the meaning
consent to receive as a gift or benefit
or possession. We can still accept of
a gift or favour, of a person’s love or
hand or company, of a brace of
grouse, & the like, though even
these phrases tend to become archaic.
But a theory, an emendation, advice,
an apology, a ruling, a challenge, an
invitation, we only accept.
access, accession. There are pro¬
bably, in modern usage, no contexts
in which one of these can lie sub¬
stituted for the other without the
meaning’s being modified. But
perhaps owing to the fact that, with
such modification, similar colloca-
tions for both are not uncommon,
the wrong one is sometimes carelessly
or ignorantly chosen. With regard
to arriving, accession means arrival.
access opportunity of arriving •
accordingly accession to the throne
means becoming sovereign, access to
the throne opportunity of petitioning
the sovereign ; we can say Hu
access to fortune was barred, or His
accession to fortune had not yet taken
place, but not the converse. The
idea of increase, often present in
accession, is foreign to access ; an
<K«ss o//ury,/a*,, j oy , despair, &c„
is a fit or sudden attack of it, which
may occur whatever the previous
ACCESSARY
8
ACCOUNT
state of mind may have been,
whereas an accession of any of them
can only mean a heightened degree
of the one that already existed ;
our forces have had no accession, have
not been augmented in numbers,
have had no access, have not been
able to enter.
accessary, accessory. The words,
though they have separate histories,
are often confused ; but a fairly
clear line of distinction can be made
out. Accessary involves the notion
of complicity or intentional aid or
consent, & is accordingly used only
where that notion is applicable, i.e.
chiefly (as a noun) of persons & (as
an adjective) of persons or their
actions (he was an accessary, if not
the principal ; the accessaries also
were punished ; this course has made
us accessary to the crime ; was guilty
of accessary action). Accessory has
no such implication of consent, &,
though it includes the notion of con¬
tributing to a result, emphasizes
especially the subordinate nature
of the contribution ; it is applied
chiefly to things (the accessory
details of the picture ; that is only an
accessory, an unessential feature ;
the accessories, the not indispensable
accompaniments).
accidence. See Technical terms.
acclimatize, -imate, -imatization,
-imatation, -imation. Acclimatize,
acclimatization, are the forms for
which general usage seems to have
decided. Some writers wish to
retain the others with reference to
the process when brought about by
natural as opposed to human
agency ; but it is doubtful whether
the words are in common enough
use for the differentiation to gain
currency ; &, failing differentiation,
it is better that the by-forms should
perish.
accommodate makes - dable ; see
-able 1.
accompany. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
accompan(y)ist. See -ist.
accomplice, accomplish. The OED
gives the pronunciation with -om-,
not -uni-, as the established one for
both words, though 4 the historical
pronunciation ’ of accomplish was
with -um-.
accord, account. The phrases are
of one’s own accord, on one’s own
account; of one’s own account is a
confusion. See Cast-iron idiom.
according as. There is a tendency
to repeat the phrase (like between),
with a mistaken idea of making the
construction clearer, in contexts
where the repetition is not merely
needless, but wrong. For instance,
the second according as it should be
omitted in
The big production will be harmful
or the reverse, according as it can
command the Government to insure it
a monopoly in all circumstances, or
according as it works with the know¬
ledge that, if it abuses its trust, the
door is freely open to the competing
products of other countries.
The error is at once apparent if the
clause (for it is a single clause, in
fact) is reduced to its simplest
expression—(will be harmful or the
reverse) according as it is irresponsi¬
ble or responsible ; no-one would
write or according as it is responsible ;
the temptation comes in long sen¬
tences only, & must be resisted.
Or according as is legitimate only
when what is to be introduced is not,
as in the quotation, the necessarily
implied alternative or the other
extreme of the same scale, but
another scale or pair of alternatives.
Man attains happiness or not accord¬
ing as he deserves it or not (right),
according as he deserves it or does not
deserve it (right), according as he
deserves it or according as he does not
deserve it (wrong), according as he
deserves it or according as he can
digest his food (right).
accouchement &c. See French
WORDS.
account. Unlike regard, & like
consider, this verb does not in good
modern usage admit of as before its
complement ; I account it a piece of
ACCOUTRE
good fortune ; you are accounted
wise or a wise man.
accoutre. Part, -trvng j see -re
& -ER.
accumulate makes -table; see
-ABLE 1.
accumulative. The word, formerly
common in various senses, has now
given place to cumulative in most of
them, retaining in ordinary use only
the sense given to accumulating
property, acquisitive.
accusal. See -al nouns.
accusatival(ly), accusative(ly). See
ABLATIVELY.
acharnement. See French words.
ache, the letter. See aitch.
acid test. See Popularized tech¬
nicalities .
acknowledgement ). For pronun¬
ciation see knowledge. For -dg(e)-
ment see judgement.
acoustic. Pronunciation varies be¬
tween -ow- & -oo-. In favour of
-oo- is the adoption from French,
the sound of Greek ov in the more
recent English pronunciation of
Greek, & the general impression that
thejvalue of ou in outlandish words
is oo ; in favour of -ow- is the older
& still common English pronuncia¬
tion of Greek, & the normal value of
ow m English. If the word came
into popular use, it would probably
be with -ow-, which even now
perhaps tends to prevail*
acquaintanceship is a N eed less
variant for acquaintance.
act vb. In the sense behave like,
the word, once used as freely as
play, has contracted a slangy or
vulgarly colloquial tone, & is now
more appropriate in such expres-
Mons as act the giddy goat than in
f*J he , Philosopher, lover, child, or
betterf 00 *’ “ ^ ° f wWch plap is
Wn ‘ The distinction be-
elear. The natural idea that act
aetinn *u**% n - the thin 8 done, &
eehon the doing of it, is not even
T quite true, since act
9
ACT
S.
represents the Latin noun actus
(which is very close to actio in sense)
as well as the Latin participle actum ;
but, if not true, it has influence
enough to prevent act from being
commonly used in the more abstract
senses ; we can speak only of the
action, not the act, of a machine,
when we mean the way it acts ; &
action alone has the collective sense,
as in his action throughout (i.e. his
acts or actions as a whole) teas
correct ; there are also other senses
in which there is obviously no choice
open. In contexts that do admit of
doubt, it may be said generally that
action tends to displace act. “if we
were making the phrases for the
first time now, we should probably
prefer action in Through God will we
do great acts, The Acts of the
lpostles, By the act of God, Be
great in act as you have been in
thought, I deliver this as my act cfc
deed. This tendency, however, is by
no means always ‘effective ; it is
indifferent, for instance, whether wc
say wc are judged by our acts or bit
our actions ; there is no appreciable
dine re nee between it was an act, &
it was an action, that he was to regret
bitterly. And in certain contexts act
more than holds its ground : (1) in
l hC deed of the nature of ;
it would be an act (never action ) of
folly, cruelty, madness, kindness,
mercy, &c. ; similarly in the sense
deed characteristic of; it was the
act (rarely action) of a fool (cf. the
actions of a fool cannot be foreseen,
Y^e the sense is not characteristic
deed but smi^y deed). On the other
£* nd ’ for . of folly or of a fool
&c. foolish & c . is substituted, action
L C Z^ m ° n M th l n act ~ a cruel ’ kind >
foolish nobte, base, action or act.
(2) In the sense instant of doing :
caught in the act, was in the very act
(3 ! In ant *hesis With
word thought, plan, &c., when these
thcr every word ’ each
action ), innocent in thought <fc act
ACTUALITY
10
ADMIT OF
(but supreme in thought & action) ;
the act was mine, the plan yours (but
a strategy convincing in plan, but
disappointing in action).
actuality. See Literary Critics’
words.
acuity, acuteness. See -ty & -ness.
adagio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
ad captandum. See Technical
TERMS.
addicted to. This should be follow¬
ed by an ordinary noun or a verbal
noun in -ing— is addicted to whisky,
is addicted to reading the jokes in
Punch aloud —& never by an in¬
finitive, as in is addicted to read the
jokes aloud. The wrong construc¬
tion, which occasionally occurs, is
probably suggested by the com¬
monest phrase— addicted to drink, in
which drink is the noun.
addle, addled. The adjectival use
of addle as in an addle egg, his brain
is addle, is correct, & was formerly
common ; but to prefer it now to
the usual addled is a Didacticism.
It still prevails, however, in com¬
pounds, as addle-pate, addle-brained .
adducible, -eable. Use -ible ; see
-able 2.
adhere, adhesion. The established
phrase give in one’s adhesion to
a policy, party, leader, &c., means
to declare one’s acceptance of, &
describes a single non-continuous
act ; it is to be observed, however,
that adhere to is not used, by good
writers at least, in the corresponding
sense accept or declare acceptance of
but only in that of remaining con¬
stant to.
adieu. See -x. & French words.
adipose. See Pedantic iiumour
adjectivally, adjectively, &c. Ad-
jectivally & substantially are prefer¬
able to adjectively & substantively
(ct. ablatively) because ( 1 ) the
words adjective & (in the gramma¬
tical sense) substantive are now
as nouns ; so far as they
are still used as adjectives, they are
e , to be nouns used attributivelv *
adverbs formed directly from them
therefore cause uneasiness ; (2) the
adjectives adjectival & substantival
are of such frequent occurrence in
modern grammar that it is natural
to form the adverbs from them ;
(3) adverbs from the other part-of-
speech names correspond to adjec¬
tivally, not to adjectively — adverbially,
pronominally, verbally, &c., not
adverbly &c.
adjudicate makes -cable ; see -able 1.
administratrix. For pi. see -trix.
admirable. See Positive words.
admiredly. A bad form ; see -edly.
admission, -ittance, -issible, -ittable.
Of the nouns, admission is used in
all senses (No admittance except on
business is perhaps the only phrase
in which the substitution of ad¬
mission would be noticed), while
admittance is confined to the primary
sense of letting in, & even in that
sense tends to disappear. You
have to pay for admission is now
commoner than for admittance, & so
with What is needed is the admission
of outside air; admission 6d. is now
the regular form ; on the other
hand Such an admittance (instead of
admission) would give away the case
is now impossible.
The difference between the adjec¬
tives is that admissible is the estab¬
lished word, & admittable, though
formerly current, is now regarded as
merely made for the occasion, &
used only when the connexion with
admit is to be clear ; this is chiefly
in the predicate, as Defeat is
admittable by anyone without dis¬
honour.
admit of. This combination, form¬
erly used indifferently with admit in
several senses, is now restricted to
the sense present an opening or leave
room for, & to impersonal nouns
usually of an abstract kind as
subject : Ilis veracity admits of no
question (but not I can admit of no
question ); A hypothesis admits by
its nature of being disputed (but not
he admits of being argued with) ; A
modern battleship does not admit of
careless handling.
ADMONISHMENT
admonishment, admonition
-ION & -MENT.
ado. Pi. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
adopted, adoptive. The incorrect
use of adopted with parents, father,
mother , &c., is to a certain extent
excused by such allowed attributive
uses as the condemned cell ; that is
the cell of the condemned, & the
adopted father is the father of the
adopted* But, while condemned
saves a clumsy periphrasis, adopted
saves only the trouble of remem¬
bering adoptive.
/E,CE
adulterate makes -rable ; see - able 1.
adumbrate. See -atable.
advancediy. Four syllables if used •
see -edly. *
advancement). There are no
contexts in which advancement can
be substituted for advance without
damage to or change in the sense ;
IS iiv foIlo T m g sentence advance
should have been written :— It will
th * seitin g of class against
class that advancement will be made.
It is true that both words can be
used as verbal nouns of to advance :
but advance represents its intransi-
IZ* & advancement its transitive
sense, the advance of knowledge is
toe way knowledge is advancing,
fegi,“ taken to Advance
knowledge. Apart from this verbal-
atMhni ! *l Wlth of following, & f rom
hi onTv A ' 1136 *“ H W> o^oooemcnl
“pmgS er the more
( ^^5“ ro “ s > venturesome, adven-
decisively declared for the fifst two
against the last two. Adventure
ff2£ nrturous, when used, are due
^e e no™Jr ranCe M «f
Adverbs.
VERBS.
MoS' JEW* ‘his can be
mho had been *L : Politicians
Sue*. CanatZS iTSlZ'J™ lhc
I
See Position of ad-
advertlse. Not -ize ; sec -ise)(-ize.
advisedly. Four syllables; see- kdly.
advocate. Unlike recommend , pro-
pose, urge, & other verbs, this is not
idiomatically followed by a that-
clause, but only by an ordinary or
a verbal noun. In Dr Felix Adler
advocates that close attention shall be
Void to any experiments , either urges
should be substituted for advocates
or that & shall be paid should be*
omitted or give place* to the paying of.
<®,(E. These ligatures, of which the
pronunciation is identical (c), are
also in some founts of tvpe so much
alike that compositors often use one
for the other & unlearned readers
have their difficulties with spelling
increased. It seems desirable that
in the first place all words in common
enough use to have begun to waver
between the double letter & the
simple e (as phenomenon now rarclv
phae- or phx-, pedagogy now rarely
pae- or px-, medieval still usually
-aeval or -xval, ecumenical still
usually oe- or oe-, penology now
rarely p 0e -or Phebc still usually
wittfeK r Pfl0 ?~) sh °uld be written
with the e alone ; & secondly, in
words that have not yet reached or
can tor special reasons never reach
nn! S l a ft m Wh,ch the simple e is
ferred to ^ & oe (Caesar, gyndcco-
cracy paedobaptism, homoeopathy
diarrhoea, Boeotian, Oedipus; the
deefpi S & gCmtives of classical first-
chdae, aqua vitae). It is sometimes
argued that if Cxsar & /Eneas arc
wiIl b hp Cn Caesar & A cocas it
will become necessary to use the
laeresis ( aerial ) wherever the a & e
are pronounced separately, since the
present distinction*^will bcVst ; tha?
of li?t^ ent d ? stm , ct,on » however, is
for e S^ th * Taied is Print^J
;° r ; lt >8 not held necessary
°- e f d Beaune read is pro-
nounced r ed , & the case for atrial
like nh f J? nger * French words
hke chef-d'oeuvre the ligature ~
-JE, -AS
12
AFFINITY
obviously be kept; whether it is
kept or not in manoeuvre, where the
pronunciation is anomalous, is of
no great importance.
-AE, -AS, in plurals of nouns in -a.
Most English nouns in -a are from
Latin (or latinized Greek) nomina¬
tive feminine singular nouns, which
have in Latin the plural ending -ae ;
but not all ; e. g., sofa is from
Arabic ; stanza Sc vista are from
Italian ; subpoena is not nomina¬
tive ; drama & comma are neuter ;
stamina Sc prolegomena are plural ;
& with all such words -ae is impos¬
sible. Of the majority, again, some
retain the Latin -ae in English
either as the only or as an alterna¬
tive plural ending ( antennae only,
formulae or -las), & some have
always -as (ideas, areas , villas).
The use of plurals in -ae therefore
presents some difficulty to non-
iatinists. For most words with
which -ae is possible or desirable,
the information is given in their
dictionary places ; for the principle
of choice when both -ae & -as are
current, see Latin plukals 1, 3.
aeon, aeon, eon. The first form is
recommended ; see je , ce.
aerate, aerate. The first form is
recommended ; see je , ce. The
form aerated is a mere blunder, but
very common.
aerial, aerial. The first form is
recommended ; see je , ce.
aery, aerie, eyry, eyrie. The first
two forms are preferable to the
others, which according to the OED
& I rofessor Skeat arc due to a theory
of the dem ation (from egg * cur'll _
eggery) that is known (though the
ultimate origin of aery is doubtful) to
be wrong.
aesthetic. The word, which means
etymologically concerned with sen¬
suous perception, was introduced
into English to supply sense of
beauty with an adjective. It is in
place in such contexts as a. princi¬
ples, from an a. point of vie ref an a.
revival occurred, a. considerations do
not appeal to him. It is less so in
the meanings professing or gifted
with this sense (I am not a.; a. peo¬
ple), dictated by or approved by or
evidencing this sense (a very a. com¬
bination ; aesthetically dressed; a.
chintzes & wallpapers ; flowers on
a table are not so a. a decoration as
a well-filled bookcase) ; & still less
so when it is little more than a pre¬
tentious substitute for beautiful
(that green is so a. ; a not very a.
little town).
aetat., aet. The words, being
abbreviations of aetatis suae (of his,
her, their, age) must be written
with the period, & not as in : The
Die-Hards had as their leader Lord
Halsbury, aetat 8G. / It was Mr.
Chaplin, aetat 70, who. / A mani¬
festo from Lord Roberts, aetat 79.
For aet-, eel-, see 2E, ce.
affaire de cceur. See French
WORDS.
affect, effect. These verbs are not
synonyms requiring differentiation,
but words of totally different mean¬
ing, neither of which can ever be
substituted for the other. Affect
(apart from other senses in which it
is not liable to confusion with effect)
means have an influence on, produce
an effect on, concern, effect a change
in : effect means bring about, cause,
produce, result in, have as result.
These measures chiefly a. the great
Landowners. It does not a. me. It
may seriously a. (i.e. injure) his
health. A single glass of brandy
may a. (alter for better or worse the
prospects of) his recovery. A single
glass of brandy may e. (bring about)
his recovery. This will not a.
(change) his purpose. This will not
e. (secure) his purpose. We hope to e.
an improvement. 1 effected my
escape.
affectionately. See Letter forms.
affiliate makes -liable ; see -able 1.
affinity. The prepositions normally
used after this are, according to con¬
text, between & with. When the
sense is less relationship or likeness
than attraction or liking, to or for
AFFIX
13
are sometimes used instead of with •
this should not be done ; in places
where with is felt to be inappro¬
priate, the truth is that affinity,
which properly describes a reciprocal
relationship only, has been used of
a one-sided one, & should itself
be replaced by another word. Cf
sympathy with & for.
affix, n. See Technical terms.
a fond. See French words. It
should be remembered that d fond
& aw /ond mean different things,
d fond to the bottom, i. e . thoroughly
& aufond at bottom, i.e. when one
penetrates below the surface.
aforesaid. See Pedantic humour.
a fortiori. See Technical terms.
afterward(s). Afterward, once the
prevalent form, is now obsolete in
■British use, but survives in U.S.
age. For synonymy see time.
54 &C *’ fi J d > an «• wi an
&c., a jid ; an a. horse, aid.
agenda. If a singular is required
( one item of the agenda) it is now
Sfobsoirtef 0 ™" SingU ' ar agCnd
provocateur.
WORDS .
thf^?K <UZe(me , nt) - The “ccent of
the verb is on the first & of the noun
SL™ . eCO " d syl,abIe - See Re-
lessive accent.
AIM
See French
» . station. 1. The
* these in the sense qtmou vex
£«e» £ \£
Sftr t
or morl T^rSt &°tT
initiative woLlfg
yres * measures that
a.Jh« r oppon ent, is the last
, It fa ,n Ministerial
“ fa in the participle land
a very stupid, tiresome, aggravating
man he is) that the vulgarism is
commonest.
2* Aggravate makes aggravablc • see
-able l. ’
aggrlevedly. Four syllables if used •
see -edlv. ' *
* 5 }®- p| - ; soe -of e)s \.
agitable ; see -able 1.
V ,S USC(1 ’ & t,1(i event to
be dated is given by a clause, it must
be by one beginning with that &
not jinrc 1 | lc right forms are
ThnVu 20 yCaTS W "'** *< ^d.
the tautology ago since is naturally
commoner, but is equally wrong, j'n
narenth CS - likC t,1C s<( ' ond ’ " here a
parenthesis intervenes It is barrio
loO years ago since it was introduced /
I ct it is only just over sixty years n"n
as a n artlclc , fhf ^
Encyclopaedia Jtntannica ' reminds
wcre^fiZ faC l ilit ! cs f° r chfa P <rav<l
nZiJ-Z For similar
mistakes, see Haziness.
agrtments. See French words
agricultur(al)tst. See-, ST
afau'il d lt' Ca U' P - r Scc F " ENC " "'ones.
bee French words.
sen^'„f ThC V,,rb in ,he m etaphorical
™ U h r » 'd'oma.ieanv followed bv at
.^finith,e gCn P f ??* l, - v «> wilh the
doubt this who sees the two con¬
structions side by side :~he aimed at
thZth * C OXmC(i to be, the power behind
the throne ; arguments are aimed to
produce, arguments are aimed at
aimZt tn ^- COT l vut \ on ; ^hat do you
27 1h? 9 U ; hal d ? y°» to
ZV. "Ut the analogy of purpose &c
ffenmd ta ^ e j he ,nfinitive & not the
gerund, leads unobservant writers
sUSon 1h d l hc inflni «ve con-
struction, though not good British
ft*?"* g ° od Am erican, since*
anes 88 the normal verh.mnatn.rt.
a!ne
14
ALBINO
tion (at with the gerund not being
even mentioned) after aim.
aine. See French words.
ain’t. See be 7.
aitch, ache. The original spelling
is ache, but aitch (drop one’s aitches)
is now universal.
aitch-bone. Il-bonc, edge-bone, ash-
bone, & other forms, are due to
random shots at the etymology.
Aitch-bone, though it does not reveal
the true origin of the word (L naiis
buttock, with loss of n- as in adder
&c.), suggests no false one & corre¬
sponds to the pronunciation.
-AL NOUNS. When a noun in -al is
given in its alphabetical place with
a simple reference to this article, the
meaning is that its use is deprecated.
There is a tendency to invent or
revive unnecessary verbal nouns of
this form. The many that have
passed into common use (as trial,
arrival, refusal, acquittal, proposal)
have thereby established their right
to exist. But when words of some-
age (as revisal, rcfutal, appraisal,
accusal ) have failed to become really
familiar & remained in the stage in
which the average man cannot say
with confidence off-hand that they
exist, the natural conclusion is that
there is no work for them that can¬
not be adequately done by the more
ordinary verbal nouns in -ion (re¬
vision), -ation (refutation, accusa¬
tion), & -ment (appraisement).
When there is need on an isolated
occasion for a verbal noun that shall
have a different shade of meaning
from those that are current (c.g!
accusal may suggest itself as fitter to
be followed by an objective genitive
than accusation ; efi the accusal of
a murderer, the accusation of murder),
or that shall serve when none already
exists (there is e.g. no noun behead-
rnent), it is better to make shift with
the gerund (the accusing, the behead¬
ing) than to revive an unfamiliar
accusal or invent beheadal. The use
ot rare or new -al nouns, however
is due only in part to a legitimate
desire for the exactly appropriate
lorni ; to some writers the out-of-
the-way word is dear for its own
sake, or rather is welcome as giving
an air of originality to a sentence
that if ordinarily expressed would
be detected as commonplace ; they
are capable of writing bequeathal for
bequest, agreeal for agreement, allowal
for allowance, or arisal for arising ;
except for this dislike of the normal
word, we should have had account
instead of recountal in Of more
dramatic interest is the recountal of
the mission imposed upon Sir James
Lacaita, & to recount these in But
this is not the place for a recountal of
these thrilling occurrences ; cf. retiral
in There were many retirals at the
dissolution. Carousal, surprisal, sup-
posal, decrial, may be mentioned
among the hundreds of needless -al
words that have been actually used,
a la. The sex of the person whose
name is introduced by this does not
affect the form, la agreeing not with
it but with an omitted mode : d la
reine ; d la (not au) maitre-d'hotel ;
a Home-rule Bill a la (not au)
Gladstone. Au with adjectives, as
in au naturel, au grand strieux, (cf.
d la fran£aise &c.) is not used in
English except in phrases borrowed
entire from French.
alarm, alarum. Alarum is by
origin merely a variant of alarm, &
the two nouns were formerly used
without distinction in all senses.
In poetry alarum may still bear any
of the senses except that of fear or
apprehension ; but in ordinary use
it is restricted to the senses of alarm-
signal, warning-signal, or clock or
other apparatus that gives these.
This being a clear & useful differ¬
entiation, it is to be regretted that
alarm-clock, & alarm in the same
sense, should (owing to the trade in
alarums from America, where the
differentiation has not been made)
be reviving.
alarmedly. Four syllables if used ;
see -edly.
albeit. See Archaism.
albino. PI. -os; see -o(e)s 6.
rem. albiness.
ALBION
15
Albion* See Sobriquets.
alcaics. See Techktical terms.
ale, beer. In the trade, & i n
statistics & the iike, the two words
are distinguished in meaning. But
m ordinary use, as at table, both
denote the same thing, including the
paie & excluding the dark varieties
of malt liquor ; the difference is that
beer is the natural current word &
ale is a Genteelism. *
alexandrine. See Technical terms.
alien. The prepositions after the
adjective are from & to. From is
t e earlier usage, & represents
the commoner Latin construction,
though ahenus with the dative is
also good Latin. There is perhaps
a slight preference for from where
mere difference or separation is
^ We entan 8 lin 8 ourselves
in matters a. from our subject), & for to
when repugnance is suggested ( cruel -
ry w a. to his nature). But this
distinction is usually difficult to
j*PPJy, & the truth seems rather that
to is getting the upper hand of from
v^B^). SenSeS (cf ‘ differe n*t» a-
affirh?* 6 S?u kes ~ nable ? see -able 1.
pff ord,n ary use; but in
Rvr/I? cu ™ has been written bv
•Byron, Shelley, & Poe.
ALLOW
altae(ment). The OED
1? » «-* »!«» p. oS the verb
S3 i L ’K a, 5 in * the “netymo-
the noun • lST^ , ? Uve * on
is preferable r„ g ;'- fm
speUinw of the Fr a bad
pronounces 1 fo r ^th e U S*%“ de ”!y
times as < £Slf tlo,ls gn is just four
claims of ZTT n , e ’ The
hhymei w.7 d de .between (cf.
correct adimVa/”^- d P r °P° se to
into con
SLr*** khristianos,
“wertion of d & « Xr
omission of h, arc ‘unetymological ’•
& on the other hand unnoticed
corrections of words taken from
French (as scholastic, respcJt on
Greek skhole after being taken
directly from scolastinuc) are in-
numcrable But align is not only
the established form ; it is also more
correct than aline ; correction on
rnnlX ana . to ^ cs (adlincarc, allinearc)
could only give alline ; & a li ne
t7o g n 1 u C< n u pUrC,y En « lish forma-
tion Mould have no meaning, a- in
the sense to not being a recognized
formative element. Allinc(ment)
seems defensible but inexpedient
all nc(mcnt) indefensible, & alien.
(merit) unobjectionable. *
“(al)ist. I or such alternative forms
^JSricullunst & agriculturalist, see
alff. 1. Sec alight. 2. Alit for
a ightor ht, as in the lamps are alit
is a blunder. 1 '
alkali The pronunciation h usually
'I ’ sometimes -li. The plural
should be & usually is alkalis; but
// 7 pronunciation, suggesting
ab h:lS pt ° JuccS
allay. For inflexions «
-IE <fc c ., l.
Verbs in
Four syllables if used ;
See Technical terms.
parable, sec Simile &
' T*
T •- -K
allegedly.
see -edly.
allegory.
For a. <fc
metaphor.
allegro. Pi. - 0 * :
Thc spclling nowusual is
■jjs?*Tte&o? ’ ABLE1 ■
S‘S“ Uon - Sec Tccn.Gl r K RM*.
allocate. See -atable.
allowedly. Four syllables if used ;
see -edly. ’
allow of. This is undergoing the
ame limitation as admit of, but the
EFESEJl*? no « gone 80 far ; Jortin
though of would now usually be
omitted. The normal use, & sense.
ALMIGHTY
1G
ALONE
however, are the same as those of
admit of.
almighty. So spelt; see -ll-, -l-, 4.
all right. The words should always
be written separate ; there are no
such forms as all-right, allright, or
alright, though even the last, if
seldom allowed by the compositors
to appear in print, is often seen
(through confusion with already &
altogether) in MS. This rule holds
not only when the two words are
completely independent, as in The
three answers, though different, are
all right, but also where they may be
regarded as forming a more or less
fixed phrase. So : The scout's
report was 'All right ’ (i.e. all is
right). /Is he all right? / ‘ Will you
come for a walk ? ' ‘ All right ’./ All
right, you shall hear of this again./
Oh, 1 know them apart all right.
all the time. The phrase is idio¬
matic English only when the time in
question is a definite period fixed by
the context, as in :—/ did not see
you because I was looking at her a. 1.1.
(that you were present) ; Well, I
knexv that a. t. t. (that you were
supposing I did not) ; He pretends
friendship , «£ a. 1 . 1 . (that he pretends
it) he is plotting against one ; 1 have
been a free-trader a. t. 1. (that others
have been wavering). Used gener¬
ally without such implied definition,
in the sense all day ct- every day
(Actors act xchile they arc on the
stage, but he acts a. t. t. ; We hold
that a Tariff Reformer must be a
Tariff Reformer all the time, dc not
an opportunist), it is slang.
allusion, allude. 1. For pronuncia¬
tion see i.u.
2. 1 he words are much misused by
journalists others. An allusion is
a covert or indirect reference, in
w hich the application of a generality
to the person or thing it is really
aimed at, or the identification of
something that the speaker or writer
appears by his words to have in
mind but does not name, is left for
the hearer or reader to make ; it is
never an outright or explicit men¬
tion. Allude to has the same
limitations. Examples of the legiti¬
mate use are :—We looked at each
other wondering which of us he was
alluding to ; Though he never uses
your name, the allusion to you is
obvious ; He is obscure only because
he so often alludes (or only owing to
his frequent allusions) to contem¬
porary events now forgotten.
The misuse is seen in:— When the
speaker happened to name Mr. Glad¬
stone, the allusion was received with
loud cheers./ The lecturer then alluded
at some length to the question of
strikes.
It may be added that allude to is
often chosen, out of foolish verbosity,
when the direct mean would do
better ; so When you said ‘ some
people cannot tell the truth ’, were you
alluding to (did you mean) me ? ;
but this is rather an abuse than a
misuse.
ally, n. & v. Accent 2nd syl., all',
all's, ail'd. See Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
alma mater. See Battered orna¬
ments, & Sobriquets.
almanac. The OED recognizes
this spelling only,
almoner. The OED gives the
pronunciation a'lmoner. But as the
word, though existing as (part of)
the title of certain functionaries, is
better known in transferred &
general uses, it is perhaps safe to
prophesy that the pronunciation
ah'moner, already common owing
to alms, will prevail.
almost. For a. quite see Incom¬
patibles.
alone. The adverbial use of alone
with not in place of the usual only
(more might be done, & not alone by
the authorities, but . . .) is a survival,
& like other archaisms is to be
avoided except in poetry or in prose
of a really poetic type. In ordinary
writing it is one of the thousand
little mechanical devices by which
1 distinction ot style ’ is vainly
sought ; the following passage shows
it in characteristic surroundings :—
Recourse to porters, whose limited
17
ALTERNATIVE
loads are carried on the head, savours
more of operations in the West
African bush than on the Indian
frontier, so that not alone in the
region passed through, but in Us
transport will our latest little war
wear an interesting & unusual aspect.
This censure does not apply to the
adjectival use (It is not youth alone
that needs . . .), in which not & alone
are usually separated.
^ 1OUtrance. The French phrase is
d outrance or d toute outrance, never
d Voutrance. Those who use French
phrases to suggest that they are at
home with French should accord¬
ingly be careful to write d outrance.
For those who use them merely as
the handiest way of expressing
themselves the form that is com”
moner in English is as good as the
other, & does not lay them open to
the charge of pedantry. So with
dovbte entendre for French double
entente, nom de plume for nom dc
guerre, morale for moral , locale for
local, chorale for German Choral, &
others. ’
fl l r ®ady. The adverb is so spelt •
see -LL-, -L- 4 ; this does not affect
the use of the two separate words,
as m Tell me when it is all ready ;
Cf. ALTOGETHER. J
alright. See all right.
an™- Th ®. Word is an adverb, & not
*ea^unetioii ; nevert heless, it is
where S" , th , e latter capacity
SSSht mo the deliberat e after.
primiThf%? appear similarly in
mars>njt h / P roducts are hemp db
T 1L al *o fevers). But it is the
dut ?
Writes hla oeiore ne
the^assiS 1 ^V^nseqnently
u» "“fasted also that is proper to
iu « nt sr<;. 8ive8 a 6loven| y
tos been paid to the
•#v >> ^
history of legislation, also [<fc also]
to that of religion. / H e arc giving
these explanations gently as friends,
also [and] patiently as becomes neigh¬
bours./' Special' is a much over¬
worked word, it being used to mean
great in degree, also [but also] pecu¬
liar in kind. /Mr. Sonnenschcin's
volume will show . . . Shakespeare's
obligations to the ancients, also las
well as] the obligations of modern
tenters to Shakespeare.
alternative. 1. Altcmativc(ly) had
ormerlv, besides their present senses,
those now belonging only to alter¬
nately) ; now that the differentia¬
tion is complete, confusion between
the two (Frenchmen henc become
accustomed to these changes of front
in German policy, singular methods
finch consist in blowing altcrnatiiely
hot cold) is still less excusable,
because less common, than between
DEFINITE & DEFINITIVE.
2. There are also difficulties about
the correct use of the noun alterna¬
tive, for dealing with which it is
necessary to realize clearly its differ-
ent senses. r I hrse are now distin¬
guished, with illustrations that mav
serve to show what is idiomatic i
what is not :—
.?• . Set ; especially- pair, of possi¬
bilities from which one only can be
selected ; this is often practically
equivalent to choice. The only a. is
success or (not d) death. We hair
no a. in the matter.
b. Either of such pair or anv one
of such set. Either a. is. any 'of the
aa. is, both an. arc, all the aa. arc,
intolerable. The aa., the only aa
are success <fc (not or) death. ’
c. Second of such pair, the first
being in mind, ire need not do it •
but what is the a.f Wc must do it]
there is no (not no other) a. The (not
the other) a. is to die.
d. Other of such a set, one at least
being in mind. If we decline, what
are the aa.? The only a. is to die.
l ou may say lighted or lit or alight :
there is no other a. The only aa. to
" are gas <£ (not or) candles .
ALTHOUGH
18
although. See though.
alto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
altogether. Confusion between this
& all together is not uncommon
(Until at last, gathered altogether
again, they find their way down to the
turf./A long pull, a strong pull, &
a pull altogether./Great efforts have
been made . . . to bring the troops out
altogether in brigades, & even in
divisions. All together should have
been used in each). Altogether is
l’ight only in the senses entirely or
on the whole.
alto-relievo. PI. -os ; sec -o(e)s G.
Preferable forms are the English
high relief & the Italian alto rilievo.
aluminium. See lu.
amalgamate. See -atable.
amateur. The best pronunciation
is a'matur, the next best &matur' ;
it is high time that vain attempts at
giving the French -eur should cease,
since the word is in everyday use
among the uneducated. Cf. li¬
queur, & see French pronuncia¬
tion.
amazedly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
ambidext(e)rous. Spell without the
-e- ; see dext(e)rous.
ame damnee. See French words.
ameliorate makes -rable; see -able 1.
amende honorable. See French
WORDS.
amenity. Pronounce -men- ; the
restoration of-men- (Latin amoenus )
is pedantic ; see False quantity.
America(n). The use of America
tor the United States & American
for ( citizen) of the U. S. is open to as
much & as little objection as that of
England & Englishman) for Great
Britain {& Ireland), British, &
Briton. It will continue to be pro-
tested against by purists & patriots,
& will doubtless survive the pro¬
tests.
& merveille. See French words.
amid, amidst. 1. Both are Liter¬
ary words, subject to the limita¬
tions of their kind.
to t * le alternative forms, the
OED states that ‘ There is a ten-
I
dency to use amidst more distribu¬
tive^, e.g. of things scattered about,
or a thing moving, in the midst of
others ’. This may be true, though it
is difficult to establish ; to take a
phrase quoted from Thackeray,
amidst the fumes of tobacco would,
by the OED tendency, be changed
to amid, which is not in fact more
natural. Another distinction that
may be hazarded is that amid has
dropped out of ordinary use still
more completely than amidst, & is
therefore felt to be inappropriate in
many contexts that can still bear
amidst. When we find amid in a
passage of no exalted or poetical
kind (A certain part of his work . . .
must be done amid books), our feeling
is that amidst would have been less
out of place, though among would
have been still better.
among, amongst. There is cer¬
tainly no broad distinction cither in
meaning or in use between the two.
The OED illustrates under amongst
each of the separate senses assigned
to among ; it does, however, describe
amongst as ‘ less usual in the primary
local sense than among, &, when so
used, generally implying dispersion,
intermixture, or shifting position ’.
Such a distinction may be accepted
on authority, but can hardly be
made convincing by quotations even
on the liberal scale of the OED.
It is remarkable, at any rate, that
one of the forms should not by this
time have driven out the other (cf.
on & upon, although & though, while
& whilst, amid & amidst). The
survival of both without apparent
differentiation may possibly be due
to the unconscious desire for euphony
or ease ; few perhaps would say
amongst strangers with among to
hand, amongst us is easier to say than
among us. Some confirmation of
this is found by comparing the ratio
borne by initial vowels to initial
consonants after amongst with the
corresponding ratio after among ;
reckoned upon the nineteenth-cen¬
tury quotations in the OED, this
1
AMORAL
ratio is four times as high for
amongst as for among ; though the
total number of quotations is too
small to justify the belief that this
proportion prevails generally, it
probably indicates a tendency. It
may be said with some confidence
that (1) among is the normal word,
(2) amongst is more usual before
vowels, but (3) before the, which
so commonly follows as easily to
outnumber all other initials, the two
forms are used quite indifferently.
amoral, non-moral. See a-, an-.
amour. Being established in Eng¬
lish, & not likely ever to be expelled,
it is better pronounced with the
normal English accent (4'moor).
Retention of a foreign accent un¬
doubtedly discourages the popular
use of a word, & if the word is worth
having at all this is very undesirable.
See French pronunciation.
amour-propre. See French words.
Vanity usually gives the meaning as
well, &, if as well, then better.
amphibol(og)y. See Technical
TERMS.
ample, used as an attributive ad¬
jective in the sense plenty of (he has
a. courage; there is a. time ; a. op¬
portunities were given) is legitimate
only with nouns denoting immaterial
or abstract things. It is often
wrongly attached to nouns that, like
butter , oil, water, coal, denote sub¬
stances of indefinite quantity ; We
have a. water for drinking, There is
a. coal to carry us through the winter,
are wrong. The misuse is perhaps
traceable to four lines of false
analogy: (i) a. is common, & cor-
raotj with such nouns as stabling,
cellarage, accommodation, ammuni -
25, ca tmoney, plant, rolling -
nocK, winch, though used concretely
ii Ves ®° r the real concretes
ce/Zar, apartment &c., powder
coin &c., machine &c.,
ZTj* &c *» are strictly abstract
feT!Z/ 8 “ Pply of * < 2 > though There
cool is wrong. The coal, or Our
^ wr ? n £ ; the explana*
wua is that the coal, our coal L denotes
19
ANAGRAM
a quantity, & is an abstract phrase,
though coal is a concrete word ; this
is only possible when a. is predicative
& not attributive, but it naturally
misleads ; (3) there arc many words
that belong sometimes to the butter
class, & sometimes to the stabling
class ; linen may mean either the
material (a. is then wrong; so We
have a. linen for half-a-dozen shirts),
or supply of linen artic les (a. is then
right ; so They will start house¬
keeping with a. linen, plate, d*
crockery) ; (4) other words with
which in their concrete sense a. is
wrong may in some figurative or
abstract sense take it ; a ship may
have a. water (i.e. space) to turn in,
though the crew cannot have a.
water to drink ; & a. butter may
mean plenty of Mattery though not
plenty of butter.
amplify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
amputate makes am putable. ; see
-ABLE 1.
amuck, the familiar spelling, due to
popular etymology, hut going hack
to the seventeenth century A: well
established, should he maintained
against the Didacticism amok.
amusedly. Four syllables if used :
see -EDLY.
. amusive is best avoided. It serves
in fact (though differentiation might
have taken place) no purpose not
better served by amusing ; & in
spite of its actual age it always
suggests either ignorance or Novel¬
ty-hunting.
an. See a, an.
anachronic, anachronistic. The
long form is better (1) because owing
to the places of its accents (hnakrd'-
nlk, an&'kronl'stik ; cf. an&'kronizm)
its connexion with its noun is more
instantly apparent, & (2) because it
is therefore commoner.
anacoluthon, anacrusis. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
anagoge. See Greek o.
anagram. See Technical terms.
y ■ >'.
ANALOGY
20
ANALOGY, 2
ANALOGY. 1. As a logical re¬
source. 2. As an influence in word-
formation. 3. As a corrupter of
idiom.
1. As a logical resource. The
meaning of analogy in logic is given
under Technical terms ; we are
here little concerned with it ; it is
perhaps the basis of most human
conclusions, its liability to error
being compensated for by the fre¬
quency with which it is the only
form of reasoning available ; but
its literary, not its logical, value is
what we have now to do with. Its
literary merits need not be pointed
out to anyone who knows the
Parables, or who has read the essays
of Bacon or Montaigne, full of
analogies that flash out for the
length of a line or so & are gone :
Money is like muck, not good unless it
be spread. What does need pointing
out is unfortunately its demerit—
the deadly dullness of the elaborate
artificial analogy favoured by journ¬
alists who think it necessary to
write down to their audience & make
their point plain to the meanest
capacity. The journalist has a view
upon the reorganization of the War
Office & the right relations between
Parliament, the Secretary of State,
the Commander-in-Chief, & the
minor officials. He says what he
can, directly, in favour of his view ;
& then, lest ‘our people 1 should
miss the point, he goes on to trans¬
port them into a great household or
estate, & explain what confusion
would result if the owner did not
arrange on a particular plan the re¬
lations of majordomo, butler, cook,
& footmen, or of land-agent, tenants,
grooms, & gardeners. ‘ Our people 1 is
no more familiar with majordomos &
land-agents than with Commanders-
in-Chicf, & so he finds it well to repeat
with emphasized dullness about the
type what he has argued dully enough
about the antitype. Specimens fully
bearing out this generalized descrip¬
tion are too long to quote ; but the
following gives a fair idea of the
essential stupidity of these fabricated
analogies, against which no warning
can be too strong ; they are on a level
with talking to a schoolboy about the
puff-puff; let it be read & compared
with the money that is like muck :
The Government are playing the part
of a man entrusted with the work of
guarding a door beset by enemies, lie
refuses to let them in at once, but pro¬
vides them with a large bag of gold ,
& at the same time hands them out
a crowbar amply strong enough to
break down the door. That is the
Government's idea of preserving the
Union db safeguarding the integrity
of the United Kingdom.
2. As an influence in word-forma¬
tion. In the making of words, & in
the shape that they take, analogy is
the chief agent. Wanting a word to
express about some idea a relation
that we know by experience to be
expressible about other ideas, we
apply to the root or stem associated
with it what strikes us as the same
treatment that has been applied to
those others. That is, we make the
new word on the analogy of the old ;
& in ninety-nine cases we make it
right, being all old hands at the job ;
for each of us, in the course of a day,
makes large numbers of words that
he has never seen in a dictionary or
grammar, & for which his only
warrant is merely an unconscious
conviction that they are analogical;
nearly every inflexion is an instance ;
we are taught, perhaps, that the
past of will is would, or the plural of
ox is oxen, but not that the past
of inflate is inflated or the plural of
book is books ; those forms we make
when we want them by analogy, &
generally make them right. Occa¬
sionally, however, we go wrong:
The total poll midway in December
was 1G,244 so that upwards of half
the electors were abstentients. The
writer wanted a single word for
persons guilty of abstention, & one
too that would not, like abstainer,
make us think of alcohol; dissension
came into his head as rhyming with
abstention ; if that yields, said he,
dissentients , why should abstention
ANALOGY, 3
• <
ANALOGY, 3 _
not yield abstentients ? Because the
correspondence between abstention
& dissension is not quite so close as
he assumed ; if he had remembered
dissentire & abstinere, analogy would
have led him to abstinents instead of
to abstentients. That is a live news¬
paper instance of the fallibility of
analogy, & dead specimens may be
found in any etymological dictionary
—dead in the sense that the un¬
soundness of their analogical basis
excites no attention as we hear the
words. Who thinks of chaotic,
operatic, dilation, dandiacal, & dire¬
ful, as malformations ? yet none of
them has any right to exist except
that the men who made them
thought of eros as a pattern for
chaos, drama for opera, relate for
dilate, maniac for dandy, & dread for
dire, though each pattern differed in
some essential point from the ma¬
terial to be dealt with ; the objection
to some of the words is explained in
the separate articles. These mal¬
formations, it is true, have now all
the rights of words regularly made ;
they have prospered, & none dare
call them treason ; but those who
try their luck with abstentients & the
like must be prepared to pass for
ignoramuses. See also Hybrid
derivatives, & (talking of ignora¬
muses, for which false analogy has
been known to substitute ignorami)
Latin plurals.
3. As a corrupter of idiom. That is
the capacity in which analogy chiefly
requires notice in this book. Under¬
standing by idiom the way in which
it comes natural to an Englishman
to word what he wishes to express,
as opposed to the ways that might
occur to_ an imaginary being pre-
sented^with the bare vocabulary of
J W 1S ? to make himself intelligible
with, & by an idiom anv n articular
combi:
-uwaw, V* pattern UL
or construction, that has
habitual with us to the
of other possibilities, the
fe y analogy upon
■ ® idioms are innumerable,
following extracts each ex-
21
j:
.1
■r. **
V. . >, • fe-.
• I
hi bits an outrage upon idiom, &
each is due to the assumption that
some word or phrase may be treated
in a way that would be legitimate if
another of roughly the same mean¬
ing had been used instead ; that
other is given in a bracket, some¬
times with alternative forms :—
They are capable of braving this
consequence, but we do not think the
public need fear that they will do it
for anything less than what they arc
honestly convinced to he a real
necessity (they honestly believe to
ho)./ The double task was performed
only at the expenditure of laborious
days ct* flights (cost )./T':c feature
mostly remarked upon in his str/le
when contesting individual games was
A •
the comjdete absorption which the
great expert bestowed upon the hoard
(attont ion)./77<o.sr regulations about
good husbandry so unpopular to
farmers ct landlords (unpalatable)./
Iloumania indicated her reluctance
to any step compromising her future
good relations with Germany (re¬
pugnance ; or reluctance to take).
Several English papers attribute a
desire on the part of Canada to do
a little coquetting with the Vnited
States (detect, or conjecture ; or
attribute to Canada)./ Whether such
a scheme would come under the
category of ‘ public utility ’ is am¬
biguous (doubtful). /We should be
sorry to see the slightest obstacle
placed by Free Traders to on honest
cfc dignified withdrawal on the part of
their opponents (opposed ; or placed
in the way of withdrawal)., Ques¬
tions of international law, in which
an intimate acquaintance of Scottish
jurisprudence was particularly useful
(knowledge ; or acquaintance with)./
Mr. II. Belloc, who has not often
admitted to ignorance on any sub¬
ject, has owned . . . (confessed to
ignorance ; or admitted ignorance)./
The Government of this South Ameri¬
can Republic are naturally alert to
the fact that . . . (alive, or awake)./
The newspaper reader who was scared
by placards which alleged to give
authentic news of the naval crisis
ANALYSE
09
(purported, or professed). /It is more
probable that the forecast is imperfect
than that the German Government has
withdrawn its previous compliance
to the whole demand (consent ; or
compliance with)./
These are all casual lapses, each
revealing that the writer is not a
master of idiomatic English, but not
caused by any widespread misappre¬
hension of the meaning of particular
words. There are, however, words
whose sufferings under analogy are
more serious, so that the unidiomatic
substitute tends to supplant the true
English ; some of these, dealt with
in separate articles, are : as well as
( = besides ; see well); anticipate
(= expect) ; advocate (= recom¬
mend) ; aim ( = purpose); claim (=
assert); due to (= owing to); equal
2; foist ( = fob); feasible ( = pos¬
sible) ; hope (= expect); hardly 2
(=no sooner); in order that ( = so
that); instil (= inspire); oblivious
(= insensible) ; possible ( = able);
prefer (= wish rather) ; regard 3
( = consider); superior 3 ( = better);
v arious ( = several). See also the
general articles Object-shuffling,
Slipshod extension, & Cast-iron
idiom ; & examples of wrong ana¬
logy* of less importance, will be
found also under forbid, intimidate,
lethargy, measure, motive, oppor¬
tunity, prejudice, privilege, propen¬
sity, resentment, stigmatize, sufficient,
tend, the more (the 5, 6), tinker, &
value.
analyse is better than analyze , but
merely as being the one of two
equally indefensible forms that has
won. The correct but now impos¬
sible form would be analysize (or
analysise), with analysist for the
existing analyst ; see also -ist.
anapaest, anaphora. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
anarchism. See socialism for
distinction.
anastrophe. See Technical terms.
anchoret, anchorite. The OED
states that the two forms are now
equally common. The first has the
two advantages of representing the
Greek original ( anakhoretes ) more
closely, & corresponding better with
the surviving feminine anchoress
(anchoritess being now archaic).
anchovy. Usually &neh5'vi; rarely,
by Recessive accent, a'nchovi.
anchylose, ankylose. The right
form would be ancylose. The estab¬
lished one is anchylose, with h in¬
serted to preserve the hard sound ;
these irregular devices are regret¬
table, since it is a matter of absolute
indifference whether the hard sound
is preserved or not, while the in¬
serted h puts the Greek scholar off
the track. The form with k, which
is occasionally used, would have
secured the sound more certainly &
not deceived the scholar.
ancien regime. See French words.
and. 1. And which. 2. Bastard
enumeration. 3. Commas in enu¬
meration.
1. For and which see which.
2. Bastard Enumeration. There
is perhaps no blunder by which
journalistic & other hasty writing is
so commonly defaced at present as
the one exemplified in He plays
good cricket, likes golf & a rubber of
whist. The forms of enumeration
with w r hich we need concern our¬
selves in dealing with this are
He is Y & Z (1)
He is (A,) X, Y, & Z (2)
He is (A &) X & Y & Z (3)
He is (A,) Y, Z (4)
N 03 1 & 2 are the ordinary idio¬
matic forms ; 3 is unusual but un¬
objectionable ; 4 is exceptional, &
used only as a sometimes justifiable
stylistic device. The writer of lie
plays &c. (who surely is not, & cer¬
tainly ought not to be, indulging in
stylistic devices) thinks he is using
N° 2, but is in fact using N° 4, with
a N° 1 as one of its members ; he
thinks the items of his enumeration
are three (as they would have been
if he had said <& loves a rubber), but
they are in fact two ; he thinks
he is avoiding the unusual N° 3
(which would require & likes golf &
23
AND, 2
AND, 2
loves a rubber ), but is in fact avoiding
the normal N° 1.
The test for this now prevalent
slovenliness is fortunately very
simple : in a N° 2 (i.e. in the form
we all habitually use for enumera¬
tions of more than two items) there
must be nothing common to two or
more of the items without being
common to all. In the lie ploys
example the word likes is common
to the golf & whist items, but has
no relation to the cricket item. In
the following examples, numerous
because the temptation presents
itself in different forms of greater or
less insidiousness, what is common
to some but not all items is in roman
type; corrections are added i n
brackets ; but it may be said in
general that insertion of the missing
and, from which ignorant writers
shrink consciously or unconsciously,
is usually attended with no more
damage to euphony than that repeti¬
tion of essential words by the fear of
which Elegant variation, in all its
distressing manifestations, is pro¬
duced ; there is nothing to offend
the ear in He plays good cricket, db
likes golf cfc a rubber of whist.
Hence loss of time, of money, cfc
sore trial of patience (reduce to
a N° 1 with a N° 1 in its first
item :— time cfc money, db)./ Penn's
letters are courtly in tone, full of
friendly advice, cfc affectionate wishes
(reduce to 1, with a 1 in second
item :— t fc full ; advice &)./It was
terse, pointed, db a tone of good
humour made it enjoyable (reduce
to 1, with a 1 in first item :— terse cfc
pointed)./ He has his ideals , is well
read, a lover of poetry, db a student
(reduce to 1 with a 2 in second
item:—cfc is)./ His workmen are
better housed, better fed, db get a third
rnore in wages (reduce to 1 with a 1 in
nrat item:— housed db fed)./ He has
advanced with the rapidity of
who was * called ' at the
Temple in 1894, became
1895, cfc a Bencher in 1900
to 1:— who, after being
alike had recruited , trained.
cfc knetv by heart all the men under
him (reduce to 1 with a 1 in first
item :— had recruited cfc trained cfc
knerv)./ Unemployed workmen gather¬
ed before the buildings, hooted the
prince when he entered them, cfc on
his departure (reduce to 1 by placing
a comma before gathered or removing
that after buildings)./. . . Seippcrg.
who countermamruvred with vigil¬
ance, good judgtncnt, cfc would not come
to action (reduce to 1 with a 1 in
first item :—vigilance cfc good).
Make some sacrifice in order to pas^
the Appropriation llill. the Finance
Hill, the Expiring Laws Continu¬
ance Act, cfc make progress with . . .
(reduce to 1 with a 2 in first item :—
Hill, cfc the Expiring). Ear it fail •>
to include many popular superstitions.
docs not evidence any great care in
its composition, cfc its arrangement is
amateurish (correct into 2 :—cfc is
amateurish in arrangement )./ The
Protectionist method is extremely
wasteful, quickly exhausted, inflicts
the maximum of injury on con-
sumers, cfc on the great majority t<j
producers (the blunder is cloubh* :
make two 1 s :—wasteful cfc quickhi
exhausted ; if)./In 1880 he rode in
Australia, Africa, cfc two i/ears ago
he rode over the Pyrenees (reduce to
1 with a 1 in first item :—Australia
cfc Africa)./Light is thrown upon
Herrick's friendships, travelling, his
life as a Cavalier, cfc as I icar of
Dean Prior (double blunder ; reduce
to 1 with a 1 in each item :—
Herrick's friendships cfc travels, cfc his
life both as).
A few bad enumerations are added
for which carelessness rather than
a wrong theory seems responsible.
The centuries during which the white
man kidnapped, enslaved, ill-treated,
db made of the black a beast of burden
(cfc made a beast of burden of ; or
cfc ill-treated the black cfc made him a).
He has been successively Governor of
the Gold Coast, has done good work in
Hong Kong, cfc has governed Natal
(has successively been ; Coast, done ;
cfc governed). /Many of these author¬
esses are rich, influential, db are
AND, 3
24
ANENT
surrounded by sycophants who . . .
(<& surrounded)./It is true he has
worked upon old material, has in¬
dulged in no more serious research
than a perusal of the English do
French chronicles of the age & most
of the modern works dealing with the
subject (material do indulged).
3. And & commas in enumerations
of the (A,) X, Y, & Z form (i.e., such
as :—Every man woman cb child
was killed ; Blue brown do grey
eyes ; Blue eyes skies do ties ; An
honest sober do industrious man ;
Some French Latin do other words
have been borrowed).
There is no agreement at present
on the punctuation ; we may see
Every man, woman, do child, was
killed ; Every man, woman, do child
was killed ; Every man, woman cb
child , was killed ; Every man, woman
cb child was killed.
This licence, however, often leaves
readers helpless against ambiguity ;
e.g., if the comma after the last item
is a matter of indifference, the reader
faced with A party formidable, in¬
telligent, cb numerous outside the
House cannot possibly tell whether
the limitation outside &c. applies to
all three adjectives or only to the
last ; & if the comma before the
and is indifferent, he cannot tell
whether, in All the most important
documents, declarations cb resolutions,
which comprise the American con¬
stitution, he has three separate items
(documents, declarations, resolu¬
tions), or whether the second &
third are the two items that make
up the first.
The only rule that will obviate such
uncertainties is that after every
item, including the last unless a
heavier stop is needed for indepen¬
dent reasons, the comma should be
used (hvery man, woman, cb child,
was railed ; They killed every man,
woman, cb child.).
Accordingly, in the ambiguous ex-
• mples above, a comma should be
serted after numerous, & one after
declarations. Those examples are
ual extracts from newspapers, &
more such extracts follow, with
corrections : — The only plan is . . .
to bring all the resources of the Poor
Law, the local authorities, do charity
to bear on the rest ( charity , to)./Little
more than reading, writing, arithmetic ,
drawing, do singing is taught ( singing ,
is)./This humourist, sentimentalist, do
not too reverent agnostic must find
life packed with entertainment ( agnos¬
tic, must)./ The cost of renting, repair¬
ing & improving transferred school
buildings ( repairing, cb improving,
transferred)./The modes in which I
now feel, desire, cb think arise out
of the modes in which 1 have pre¬
viously done so (think, arise)./The
design do scope of it do credit to the
organizers cb planners, the artists do
architects, cb the men of business who
have worked together in preparing it
(business , who. Misinterpretation is
obviated ; for the relative clause
probably belongs to all the items)./
The smooth grey of the beech stem,
the silky texture of the birch & the
rugged pine do oak (birch, do. With¬
out this, pine & oak have silky
texture).
One concession, however, must be
made. Among the examples cor¬
rected above there are none of the
type in which several adjectives
enumerated as (A,) X, Y, & Z are
attached to a following noun. The
rule would require us to write They
have blue, brown, cb grey, eyes ; Some
French, Latin, cb other, words have
been borrozved. These being intoler¬
able, it is clear that a loophole must
be made ; & an analogy that wall
serve is offered by the invariable
form of the corresponding enumera¬
tion without and. Logic would
require A sober, honest, industrious,
man ; but we wiite A sober, honest,
industrious man ; & the same licence
must be recognized for Some French,
Latin, cb other words.
andantino. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
anemone. Puzzling to pronounce ;
an emine(nce), not an enemy, gives
the order of consonants.
anent, apart from its use in Scotch
ANTAGONIZE
aneurysm
law-courts, where it is in place, is
chiefly met with in letters to the
press ; that is, it is a favourite with
unpractised writers who, on their
holiday excursions into print, like to
show that they possess gala attire.
See Archaism. Anent is often found
in the company of dubious syntax
& sense, as in :— Sir ,— Your remarks
today on the result of the Canadian
election anent the paragraph in the
Philadelphia Record is, 1 am glad to
see, the first sign of real appreciation
of .. .(is should be are ; & he is not
glad that it is the first sign).
aneurysm, not aneurism. The y is
due to Greek eurus wide ; the false
form suggests the totally different
sense nervelessness ; cf. mesembrian-
THEMUM.
angel. Talk of an a. is a Genteel-
ism.
angina. To say h'njlna was long
regarded as a sad lapse from Latin-
ity, & hnji'na was expected of all
educated persons. Progress in
Plautine prosody has revealed that
the i was short in Latin, & OED
gives precedence to 5'njlna. See
False quantity.
angle n., angle v., angler. The
noun angle (fish-hook) is now hardly
used except in the Battered orna¬
ment brother of the a. The verb is
chiefly a stylish synonym (see
Working & stylish words) for
fish. Angler, on the other hand, has
a real use, since fisher is archaic, &
fisherman is assumed, unless context
forbids, to mean one who makes his
living by fishing with nets.
anglice, -c& See LATINE.
Anglo- Ind i an . For ambiguous
meaning, see mulatto 4.
MUdn, ancle. The -k- is usual.
an nihila te makes -lable ; see -able 1.
announce. See Formal words.
A bad form; see -edly.
So spelt, but -lied &c. ; see
UtoUBciatlon. Pronounce -sla- ;
*®® -OUTKW.
For one a . see each 2 :
for But that is a. story sec Hack¬
neyed phrases.
ant is usually pronounced ftnt,
without the north-&-south variation
between & & ah (as in can’t, grass,
path), by way of differentiation
from aunt.
an’t. See be 7.
antagonize. As a synonym for
oppose , resist , neutralize, counteract ,
the word is recognized in diction¬
aries ; but the OKI) quotations for
it arc far from impressive, <Sr it may
safclv be said that the occasions are
rare indeed when one of those words
would not be preferable to it. It
docs appear in those Fcnses in
modern journalism, but perhaps
never without producing an effect of
vulgar display ; sec Working &
stylish words. One or two quota¬
tions may be given in which there
can be no doubt of the meaning :—
Socrates ends by saying that :ce should
antagonize gambling on the ground of
its being bad business d* not as being
bad morals. / Every attnnjd to sub¬
stitute coercion for persuasion is a
reversion In the very ideals rchich
Labour collectively professes to an¬
tagonize. /The Democrats haie given
notice of a determination to antagonize
this <£* all other Bills for . . . The last
is from the OEI), which states that
this use (person opposing thing) is
American English only ; the first
two examples show that it has since
appeared in England ; it is to be
hoped than it may not last on either
side of the Atlantic.
But a. has another sense in which it
does good service, A' should certainly
not be banned. That is to rouse or
incur the hostility of, to expose one-
self by one’s action to the enmity of.
This sense probably comes also from
America, where it is commoner than
in England ; but its usefulness is so
obvious that we should welcome it.
As the OED has only one example,
a few quotations may be worth
giving to enable readers to judge of
its merits ; it should be observed
that the idea is not oppose , though
opposing is implied, but something
ANTENNA
26
ANTI-SAXONISM
more complicated & perhaps not
otherwise expressible in one word :—
But the President was afraid to
antagonize Senator Aldrich & the
other leaders of the Stand-pat Repub¬
licans./Rather than antagonize the
two New England Senators on whom
the woollen manufacturers were lean¬
ing, he signed a re-enactment of the
notorious Schedule K./The Reci¬
procity Bill was passed; but by
pressing it through Congress Presi¬
dent Taft antagonized both the Stand¬
patters & the Insurgent Republicans./
Hulme, with his militarist impulse in
thought, had a rare gift for forcing
people to dissent from him ; no one
could more successfully antagonize
from a lecture-platform an audience
assembled with the most docile inten¬
tions./We are heartily in favour of
doing nothing to antagonize the princes
& chiefs of India./Tenderness to
Germany would not have conciliated
that country & would have antagonized
our Allies./The Government will seek
to employ its majority to carry out a
home programme that will antagonize
the electors./It assumes infallibility
& warns off critics in a tone of deter¬
mination sufficient to antagonize the
man who approaches its findings with
an open mind. In some of these
estrange would pass, but in most it
would be unsuitable.
antenna. PI. -nae.
antepenult. See Technical terms.
Anthony is spelt with & pronounced
without h.
anthropoid. Either S.nthrd'poid or
5 nthropoid is legitimate ; see False
QUANTITY.
anthropophagi. See Greek g.
anticipate. 1. A. makes -pable ;
see -able 1.
f i' use. Exhibitions of
feeling were, of course, anticipated to
take place on Monday./This book,
which, we repeat, might have been
anticipated to contain a manifesto of
the aims of the young intellectuals
of America, proves to be . . ./A note¬
worthy act which may be anticipated
to have far-reaching effects in the
future of the Balkan situation. The
OED has nine separately numbered
definitions, & 35 quotations, for
anticipate. None of the definitions,
& none of the quotations, suggest
the possibility of such a use as is
seen in all the above newspaper
extracts ; the writers have thought
their sentences with the homely
expect, which would have served
perfectly, & then written them with
the Formal word anticipate ; Ana¬
logy has duped them into supposing
that since it vaguely resembles
expect in sense it must be capable of
the same construction.
anticlimax. See Technical terms.
antiphlogistine &c. See Greek g.
antipodes. Pronounce finti'podez.
Though antipode is said still to exist
as a singular ( Selfishness is the very
antipode of self-love), the modern
idiom is to use the plural form only,
treating it as a singular when it
means thing diametrically opposite
(The antipodes of selfishness is self-
love).
antiquarian. Both this & antiquary
were formerly used as adjectives &
nouns. Now that antiquary has been
restricted to the noun use, & anti¬
quarian has become chiefly adjec¬
tival, the absolute restriction of the
latter to the adjective use seems
very desirable.
ANTI-SAXONISM. There are, in¬
deed, no anti-Saxonists, properly
speaking ; that is to say, anti-
Saxonism is not, like its verbal
counterpart Saxonism, a creed ; but,
if it is not a creed, it is a propensity
& a practice that goes far to account
for the follies of Saxonism, & is here
named on that ground. Happen¬
ings & forewords & forebears & bird-
lore & wheelman & betterment are
almost justified as a revulsion from
the turgid taste that finds satis¬
faction in transpire & materialize &
eventuate, optimism & mentality,
idiosyncrasy & psychological moment,
proposition & protagonist, in con¬
nexion with & with reference to. All
astistrophe
AORIST
of these are now in constant use, &
often misuse ; that the meaning of
many of them is vague is a recom¬
mendation to one kind of writer as
saving him the trouble of choosing
between more precise synonyms, &
to one kind of reader as a guarantee
that clear thought is not going to be
required of him ; a further account
of the attraction of such words will
be found in Love of the long word.
Others are chosen not because they
are, like these, in constant use, but
because they are not; to say nomen¬
clature instead of name, replica for
copy, premier for first, major for
greater, evince for show, malnutrition
for underfeeding, prior to for before,
is Avoidance of the obvious ; &
Pedantic humour suggests gulosity,
cacophonous, osculatory, sartorial, &
cachinnation.
Anti-Saxonism, then, is here used
as a name for the frame of mind that
turns away not so much from the
etymologically English vocabulary
as from the homely or the simple or
the clear ; it may perhaps have been
observed that the word given above
as preferable to replica was copy,
which is no more Saxon than replica ;
it is more English, for all that, j ust
as ridiculous is more English than
risible. Readers who would like to
study the effect of yielding to the
practice will find quotations under
nearly all the words that have been
given as specimens, in their separate
articles; & for others half a dozen
are here collected, most of them
containing rather a misuse than a
raere use of the word concerned :—
he had the most tremendous
optimism in the future triumph of his
cause./Pleasing <fc original also are
ofc'tendscqpes in which vegetation is
sawn the meticulous significance
«*n»mscent of the douanier Rous-
the Small Rodent House ,
busy sticking
SLs^Wf 1, through his long biU,
1:0 *** eavesdroppers./Nei-
nor Great Britain could
such an eventuality at the
Snncture./The 6s. increase
in the price of coal may not material¬
ize after all.
antistrophe, antithesis. Sec Tecd-
NICAI, TERMS.
antitype. See type.
anxious. The objections made to
it in the sense eager (to hear, improve,
go, &e.) us a modernism, & in the
sense calculated to cause anxiety (It
is a very a. business ; You will find
her an a. charge) as an archaism, arc
negligible ; both are natural deve¬
lopments, the first is almost univer¬
sally current, & the second is still
not infrequent.
any. 1. Compounds. Anybody,
anything, anyhow, anipchcrc, any-
when, aniftL'hithcr, are always single
words ; so also the adverb anipcisc
(but in any wise) ; for anyone, any
one, see one ; any way is best written
as two words (I cannot manage it any
way) except perhaps when it means
at all events, however that may be, at
any rate (Any way , or Anyway,
J can endure it no longer) ; at any
rate, not at anyrate.
2. He is the most generous man of
anyone 1 know.
This common idiom, which looks
illogical (of all 1 know being the
logical form) is no doubt defensible
as a development or survival of the
archaic type Caesar, the greatest
traveller, of a prince, that had ever
been. Of there means in the way of,
& we should now write for instead
of it. But that sense of of being
preserved in this idiom alone, the
idiom itself is not likely long to
resist the modern dislike of the
illogical. It therefore seems desir¬
able to avoid such things as :—
Edward Prince of Wales is the
eighteenth who has borne that title, the
most illustrious, perhaps, of any heir-
apparent in the world (more illus¬
trious than that of any)./The Standard
Oil Company is credited with having
the largest Eastern trade of any
American enterprise (of all American
enterprises ; or a larger trade than
any other).
aorlst. See Technical terms.
A OUTRAN CE
28
APT
& outrance. See a l’outrance, &
French words.
apercu. See French words.
anpx For plural see -ex, -ix, 4*
aphaeresis, aphetic. See Tech-
NICAL TERMS.
aplomb. See French words.
apocope } apodosis. See Technical
TERMS. , , , ,, o
apophthegm should be so spelt, &
pronounced &'pofth£m. The word
is not a popular one ; to drop the pn
in spelling conceals the derivation ;
& there is no more reason for drop¬
ping it in sound than for that con¬
version of it into p in diphthong &
diphtheria which is a notorious
vulgarism.
aposiopesis, a posteriori. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
apostle. See Pronunciation,
Silent t.
Apostrophe. See Possessive
puzzles, & -ed & ’d, for some points
concerning its use ; &, for the sense
in rhetoric, Technical terms.
The double 1 is better ;
In any case died
appal(l).
see -ll-, -L-, 3.
&c., see -LL-, —L-, I.
a(p)panage. Either form will do ;
appa - is perhaps commoner in
general, & apa- in learned, use.
apparent(ly). 1. Either pronuncia¬
tion (-arent, -&rent) is legitimate ;
see False quantity. 2. For com¬
mas before & after apparently , see
therefore. 3. Heir apparent.
appeared is liable to the same mis¬
use as seemed with the Perfect
infinitive.
appendix. PI. -dices (-sez) or -dixes
(-iz) ; see -ex, -ix, 4.
applicable. See Recessive accent.
apply. For inflexions see Verbs in
-IE &c., 6.
apposition. See Technical terms.
appraisal. See -al nouns.
appreciate makes -ciable ; see
-ABLE 1.
appreciation. See -ciation.
apprehend -ension, comprehend
-ension. So far as the words are
liable to confusion, i.e. as synonyms
of understanding ), the ap - forms
denote the getting hold or grasping,
& the com- forms the having hold or
full possession, of what is under¬
stood. What is beyond my appre¬
hension I have no cognizance of;
what is beyond my comprehension
I am merely incapable of fully
understanding. To apprehend a
thing imperfectly is to have not
reached a clear notion of it ; to
comprehend it imperfectly is almost
a contradiction in terms. I appre¬
hend that A is B advances an
admittedly fallible view; I compre¬
hend that A is B states a presum¬
ably indisputable fact.
apprise, not -ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
appropriate, v., makes -priable ;
see -able 1.
a priori. See Technical terms.
apropos is so clearly marked by its
pronunciation as French, & the
French construction is, owing to
d propos de bottes, so familiar, that
it is better always to use of rather
than to after it ; probably to is
partly accounted for by some con¬
fusion with appropriate ( His inter¬
polation of stories that were not
always strictly apropos to the country
through which we were passing). See
French words.
apt, liable. Followed by to with
the infinitive in the senses having an
unfortunate tendency (apt), exposed
to a risk (liable), the words are so
near in meaning that one of them
(liable ) is often wrongly used for the
other. It may perhaps be laid down
that apt is the right word except
when the infinitive expresses not
merely an evil, but an evil that is
one to the subject. This is so, &
therefore liable is right, in :— We are
l. to be overheard (being overheard is
an evil to us) ; Matince-hat wearers
are l. to be insulted ; The goods are
l. to suffer. It is not so, & therefore
apt is the only word, in :— Curses
are a. to come home to roost (the evil
is not to the curses, but to the
curser) ; Damage is a. to be done ;
Matinee hats are a. to cause ill-
ARE, IS
temper; Difficulties are a. to occur ;
Lams* vows are a. to be broken. It
is usually not so, & therefore apt is
usually the right word, in :—He is
a. to promise more than he can per¬
form (but liable , if the evil suggested
is the shame he feels) ; Cast iron is
a. to break (but liable , if we are sorry
for the iron & not for its owner).
Since liable is apt to encroach, &
apt is liable to suffer neglect, the
best advice is never to use l. till a.
has been considered & rejected.
aquarium. PI. -urns, -a ; see -um.
Arab, Arabian, Arabic. With ex¬
ceptions for a phrase or two, such as
gum arabic, the three adjectives arc
now differentiated, Arab meaning
of the Arabs, Arabian of Arabia, &
Arabic of the language or writing or
literature of the Arabs. So we have an
Arab horse, child, girl, chief, sheikh;
Arab courage, fanatics, fatalism, tradi¬
tions, philosophy’, the Arabian gulf,
desert, fauna & flora; Arabian gales ;
the Arabic numerals; an Arabic
word; Arabic writing, literature.
Arab & Arabian can sometimes be
used indifferently; thus an Arab
village is one inhabited by Arabs ; if
it happens to be in Arabia it is also
an Arabian village , & may be called
by either name ; the Arab war is one
with Arabs ; the Arabian war is one
Arabia; & the two may be one.
Also^rabtanmaystill be used instead
of Arab of what belongs to or goes
back to the past, as Arabian records,
monuments, philosophy, conquests.
arbitrate makes -trable; see -able 1 .
arbo(u)r. Keep the -u-; but see
-OUB & -OB.
arch, adj. For meaning see
Jocose. B
arch-, arche-, archl-. Though the
arr* 3 * arC n* & c 0 * s pronounced
£2? Proao^oed arkl: so arch-
/j. *f but archiepiscopal
^ ch is bard in
®^g^arcftt»wndrite, Archimedes,
are hitectonic, architrave .
ARCHAISM. A certain number of
words through the book arc referred
to this article, & such reference,
where nothing more is said, is in¬
tended to give warning that the
word is dangerous except in the
hands of an experienced writer who
can trust his sense of congruity ;
archaic words thrust into a common¬
place context to redeem its ordinari¬
ness arc an abomination. More
detailed remarks will be found in
the general articles Incongruous
VOCABULARY, REVIVALS, SUBJUNC¬
TIVES, <£: NVardouh Street. Parti¬
cular words under which the ques¬
tion of archaism is discussed are
anent, arride, aught, bounden, break¬
fast, burthen, chide, choler(ic), con¬
fident (n.), derringdo, e.rccjit (conj.),
fall (autumn), forebears, forenoon,
gotten, howbeit, parlous, jierehance,
sandblind, sme (prep.), subtle, sur¬
cease ; & a few specimens of those
for which the mere reference de¬
scribed above has been thought
sufficient arc albeit, bashaw, belike,
betwixt, broidcr(y), eertes, damsel,
fortune (vb), peradventurc, quoth(a),
& whit.
archipelago. PI. -ns ; sec -o(e)s 7.
ardo(u)r. Keep the -u- ; but see
•OUR & -OR.
area. For synonyms sec field.
are. Is. When one of these is
required between a subject & a
complement, that differ in number
(these things ... a scandal), the verb
must follow' the number of the sub¬
ject (are, not is, a scandal). The
wages of sin is death is an archaism ;
we do not now say his wages is, but
are, a pound a week ; & we do not
say a pound are, but is, his wages ;
when, as here, subject & complement
can change places without alteration
of sense, so that it may be doubted
which is which, the verb must agree
with what precedes, & not with
what follows ; when, however, the
undoubted subject happens, as in a
question, to follow, the verb agrees
with it, as But what proof are, not
is, these (acts of your theory t. In
argot
30
ARRIDE
accordance with these rules, are & is
should replace the roman-type is &
are in : — Apparently what that school
desires to see are pipe-clayed & brass-
buttoned companies of boys./But the
moral inconsistencies of our con¬
temporaries is no proof thereof ./The
pages which describe how ... is
a typical piece of description./The
only difficulty in Finnish are the
changes undergone by the stem./What
is really practical about soldiering in
the field are long marches, continuous
operations . . ./What we want are
300,000 or more Territorials.
argot. See French words, &, for
meaning & use, Jargon.
arguing in a circle. See Technical
TERMS.
argumentum ad —. See Technical
TERMS.
arise, in the literal senses of getting
up & mounting, has given place
except in poetic or archaic use to
rise. In ordinary speech & writing
it means merely to come into exis¬
tence or notice or to originate from,
& that usually (but cf. new prophets
a. from time to time) of such abstract
subjects as question, difficulties, doubt,
occasion, thoughts, result, effects.
Aristotele'an, Aristote'lian. ‘ The
latter more common ’—OED. Cf.
Mephistophelian, Herculean.
arithmetical. See progression.
armadillo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 7.
arme blanche. See French ■words.
armistice. Pronounce ar'mistis, not
armi'stis ; see Recessive accent.
armo(u)r. Keep the u ; but see
-OUR & -OR.
arms (weapons). The singular is
late, rare, & best avoided. Instead
of describing a particular pattern of
rifle or sword as ‘ a beautifully
balanced arm ’, it is worth while to
take the trouble of remembering
weapon. We do well to sacrifice the
exhaustive brevity of The report of
a fire-arm was heard & risk am¬
biguity with gun, inaccuracy with
pistol, or extravagance with pistol,
rifle, or gun, —unless, of course, we
have the luck to hit upon shot. The
only sense in which the singular is
idiomatic ( either arm = cavalry or
infantry ; each arm = cavalry, in¬
fantry, & artillery) is made tolerable,
perhaps, by suggesting the other
arm & being interpreted as branch
of the service (cf. the secular arm).
army & navy. This, the familiar
order, is rightly corrected in toasts,
public speeches, & the like, into
Navy & Army ; but where pre¬
cedence is not in question it is both
needless & impossible to get the
correction accepted.
around is, in British use, a dis¬
appearing variant of round. It is
still the normal form in certain
combinations, as a. & about, (the
air) a. & above {us), all a. (are signs
of decay) ; & it can be used without
being noticeable in a few of the
senses of round, as seated a. the table,
diffuses cheerfulness a. her, spread
destruction a. But it is hardly
possible to say winter comes a., all
the year a., win one a., send the hat a.,
a room hung a. with pictures, travel a.
the world, show one a. American
usage is quite different ; among the
examples in an American dictionary
are the following impossibilities for
an Englishman :— lie went through,
but I ran a.’, He turned a .; The earth
turns a. on its axis ; Go a. to the post
office ; The church a. the corner ; Loaf
a. the city.
arouse. The relation of this to
rouse is much like that of arise to
rise ; that is, rouse is almost always
preferred to it in the literal sense &
with a person or animal as object.
A. is chiefly used with the senses
call into existence, occasion, & with
such abstracts as suspicion, fears,
cupidity, passions, as object of the
active or subject of the passive :—
This at once aroused my suspicions ;
Cupidity is easily aroused. Not
I shook his arm, but failed to a. him.
arpeggio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
arrant makes -est ; see -er & -est, 4.
arride. See Archaism. Its modern
vogue is no doubt attributable to
Charles Lamb.
• •
arri^re-pen s i£e
81
arridre-pensGe. See French words.
arrive. For the absolute sense
reach success or recognition see
Gallicisms.
arsis. See Technical, terms.
art. For the broad distinction be¬
tween a. & science , see science.
articulate, vb, makes -table ; sec
-ABLE 1.
artiste. 1. The word is applicable
to either sex; artists & artistes
as a phrase for male & female per¬
formers is a mere blunder.
2. In the sense professional singer,
dancer , or other public performer,
artiste serves a useful purpose ; i t i s
best restricted to this use, in which
it conveys no judgement that the
performance is in fact artistic ; if it
is desired to intimate that a cook,
tailor, hairdresser, &c., or an artiste,
makes his occupation into a fine art,
artist, & not artiste, is the right
word :— He is quite an artist ; What
an artist!
Arty, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
as. 1 . Equally as. 2. Causal as
placed late. 3. As to. 4. As if, as
though. 5. As, relative pronoun.
6. Omission of as. 7. As = in the
capacity of. 8. Case after as. 9. As
a fact. 10. As well as. 11. As
follow(s) &c.
1. For the illiterate equally as (good
&e.), see equally.
, Causal as placed late, as mean¬
ing Bince, because, seeing that, for,
«c. To. causal or explanatory as-
dauses, if they are placed before the
mam sentence (As he only laughed
f» my arguments , 1 gave it up) there
is no objection. The reverse order
gave it up, as he only laughed at
my arguments ) is, except when the
get adduced is one necessarily
known to the hearer or reader
Present to his mind (1 need not
f* y ° U know in-
Werable to anyone with a literary
All good writers instinctively
frail, but, being common in
k® 76 not yet learnt that
*s an art & that sen¬
tences require arrangement. The
first passage quoted suggests the
kind of writer most liable to this
mainly illiterate weakness ; the
second & third, with their successive
as-clauses, exhibit the total lack of
ear that accompanies it ; & a few
other gross offences arc added :—
One is pleased to find that Mr P.
Gannon still maintains his form, as
he won the Open Challenge cup in
face of such opponents as ". . ./The
Sunningdalc. man, indeed, put up a
most strenuous fight, as his 1.14
equalled the total of . . . Mr Carlisle's
golf, howcicr, t eas much more con¬
sistent than Mr Gannon's, as to his
two 77's Mr Gannon opposed an 82
a 71./They strongly advocate a
diminution on the petroleum duly, as
it would lead to a great increase of
work, it being largely used for in¬
dustrial purposes, as coal is scarce
here. / The reduction of the interest
on Italian Consols represents a very
great event for the young kingdom,
as it shows what a large credit it
enjoys, especially abroad, as that
operation could not be carried out
without the assistance of French d:
German bankers./Frivolous applica¬
tions are fully guarded against, as
there must accompany the application
a statutory declaration./The Govern¬
ment have been induced to take this
course as they are much impressed by
the great value of the discoveries made./
The sketch of Milton's life is inserted
in this volume as it illustrates some
points that occur in the Sonnets.
3. As to. This has a legitimate
use—to bring into prominence at the
beginning of a sentence something
that without it would have to stand
later (As to Smith, it is impossible to
guess what line he will take) ; it has,
for instance, been wrongly omitted
in : Whether the publishers will re¬
spond to Sir Charles Stanford's
appeal or not it is too early to speak
with any confidence. A spurious
imitation of legitimacy occurs when
as to introduces what would even
without it stand at the head of the
sentence, as in: As to how far such
AS, 4
32
AS, 4
reinforcements are available this is
quite another matter ; omit ‘ as to
& ‘ this ’, & the order is unaffected ;
the writer has chosen to get out of
the room by a fire-escape when the
door was open.
Apart from this, it is usually either
a slovenly substitute for some simple
preposition ( Proper notions as to [of]
a woman's duty./She had been sarcas¬
tic as to [about] his hunting./Piece of
business as to [upon] which Dr.
Thorne had been summoned./Ban¬
tered himself as to [on] his own want
of skill./The manufacturer complains
that everything as to [concerning] the
future is left to the whim of the Board
of Trade./A singular degree of rarity
prevails as to [among] the earlier
editions of this romance) ; or entirely
otiose (The only points on which the
Government found fault were [as to]
the Permanent Settlement and [as to]
the system on which . . ./You ask the
pertinent question [as to] how many
of the doctors who signed the pledge
were practising./It appeared to be
somewhat uncertain [as to] whether
the new doclcs scheme would be com¬
menced at the Tilbury or the Albert
Dock end./Asked [as to] what effect
the arrest of the players would have
on the American tour, Mr. Yeats
said . . ./With the idea of endeavour¬
ing to ascertain [as to] this./Doubt is
expressed [as to] whether this will
affect the situation./The question [as
to] how far the Sultan will . . .).
As might be expected, those who
put their trust in a phrase that is
usually cither vague or otiose are
constantly betrayed by it into
positive bad grammar : Unless it
has some evidence as to whom the
various ideas belong (i.e. as to to
whom)./.l different dance according
as to whether the child is a male or
a female (i.e. according as the child
is)./It is open to doubt as to what
extent individual saving prevails, and
Ao two people seem to agree as to
what extent it is one country and one
race (i.e. as to to what extent). /It is
not quite clear as to what happened
(This implies the ungrammatical As
to what happened is not clear instead
of the normal What happened is not
clear)./ The question does not relate
solely to the possibility of Mr. Whit¬
aker accepting appointment, but also
as to whether any more suitable
candidate can be suggested (‘ relate
as to ’ ?—relativity would seem to
be as upsetting to Priscian as to
Euclid). The popular favourites :
The question as to whether. The doubt
as to whether , may almost be included
among the ungrammatical develop¬
ments, since the doubt or question
demands an indirect question in
simple apposition ; in such forms as
Doubts are expressed as to whether,
the ‘as to ’ is not incorrect, but
merely repulsive ; An interesting
question therefore remains as to how
far science will provide us with the
power may lawfully be written ; The
interesting &c. may not.
4. As if, as though. These should
invariably be followed by a past
conditional, & not by a present form
(would, not will ; could, not can ;
did, not does ; teas or were, not is ;
had gone, not has gone ; knew, not
knows). The full form of the incor¬
rect It is scanned curiously, as if
mere scanning will resolve its nature
is It is scanned curiously, as it would
be scanned if mere scanning would
resolve its nature ; & the omission
of it would be scanned leaves would
resolve unchanged. As though, about
which the same demonstration is
not possible, is precisely equiva¬
lent to as if, & is subject to the
same rule ; & the rule applies
to the still more elliptical use of
either form in exclamations (^4s if,
or As though, you didn't [not don't ]
know that !) as well as to the use
with an expressed main sentence.
The mistake of putting the verb in
a present tense is especially common
after it looks or seems, where there
is the insufficient excuse that the
clause gives a supposed actual fact ;
but it is spreading so fast that
sometimes the supposition is ad¬
mittedly false : — But it looks for the
moment as if these will \would] have
83
• .
AS, 5
AS, 6
to tot abandoned. / It looks as if a new
lot of men have [had] sprung up who
mil [would] require their share of the
public plunder./ I'o the observer from
without it seems as if there has [had\
been some lack of stage-management./
Tariff Reformers have received the
result of the Canadian elections as
though they now expect[ed\ Canada
to give a greater preference to British
goods./lt is not as though a sound
liquor is [was or were J supplied.
5. As, relative pronoun. The dis¬
tinction between as the relative pro¬
noun, capable of serving as subject
or object of a verb, & as the relative
adverb, not capable of so serving,
must be grasped if a well-marked
type of blunder is to be avoided.
Examples of the blunder arc :—
The ratepayers have no direct voice
infixing the amount of the levy, as is
possessed by the unions./ The visit to
Reoal would be an official visit paid
by the King to the Emperor , as had
been paid previously to other sove¬
reigns./Some nasty things were said
about him, as have been said about
others./ The decision to send a special
mission is not intended as anything
more than a mere act of international
courtesy, as is customary on such
occasions./ The best substitute is not
another specialist, but the man trained
to act for himself in all circumstances,
as it has been the glory of our nation
to produce./WiM a speed of eight
tfwote, as has been found practicable,
we passage would occupy five days./
inere were not two dragon sentries
™ep*ng ward, as in magic legend are
usually found on duty. If these
sentences, ^ the faultiness of which
Probably be admitted at sight,
Me examined, it will be seen that
each two cures are possible:
s , ub ? tltute for os an un-
other is to insert a missing
as ^ i 08 one ** possessed;
have been said f as such
SSJtf ? customary; as it has
been our glory to produce him ; as
it has been found practicable to
steam ; as dragons arc usually
found). Either method of correction
suggests the same truth, that as in
these sentences is not a relative
pronoun, & has been wrongly
treated as one, though an adverb.
The fact is that when as is used as
a relative pronoun the antecedent
is never a simple noun that has
already been expressed (which must
he represented by an ordinary rela¬
tive— such as, which, who, that), hut
a verb or verbal notion, or a pre¬
viously unexpressed noun, that has
to he gathered from the main
sentence. Tlius we cannot say To
affect poverty, as is vow often affected
(i.c. which poverty is affected) ; hut
W'c can say 'To affect poverty, as is
now often done (i.c*. which affecting
is done). If this test is applied to
the incorrect sentences above, it will
he found that each antecedent of the
supposed relative pronoun is of the
illegitimate kind, a simple expressed
noun— voice, visit, things, courtesy,
man, speed, sentries. It may perhaps
occur to the reader that a legitimate
substitute for as is possessed by the
unions in the first example would
he as the unions have, that as then
represents which voice conse¬
quently invalidates our rule ; that
it seems to do so, however, is owing
to a peculiarity of the verb have.
The ratepayers possess no voice, as
the unions do ; the ratepayers exer¬
cise no voice, as the unions do ; the
ratepayers have no voice, as the unions
(not do, hut) have ; have (in the
sense possess), being never repre¬
sented like other verbs by do, is
allowed when used where do would
be substituted for any other verb
to take the construction proper to
do ; as the unions possess it or do ;
as the unions exercise one or do ; but
as the unions have simply.
On the other hand, failure to
recognize that as is a relative pro¬
noun sometimes produces mistakes
of a different kind :— Epeiros, as it
is well known, was anciently in -
c
34
ASHAMEDLY
AS, 6
habited by ... (as = which fact, & it
is therefore impossible unless as is
omitted).// do not think, as appar¬
ently does Mr 'Thorne, that • • • (as
which thinking, & the inversion is
impossible ; read as Mr Thorne
apparently does).
6. Omission of as. As is com¬
monly but wrongly omitted after the
verb regard, especially when com¬
plications arise with another as
similar to that in But it is not so
much as a picture of the time as a
study of humanity that Starvecrow
Farm claims attention (as as a study
has been too much for even a literary
critic’s virtue) ; ef. the omissions of
to in the as to quotations (3 above).
7. As = in the capacity of. When
this is used, care must be taken
to avoid the mistake corresponding
to what is called the unattached
participle ; we can say lie gave this
advice as leader of the opposition, or
This advice was given by him as
leader, he & him supplying the point
of attachment ; but we cannot say
The advice which he tendered to the
Peers was given as leader of the
opposition.
8. Case after as. It is a matter of
no great practical importance, case
being distinguishable only in a few
pronouns, & these pronouns occur¬
ring so seldom after as that most of
the examples given in illustration
will have an artificial air ; but some
points may be noticed : — a. Some¬
times a verb is to be supplied ; the
right ease must then be used, or ttie
sense may be spoilt ; You hate her
as much as I implies as I hate her ;
You hate her as much as me implies
as you hate me. b. As is never to
be regarded as a preposition ; the
objective case after it, when right,
is due either to the filling up of an
elliptic sentence as in a or to causes
explained in c & d ; When such as
her die, She is not so tall as me, are
wrong, c. The phrases such — as he
hie., so—as he &c., may be treated
as declinable compound adjectives
(ef. German was fur ein), which
gives Such men as he are intolerable
but 1 cannot tolerate such men as
him. Never was so active a man as he
but 1 never knew so active a man as
him ; to ban this construction & in¬
sist on writing he always, according
to the a method, seems pedantic,
though he is always admissible.
d. In many sentences the supplying
of a verb supposed to have been
omitted instead of repeated, as in a,
is impossible or difficult, & the case
after as simply follows that of the
corresponding noun before as ; as
is then equivalent to as being (ef.
Greek w? &v, cl? ovra, &c.) ; so I
recognized this man as him who had
stared at me ; You dressed up as she.
You dressed yourself up as her, 1
dressed you up as her. You were
dressed up as she ; The entity known to
me as I, The entity that 1 know as me.
9. As a fact ; see fact.
10. As well as ; see well.
11. For as conccrn(s), regard(s),
follow(s), sec CONCERN, FOLLOW.
ascendancy, ascendant. 1. Spelling.
Though -ancy is not much commoner
than -cncy, it is better as corre¬
sponding to ascendant, which is much
commoner than ascendent. 2. Usage
& meaning. The ascendancy of.
Have an or the ascendancy over, be in
the ascendant, are the normal phrases;
in the first two ascendant is archaic
for ascendancy, & is better avoided ;
in the third, which is less detached
than the others from its astrological
origin, ascendancy is wrong, & when
used (It is not recorded what stars
were in the ascendency when Winston
Churchill was born./Jimmie's better
angel was in the ascendency ) is attri¬
butable to ignorance. Both words
mean domination or prevailing in¬
fluence, & not upward tendency or
rising prosperity or progress.
ascension used of climbing, instead
of ascent (she had begun her ascension
of the hill), is a Gallicism.
ascertainedly. Five syllables ; see
-EDLY.
asexual. See a-, an-.
ashamedly. Four syllables if used *
see -edly.
r.Tct
85
ASSUME
ashen. See -en adjectives.
aside does not mean on each side
(We sat Jive aside in the suburban
train ; They were playing three
aside) ; a side must be written ; cf.
£500 a year (not ayear).
askance, askant. See Needless
variants. Askance is the usual
form, & the OED account of askant
is : Apparently a later variant of
askance.
aspirate. See Technical terms.
assassinate makes -noble ; sec
-able 1.
assay, essay, vbs. A differentiation
tends to prevail by which assay is
confined to the sense test, & essay to
the sense attempt ; the OED says :
* Except as applied to the testing of
metals, assay is now an archaic form
of essay' Essay itself has by this
time the dignity attaching to in¬
cipient archaism ; but the distinc¬
tion should be observed.
asset is a false form ; the great
popularity, due chiefly to the sport¬
ing reporter, that it now enjoys as
a saver of trouble to those who have
not time to choose between posses¬
sion , gain, advantage, resource, &
other synonyms, or to recast their
sentences into conformity with
established idiom, is of recent date ;
& an effort should be made to do
without it. Most of those who use it
are probably unaware that, though
now treated as plural, assets is itself
(cf. riches) a singular ; the -s is not
a plural termination ; French assez
(enough) being its source, -ts repre¬
sents the French -z ; & the right
sense of the word is that which it
has had till lately—what suffices or
should suffice to meet liabilities,
/he false singular originates in
incorrect uses like The chances of
a dividend depend upon the realiza¬
tion of two assets, one a large debt, <&
the other ... See Popularized tech¬
nicalities. A number of quota¬
tions are added to show how com-
- h 5 * buse . is ’ the kind of writer
Urnt indulges in it, & how easily it
may be avoided x—lleame is bowling
splendidly, & though veteran in years
he is [an] indispensable [a.] to
Middlesex./Her forehand drive—her
most trenchant [a.] (stroke). /In man¬
lifting kites hauled by 2.5-knot destroy¬
ers, resonant lungs are [something of
an a .] (serviceable). /It was Mr..John
Ball who showed us that the experi¬
ence of years is [an incalculable a.]
when it comes to the strain of a cham¬
pionship (invaluable)./ A’or is it
every doctor who despises club prac¬
tice ; many find it a very handy [a.]
which they do not like to lose (source
of income).// do not regret that the
Unionist Party has made the subject
its ozvn ; it is its best [a.] (card)./
As sound a head as that of his
Reverence is [a distinct a.] to society
(of value)./^l local reputation for
their lavender production has been
established, which is no doubt \a
valuable a.]./[The value of cheerful
service is an a.] which the directors do
not seem to have taken into considera¬
tion (Cheerful service has a value)./
These examples arc one of the greatest
[assess which the people can possess}
(possessions the people can have)./
The net result of my reading
meditation is the conviction that Mr.
Chesterton is a valuable [a.] of the
orthodox faith (pillar).
assign. Derivatives & allied words
are pronounced as follows :— assign¬
able (-in a-), assignation (*ig-), as¬
signat (a'sign&t), assignor (hsinor'),
assignee (&sine').
assimilate makes -table; sec - able 1 .
assimilation. See Technical terms.
assist, in the sense be present (at a
performance &c.), is now a Gallic¬
ism ; in the sense help (to potatoes
&c.), it is a Genteelism. For a. &
help, see YV orking & stylish words.
association. See -ciation.
assonance. See Repetition s.f.
assume, presume. Where the words
are roughly synonymous, i.e. in the
sense suppose , the object-clause after
presume expresses what the pre-
sumer really believes, till it is dis¬
proved, to be true; that after
assume , what the assumer postulates.
ASSURE
36
AUTHORESS
often as a confessed hypothesis. It
may be owing to this distinction
that the that of the object-clause is
usually expressed after assume (the
omission is at once felt to be wrong
in 1 assume Turkey would require
such a cash payment of at least
£500,000), & usually omitted after
presume (1 presume you know ; 1
assume that you know).
assure, assurance. 1. These words
have never found general acceptance
in the sense of paying premiums to
secure contingent payments, though
they are used by insurance offices &
agents, & so occasionally by their
customers, especially when death is
the event insured against ( life assur¬
ance ; assure one’s life) ; apart from
such technical use, insure & insur¬
ance hold the field.
2. Assure for ensure (make certain
the occurrence &c. of) is now rare
( That will ensure, rarely assure, your
success).
assuredly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
asylum. PI. -ms ; see -um.
asyndeton. See Technical terms.
PI. -la, -ns ; see -on 1.
-ATABLE. In spite of the general
rule given under -able for the
formation of adjectives in -able
from verbs in -ate, the short form
with -at- omitted would be disagree¬
ably pedantic in many cases where
either the verb itself is little used in
literature, or the dropping of -at-
amounts to disguising the word (as
in disyllables, create, vacate, &c.),
or the -able adjective is likely to be
very seldom used, or confusion with
another word might result. Thus
incubate, at least in the sense in
which its -able adjective is likely to
be wanted, is a technical rather than
a literary word ; inculcable is not
instantly recognized as from incul¬
cate ; inculpable is both likely to be
understood as not culpable, & un¬
likely to be often wanted ; & accord-
ingly incubatable, inculcatable, in -
* ^ are less impossible than
incubable, inculcable, & inculpable.
The practice should be to use -atable
where the shorter form is felt to be
out of the question. Simple refer¬
ence to this article under any word
means that -atable is better.
atelier. See French words.
attempt. For was attempted to be
done &c. see Double passives.
attic. See garret.
attorney. PI. -eys.
attraction. For the sense in gram¬
mar see Technical terms.
au. See a la.
au fait. See French words.
au fond. See a fond, & French
words.
aught. See Archaism ; for a. 1
know is the only phrase in which
the word is still current in ordinary
speech, & even there all is displacing
it.
au grand serieux. See French
words.
aunt. Pronounce ahnt ; see ant.
For aunty, -ie, see -ey, -ie, -y.
au pied de la letire, au revoir. See
French words.
authentic, genuine. The distinction
commonly drawn between the words
is by no means universally observed,
especially when either is used with¬
out special reference to the other ;
but, when it is present to the mind,
authentic implies that the contents
of a book, picture, account, or the
like, correspond to facts & are not
fictitious, & genuine implies that its
reputed is its real author : — a genuine
Hobbema ; An authentic descrip¬
tion ; The Holbein Henry VIII is
both authentic <& genuine (represents
Henry as he was, or is really a por¬
trait of him, & is by Holbein). The
artificial character of the distinction,
however, is illustrated by the fact
that authenticate serves for to estab¬
lish either as authentic or as genuine.
authenticate makes -cable ; see
-able 1.
authoress is a word regarded with
dislike in literary circles, on the
grounds, perhaps, that sex is ir¬
relevant to art, & that the common
unliterary public has no concern
AUTOCAR
87
A
with its superiors’ personality. The
public thinks otherwise, & may be
trusted to keep a useful word in
existence, even though it has so far
failed to bring into existence what
it needs much more, a handy
feminine for doctor. See Feminine
DESIGNATIONS.
autocar, automobile. Now that
motor(-car) has fully established its
supremacy, it would be well if these
rivals could be cleared away.
avail, vb. The constructions be
availed o/, avail of, illustrated in the
following quotations are wrong :—
If economical means of transport are
availed of (made use of)./ No salvage
appliances could have been availed of
in time (utilized). /Watt & Fulton
bethought themselves that power must
be availed of, db not let off & wasted
(used)./^4 desire to avail of the quieter
phase of national emotion (take ad¬
vantage of).
The normal construction is avail
oneself of (I shall a. myself of your
kind offer). From this are wrongly
evolved (* with indirect passive, esp.
in U.S. ’ says the OED) such forms
as The offer was availed of ; the ab¬
surdity of this is patent as soon
as the method is applied to similar
reflexive verbs ; because we can say
They busy themselves in politics, You
should rid yourself of cant. Many
devote themselves to religion, we do not
infer that Politics are busied in. Cant
should be ridded of. Religion is often
devoted to, are English; as little does
mail oneself of the offer justify the
offer was availed of . It is from the last
incorrect form that the non-reflexive
active is logically enough deduced,
so that avail of the offer takes the
place of the original avail oneself of
the offer. Available , which perhaps
encourages the use of these bad
constructions, lends them no real
support ; its original sense was that
& J a P art frora the great
hese adjectives (see -able), what it
I avenge, revenge, vengeance. Avenge
& vengeance are one pai r, revenge verb
& noun another. The distinction
between the two pairs is neither very
clear nor consistently observed.
This is natural, since the same act
done under the same conditions may
be described either as vengeance or as
revenge according to the point of
view from which it is regarded. It
may be said, roughly, that vengeance
is the making things even by an
offender’s being made to suffer some¬
thing more or less equivalent to his
offence, while revenge is the satisfying
of the offended party’s resentment
by the same means ; one act mav
effect both, but it will be spoken of
by one name or the other according
to context. It is in harmony with
this that the subject of the active
verb revenge is ordinarily the wronged
party, & its object either himself or
a wrong done at least indirectly to
him, while the subject of avenge is
ordinarily a disinterested party, &
its object another person or a wrong
done to another. Exceptions are
numerous, & too complicated in
their nature to be set forth here ;
but the general principle that per-
sonal feeling is the tiling thought of
when revenge is used, & the equaliza¬
tion of wrongs when avenge or ven¬
geance is used, may assist choice.
Misuses of the verbs other than
confusion between them are not
frequent enough to require much
notice ; but it may be worth men-
tion that the wrongdoer is never
t * 1 . e °kj ect of either, as in :
The Russian . . . will avenge as has
been his custom to avenge the birds of
prey who swooped down upon him in
his helplessness.
averse, aversion. To insist on from
as the only right preposition after
these, in spite of the more general
use of to (What cat's averse to fish f _
Gray. He had been averse to extreme
courses. —Macaulay. Nature has put
into man an aversion to misery .—
■Locke) is one of the pedantries that
spring of a little knowledge. If
AVOCATION
38 AVOIDANCE OF THE OBVIOUS
averse meant originally turned away,
& a is Latin for away, this did not
prevent even the writers of classical
Latin from using the dative after
aversus ; nor, if it had, need it
prevent us, to whom the original &
physical sense is not usually present,
from using after averse & aversion
the preposition that best fits their
true sense of (harbouring) dislike.
avocation, originally a calling away,
an interruption, a distraction, was
for some time commonly used as
a synonym for vocation or calling ,
with which it is properly in anti¬
thesis. This misuse is now less
common, & the word is generally
used in the plural, a person’s avoca¬
tions being the tilings he devotes
time to, his pursuits or engagements
in general, the affairs he has to see
to ; liis vocation as such is neither
excluded from, nor necessarily in¬
cluded in, his avocations.
Avoidance of the obvious is
very well, provided that it is not
itself obvious ; but, if it is, all is
spoilt. Expel eager or greedy from
your sentence in favour of avid, &
your reader wants to know why you
have done it ; if he can find no
better answer than that you are
attitudinizing as an epicure of words
for whom nothing but the rare is
good enough, or, yet worse, that you
are painfully endeavouring to impart
some much needed unfamiliarity to
a platitude, his feeling towards you
will be something that is not ad¬
miration. The obvious is better
than obvious avoidance of it. No¬
body could have written 4 Clown ' who
had not been (as Mr. Disher is known
to be) an avid collector of pantomime
traditions & relics./ Everything is
just in a state of suspended animation,
tf- the House, instead of being in its
usual bustle on account day, is
devoid./ Lord Lansdowne has done
the Liberal Party a good turn bu
putting Tariff Reform to the front ;
about this there can be no dubiety./
If John never 4 finishes ' anything
else, he can at least claim by sheer
labour to have completed over five-
score etchings. There are some who
would rather see eager & empty &
doubt & a hundred in those sentences
than avid, devoid, dubiety, & five¬
score ; & there are some who would
not ; the examples are typical
enough to sort tastes. Avid &
dubiety are not yet hackneyed in the
function of escapes from the obvious;
they will be so one day if their
qualifications in this kind are appre¬
ciated, & then their virtue will be
gone.
Several words can be thought of
that have been through this course.
Starting as variants for the business
word, they have been so seized upon
by those who scorn to talk like other
people as to become a badge by
which w’e may know them ; after
which they pass into general use by
the side of the words to which they
were preferred, giving the language
pairs of useless synonyms that have
lost whatever distinction there may
once have been between them. Such
words are cryptic, dual, facile, force¬
ful, foreword, & Gallic, as used
without the justification of special
meanings instead of obscure, double,
easy, forcible, preface, & French ; on
all of these except cryptic (a word
whose sole function seems to be that
which is our subject) comment will
be found in their separate articles ;
a few examples of the uses depre¬
cated are 4 A sensible young man,
of rough but mild manners, & very
seditious ’ ; this description, except¬
ing the first clause, is somewhat
cryptic./ The combination of cricket
& rowing ‘ blues ' is very rare ; the
late J. W. Dale was the last Cam¬
bridge man to earn the dual distinc¬
tion. The 4 dual event ’ is perhaps
already, & will surely soon be, upon
us. / The reunion of a Labour &
Socialist World Conference has not
proved to be so facile to arrange as it
appeared./ 1 " 1 blame the working of
the Trade Board ’ said Mr. Newey,
forcefully, ‘"for keeping wages at an
artificial figure './The theme is a big
one, covering, we are told in a fore-
AVOIRDUPOIS
39
AY
word, those comprehensive acts &
aspects of policy which . . .
Other articles containing relevant
matter are adventuresome, foot¬
ing, FORENOON, MAYBE, NOMEN¬
CLATURE, REITERANT, SAID 2, 3, &
SENSE Vb.
avoirdupois. Pronounce h'verde-
poiz.
avouch, avow, vouch. The living
senses of the three words are dis^
tinct; but, as a good deal of confu¬
sion has formerly prevailed between
them, the dictionaries are not very
helpful to inquirers, providing quo¬
tations under each for senses that
now belong only to one of the
others ; it is therefore worth while
to state roughly the modern usage.
Avouch , which is no longer in com¬
mon use, means guarantee, solemnly
aver, prove by assertion, maintain
the truth or existence of, vouch for,
(A miracle avouched by the testimony
°J • • • 5 Millions were ready to avouch
the exact contrary ; Offered to avouch
his innocence with his sword). Avow
means own publicly to, make no
secret of, not shrink from admitting
acknowledge one’s responsibility for,
(i /link what one is ashamed to avow ;
Avowed himself my enemy ; Avowed
his determination to be revenged • Al¬
ways avows,& cf.in the contrary sense
disavows, his agents). Vouch is now
common only in the phrase vouch for ,
which has taken the place of avouch
m ordinary use, & means pledge one’s
word for you vouch for the truth
bilitij ) J 1 ° an V0UCh f° T his res P ecta -
avowedly. Four syllables:
-EDLY. *
tTtTSK ^ waitis always transi-
is not English; I aZit?& I
wait, your decision are equally good.
JSS* '"awoke " al T
ra «ly awoke V ;
rarel y (& that
la transitive sense) waked.
& p.p. waked rarely woke or woken ;
awaken & waken have ~cd.
Distinction between the forms is
difficult, but with regard to modern
usage certain points may be made :—
(1) Wake is the ordinary working
verb ( You will wake the baby ; Some¬
thing woke me up ; 1 should like to be
waked at 7.30 ; Wake the echoes).
for which the others are substituted
to add dignity or formality, or to
suit metre, or as in 3 or 5 below.
(2) Wake alone has (& that chiefly in
waking) the sense be or remain
awake (Sleeping or waking ; In our
waking hours ; This kept me wak-
in g). (3) Awake & awaken are
usually preferred to the others in
figurative senses (When they awoke,
or were awakened, to their danger ;
2 his at' once awakened suspicion ;
The national spirit awoke, or was
^ rude awaken in/ 1 ).
(4) Waken & awaken tend to be re¬
stricted to the transitive sense •
when he wakens is rarer for when he
wakes than that will waken him for
that will wake him. (5) In the pas-
Sl ve, awaken & waken are often
preferred to awake & wake, perhaps
owing to uncertainty about the p.p.
forms of the latter pair ; it wakened
me is rare for it woke or waked me
but / teas wakened by it is common
for I was waked or woke or woken bu
it ; see also the alternative forms in
3 above. (6) Up is very commonly
appended to wake, rarely to waken,
& hardly at all to awake & awaken.
away. For once & away see once
*or cannof away with see Archaism.'
awkward. See -er & -est 2.
r ThC s P ellin 8 ax, ’though
better on every ground, of etymo-
*°gy> phonology, & analogy ’ (OEDf
is so strange to 20th-c. eyes that it
beTstored y & is Unlikcl >’ to
axis. PI. axes (-ez, not -Iz).
ay, aye. The word meaning yes is
pronouneed i, & the word meaning
et,c ^.. ls pronounced &; but which
nuncio?- to which pro¬
nunciation is disputed ; the nautical
BABE
40
BALLAD
Ay, ay, sir is usually written thus ;
& aye is probably the commoner
spelling now for ever ; on the other
hand the ayes have it is usual, though
-es may there be intended for the
plural termination. Ay (I) yes,
aye (a) ever, seems likely to prevail ;
but the authority of the OED is on
the other side.
B
babe, baby. In the primary sense
baby is now the regular form, & babe
archaic, poetic, or rhetorical. In
figurative use, babe implies guileless¬
ness, innocence, or ignorance, & baby
unmanlincss.
baboo. Pronounce bah'boo. PI.
-oos ; see -o(e)s 4.
baccara(t). Pronounce bh'karah.
The spelling with -t is commoner in
English, & that without -t in French,
bacchanal, bacchant(e). Bacchanal
& bacchant are both used of males or
females, or males & females, but
with a tendency to be restricted to
males ; bacchante is used of females
only. Bacchant is always pro¬
nounced b&'kant; bacchante bak&'nt,
b&'kant, or baka'nti. Bacchant has
bacchants or bacchantes ; bacchante
has bacchantes (-ts or -tiz).
bacillus. PI. bacilli ; see -us, &
Latin plurals. For the meaning,
see Schizomycetes.
BACK FORMATION. a dictionary
definition of the term is : Making
from a supposed derivative (as lazy,
banting) of the non-existent word
[laze, bant) from which it might have
come. It is natural to guess that
the words scavenger, darkling, &
gridiron, are formed from verbs
scavenge & darkle & a noun grid, &
consequently to use those verbs &
noun it occasion arises ; those who
hrst used them, however, were mis¬
taken, & were themselves makina
the words out of what they wrongly
took for their derivatives ; similarly
banting is not formed from bant , but
,s the name first of a man. & then of
his system, out of which the verb to
bant was made by back formation.
This will perhaps sufficiently explain
the references made here & there to
this article. Some back formations
are not generally recognized as such,
& have the full status of ordinary
words, e.g. diagnose (from diagnosis),
drowse (from drowsy ), sidle (from
sideling = sidelong), grovel (from
grovelling, an adverb). But more
often they are felt to be irregular,
& used only as slang or jocosely ; so
burgle, Chinee, donate, enthuse,
locomote, maffick, orate, proce'ss (go
in procession), resurrect, revolute.
Other articles that may be looked
at are brindle, cose, darkle,
FILTRATE, GRID, GUERILLA, & SALVE.
back of as a preposition is an Ameri¬
can, not a British, idiom,
backsheesh. See baksheesh.
bacterium. PI. bacteria ; see -um.
For the meaning, see Schizomy¬
cetes.
badge. For synonymy, see sign.
badinage. Pronounce b&'dinahzh.
baggage. As applied to the belong¬
ings that a person travels with on
land, the word is an Americanism
for luggage.
bagnio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
baignoire. See French words.
bail is right, & bale wrong, in the
sense throw water out ; the deriva¬
tion is from French bailie bucket.
bailable. For the sense, admitting
of bail, see -able 4.
baksheesh is the form recommended.
balance, in the sense rest or remain¬
der, is, except where the difference
between two amounts that have to
be compared is present to the mind,
a Slipshod extension. We may
fairly say ‘ you may keep the
balance ’, because the amount due
& the amount that more than covers
it suggest comparison ; but in ‘ the
b. of the day is given to amusement *
such a comparison between amounts
is, though not impossible, farfetched,
& the plain word (rest, or remainder)
is called for.
ballad. See Technical terms.
ballade
41
ballade. Pronounce balah'd ; for
meaning, see Technical terms.
ballon d’essai. See French words.
ballyrag, bullyrag. The etymology
is unknown; the second form is
probably due to a supposed con¬
nexion, described by the OED as
* unlikely with bully ; the first
form is still common, & seems pref¬
erable.
balm. For b. in Gilead see Bat¬
tered ORNAMENTS & HACKNEYED
PHRASES.
baluster, ban(n)ister. Banisters
(better with single n) is now, though
originally a corruption only of
balusters , the established form for
the commonest sense in which the
words are used, i.e. the uprights
supporting a staircase handrail with
or without the rail itself. Baluster
is best applied only to the vase¬
shaped supports of a balustrade.
bambino. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s G.
bamboo. PI. -oos ; see -o(e)s 4.
banal, banality. These are Liter¬
ary critics’ words, imported from
France by a class of writers whose
jaded taste relishes novel or im¬
posing jargon. In French they have
had a continuous history & a natural
development from their original to
their present sense ; in English they
have not, & we accordingly remain
conscious that they are exotics.
With common , commonplace , trite ,
trivialy mean , vulgar, truism , plati¬
tude , & other English words, to
choose among, we certainly do not
need them.
bandit. Of the two plurals, bandits
tends to prevail over banditti,
especially when the reference is to
more or less clearly realized in¬
dividuals :—The mountains are in¬
fested with banditti; The cost of
suppressing the banditti ; Two of the
bandits conducted me to the appointed
place ; You are aU bandits .
banister. See baluster.
PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s l.
k A river’s right bank is th
In nght of the river regarded
a person going down to his destina¬
tion.
baptist(e)ry. The -tery form is best,
bar. B. sinister , used by novelists
as a symbol of illegitimacy, is
strictly incorrect, bend or baton
sinister being the true term ; it is.
however, so familiar that to correct
it, except where there is real need
for technical accuracy, is pedantic ;
see Didacticism.
barbarian, barbaric, barbarous. The
difference in usage among the three
adjectives is roughly, & setting
aside special senses of the first, as
follows. Barbarian, as an adjective,
is now regarded as an attributive
use of the noun barbarian ; i.e., it is
used only in such contexts as would
be admissible for nouns like soldier
or German (a soldier king or people ;
German ancestry or thoroughness), &
means consisting of barbarians,
being a barbarian, belonging to or
usual with barbarians. So wc have
barbarian tribes, hosts, frankness,
courage ; a barbarian king, home,
empire ; barbarian man (the human
race as barbarians) ; the barbarian
world.
The other two words are ordinary
adjectives, but differ in their im¬
plications. Barbaric is used with
indulgence, indifference, or even
admiration, & means of the simple,
unsophisticated, uncultured, un¬
chastened, tasteless, or excessive
kind that prevails among barbarians.
We speak of barbaric taste, finery,
splendour, costume, gold, hospitality,
simplicity, strength, health.
Barbarous, on the other hand,
always implies at least contempt,
& often moral condemnation ; it
means that is unfit for or unworthy
of or revolts or disgraces or would
disgrace the civilized : barbarous
ignorance, speech , customs, style ,
words, cruelty, treatment, tyranny.
It should be observed that the same
noun may be qualified by all three
words according to the sense wanted:
barbarian gold is money supplied by
barbarians; barbaric gold is the
BARBARISM
42
BARESARK
metal used over lavishly in decora¬
tion ; & barbarous gold is the ma¬
terial prosperity that blinds to
higher things ; a barbarian king is
a king of barbarians ; a barbaric
king one throned in rude splendour ;
a barbarous king a cruel despot.
barbarism, barbarity, barbarous¬
ness. The three nouns all belong
to the adjective barbarous , but the
first two are now (putting aside
intentional archaism & metaphor)
clearly distinguished. Barbarism
means uncivilized condition, grossly
uncultivated taste, or an illiterate
expression ; barbarity means grossly
cruel conduct or treatment, or a
grossly cruel act ; barbarousness
may be substituted for either of the
others where the sense quality or
degree is to be given unmistakably :—
They live in barbarism ; The barbar¬
ism, or barbarousness, of his style ;
‘ Thou asketh ’ i: a barbarism ; lie
treats prisoners zeilh barbarity ; The
barbarity, or barbarousness, of the
decree is irrelevant ; Unheard-of
barbarities.
Barbarisms is a hard word to
(ling about, apt to wound feelings,
though it may break no bones ;
perhaps it would be better abstained
from ; but so too would the barbar¬
isms themselves. What after all is
a barbarism ? It is for the most
part some word that, like its name,
is apt to wound feelings—the feel¬
ings, however, of much fewer per¬
sons, those who have about Greek
& Latin not merelv, like the Eton
_ %/ J
boys of a former generation, ‘ a pro¬
found conviction that there are such
languages ’, but a sufficient acquain¬
tance with & love of them to be
1 V t rages upon their
methods of word-formation. In this
era of democracv it can hardly be
expected that the susceptibilities of
so small a minority should be pre¬
ferred to the comfort of the millions,
tz it is easier for the former to dis¬
semble their dislike of barbarisms
than for the latter to first find out
what they are & then avoid them.
These are unfortunately two separ¬
ate difficulties, both serious. One
may lack the information that would
enable one to decide whether bureau¬
crat & cablegram & electrocute &
pleistocene are or are not barbarisms ;
it is indeed obtainable for any parti¬
cular word from a competent philo¬
logist ; but life is not long enough
to consult a competent philologist
every time one of the hundreds of
dubious words confronts one ; nor
yet is it long enough for an ad hoc
course of Latin & Greek grammar.
And then, even if the philologist has
been consulted, or the course gone
through, what next ? are we to talk
geology or electricity & abstain from
pleistocene & impedance ? No ; a
barbarism is like a lie ; it has got
the start of us before we have found
it out, & we cannot catch it ; it is
in possession, & our offers of other
versions come too late.
That barbarisms should exist is a
pity ; to expend much energy on
denouncing those that do exist is
a waste ; to create them is a grave
misdemeanour ; & the greater the
need of the word that is made, the
greater its maker’s guilt if he mis-
creates it. A man of science might
be expected to do on his great
occasion what the ordinary man
cannot do every day, ask the philo¬
logist’s help ; that the famous
eocene-pleistocene nameswere made by
‘ a good classical scholar ’ (see Lyell
in D.N.B.) shows that word-forma¬
tion is a matter for the specialist.
It will have been gathered that in
this book barbarisms have not been
thought of the practical importance
that would demand elaborate dis¬
cussion. What there is on the
subject is chiefly in the general
articles Hybrid derivatives & -o-,
& under the words Briticism,
bureaucrat, cablegram, calmative, cli¬
mactic, coastal, electrocute, impedance,
nounal, & pleistocene .
baresark, for berserker, is a corrupt
modern form owing its existence to
a probably false etymology.
BARITONE
baritone. See barytone.
bark, barque. The two forms are
now usually differentiated, bark
being a poetic synonym for ship or
boat, & barque the technical term for
a ship of special rig.
baronage, barony, baronetage, bar¬
onetcy. The forms in -age are col¬
lectives, meaning all the barons (or
peers), all the baronets, list or book
of barons &c. Those in -y are ab¬
stracts, meaning rank cr position or
title of a baron or baronet.
baroque. See Technical terms.
barricado. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s g.
barytone, -ritone. The first is the
best spelling. The -y- is the normal
English transliteration of the ori-
ginal Greek v, which has been
changed to -i- in the derivative
Italian baritono. The prevailing
though not invariable English prac¬
tice in adopting words at second
hand is to undo such intermediate
changes & transliterate the originals
consistently. It would be justifiable
o take the Italian baritono whole :
Si 14 “ y® anglicize the ending we
should follow the ordinary English
me thod of transliteration. It is
probaWy true that writers on musi e
usually prefer ban•; but they are
* y ^ revocabI y committed ; of
two OED quotations from Grove
°“® has ba /V- & one ban-. French
baryton » & in the grammatical
®®oseconcerned with accentuation
barytone is the only form.
These unEnglish-
SSjJS adjectives, neither of which
existed before the nineteenth cen¬
tury, were manufactured merelv as
the'noun ^hn ° e ^ a »? technical uses of
woSd ^ ct T’ ^ ere 7«miSS
a tendency has latelv aricon .n_ I
43
BATHETIC
elytra have a basal gibbosity ; The
basal portion of the main petiole ;
Its capital resting on its basic plinth ;
Basic salts, phosphates , oxides. On
the other hand fundamental should
be substituted in Classification
should rest on the most basal charac¬
teristics./ This is our basic principle./
The happy thought which is the basic
idea of 1 ruth’s Christmas number./
The great basic industry is agricul¬
ture. Many of those who use the
words are no doubt sensible of the
incongruity, but hope that what
they have to say will be more con¬
vincing if seasoned with a pinch of
the up-to-date & scientific.
bas bleu. See French words.
bashaw is now only an ornamental
Archaism, the correct pasha having
taken its place.
basin, bason. The first spelling is
both commoner & better ; the
second is probably due to the estab¬
lished pronunciation (ba'sn) ; but
cf. cousin.
basis. PI. bases ; see Latin
PLURALS.
bas-relief, bass-relief, basso-relievo,
basso-rilievo. The first form is
French, the last Italian, & the other
two are corruption ; the plural of
the third is basso-relievos, & of the
fourth bassi-rilievi. It is recom-
SS tl use the flret & f™ 1 —
bassinet. This, & not bassinette or
berceaunctte is the right spelling ;
w« 10D i fo ^ as arc Pseudo-French,
bastinado. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
Batavian. For B. = Dutch,' in II
^hof e K &C ‘«, ee Pol ysvllabic humour’
bath. PI. pron. bahdhz ; see -tu
& -dh.
int^f 1 . 0 ’ batbotic - These are made
° !r ru * at . ,on of pathetic , chaotic ; but
£ iJfS? lS n0t , anal °g°us, & chaotic
fSv tl ft b ° wever > almost a neces¬
sity to the literary critic, & the OED
states that bathetic is * A favourite
k W i tb reviewers ’ ; it is the
better of the two.
BATON
44
BE
baton should be written without the
circumflex & pronounced b&'tn.
battalion has plural battalions, &
not even in poetic style battalia ;
battalia is a singular word (It.
battaglia) meaning battle array ; but
being archaic, & often following in
(Friedrich draws out in battalia .—
Carlyle), it is taken as meaning
battalions.
BATTERED ORNAMENTS. On this
rubbish-heap are thrown, usually by
a bare cross reference, such synonyms
of the Elegant-variation kind as
alma mater, daughter of Eve, sleep of
the just, & brother of the angle ; such
metonvmies as the buskin or cothur -
nus & the sock for tragedy & comedy ;
such jocular archaisms as con-
sumedly & vastly ; such foreign
scraps as dolce far niente, gang agley,
& cui bono ? ; such old phrases as
in durance vile & who was destined
to be ; such adaptable frames as
where - s most do congregate &
on -- intent ; & such quotations
customarily said with a wink or
written instead of one as Tell it not
in Gath or balm in Gilead. The title
of the article, & their present com¬
pany, are as much comment as is
needed for most of them ; but a few
words will be found elsewhere on
those that contain a word in small
capitals ; & other articles from
which the list may be enlarged are :
Facetious formations ; Gallic¬
isms 5 ; Hackneyed phrases;
Incongruous vocabulary ; Irre¬
levant allusion ; Mannerisms ;
Misquotation ; Novelese ; out-
iierod ; Popularized technicali¬
ties ; said 3 ; Sobriquets ; Stock
pathos ; Subjunctives ; Super¬
latives ; Vogue-words 3 ; War-
dour Street ; Working & stylish
words ; Worn-out humour ; &
Zeugma.
battue. Pronounce batoo / , or as
French.
bay. For b. & gulf, sec gulf.
bay, bow, -window. A bay-w.,
named as making a bay in the room,
is one that projects outwards from
the wall in a rectangular, polygonal,
or semicircular form ; bow-w., though
often loosely applied to any of these
shapes, is properly restricted to the
curved one.
-B-, -BB-. Monosyllables ending
in b double it before suffixes begin¬
ning with vowels if the sound pre¬
ceding it is a single vowel (a, e, i, o,
u, or y), but not if it is a diphthong
or a vowel & r : cabby , webbed,
glibbest, bobbed, shrubbery; but
dauber, barbed. Words of more
syllables (e.g. rhubarb, sillabub,
hubbub, Beelzebub, cherub) are few,
& it will suffice to mention cherubic
(so spelt), & hobnob (- bbed, dobing).
be. 1. Number of the copula.
2. Be & were, subjunctives. 3. Be
+ adverb+participle. 4. Elliptical
omissions. 5. Auxiliary)(copulative.
G. Case of the complement. 7.
Forms.
1. For the number of the verb
between a subject & a complement
of different numbers (The wages of
sin is death ; The only obstacle are
the wide ditches), see are, is.
2. F or use & abuse of be & zuere as
subjunctives (If an injunction be
obtained cfc he defies it ; It were to be
wished), see Subjunctives.
3. For mistaken fear of separating
be from its participle &c. (If his
counsel still is followed ; The right
wholly to be maintained), see Posi¬
tion OF ADVERBS.
4. He is dead, cfc 1 alive ; 1 shall
dismiss him, as he ought to be. For
such forms see Ellipsis 1, 3.
5. Confusion of auxiliary & copu¬
lative uses. In The visit was made
we have was auxiliary; in The
impression was favourable we have
was copulative. It is slovenly to
make one was serve in both capaci¬
ties, as in The first visit was made
cfc returned, cfc the first impression of
the new neighbours on the Falconet
family highly favourable ; was should
be repeated after family —though, if
created had stood instead of highly
favourable, the repetition would have
been unnecessary.
BE, 6
BEAU-IDEAL
6. Case of the complement. The
rule that the complement must be
in the same case as the subject of
the copula ( You believed that it was
he; You believed it to be him) is
often broken in talk (It wasn't me),
but should be observed in print,
except when the solecism is pre¬
served in dialogue as characteristic.
The temptation in its simplest forms
is rare, but may occur ; Meredith,
for instance, writes I am she, she me,
till death & beyond it, where the
ungrammatical me is not satirically
intended; & this should not be
imitated. Two special types of
sentence, however, call for mention.
One is that illustrated by We feed
children whom we think are hungry ;
for this gross but common blunder
see whom. The other is seen in
He has been, & not only passed for,
our leader, where it pains the gram¬
marian to find that leader is sub¬
jective after has been, but objective
after for. We might be tempted to
disregard his pain as due merely to
a pedantic familiarity with Latin,
in which the cases are not so often
indistinguishable in form; but if
we pass the leader sentence as good
enough for English, we are com¬
mitted also to This plan, which
1 have often tried & has never failed
me; & from that every well-
regulated mind will shrink, if only
because the step from A man that
hates me & I hate to Jones, who
hates me & I hate is so fatally easy.
Whether resistance is desirable may
be better judged from a genuine pro¬
duction of the ill-regulated mind :—
It gave a cachet of extreme clericalism
to the Irish Party which it does not
deserve, but must prejudice it not a
Mile in the eyes of English Radi¬
calism.
7. Forms. Those that require
notice are (a) an't, ain't, (b) the
singular subjunctives, & (c) wast,
tcert.' (a) A(i)n't is merely col-
loqrnal, & as used for isn't is an
uneducated blunder & serves no
usefid purpose. But it is a pity that
t for am not, being a natural
contraction & supplying a real want,
should shock us as though tarred
with the same brush. Though I'm
not serves well enough in statements,
there is no abbreviation but a(i)n't I}
for am 1 not ? or am not 1? ; &, the
shamefaced reluctance with which
these full forms arc often brought
out betrays the speaker’s sneaking
affection for the ain't I that he (or
still more she) fears will convict him
of low breeding (Well, I'm doing it
already, ain't 1 ? ; Yes, ain't I a
lucky man ? ; I'm next, ain't I ?).
(b) The present subjunctive has be
throughout ( Be I fair or foul ; If
thou be true ; Be it so), the form
becst, originally indicative but used
for a time as second singular sub¬
junctive, being obsolete. The sin¬
gular of the past subjunctive is teerc,
wert, were (If I were you ; Wert thou
mine ; It were wise), were for the
second person being obsolete, (c)
Wert, originally indicative, was
adopted like becst as a subjunctive
form, & though it is still sometimes
used alternatively with teas* as
indicative, the modern tendency is
to differentiate the two & make
wert subjunctive only (When thou
wast true ; If thou wert true) —a
natural development that should be
encouraged.
beano. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s C.
bear, vb. See Formal words.
For p.p. see born(e).
beat. The old p.p. beat, still the
only form in dead-beat, lingers
colloquially also in the sense worsted,
baffled (1 won't be beat; Has never
been beat), but now suggests ignor¬
ance rather than archaism.
beau has pi. beaux (or beaus j sec
-x).
beau geste. See French words, &
GESTURE.
beau-ideal. If the word is to be
used it should be pronounced
bd-ide'al, & written without accent.
But neither in its only French sense
of ideal beauty, nor in its current
English sense of perfect type or
highest possible embodiment of
BEAU MONDE
40
something, is there any occasion to
use it, unless as a shoddy ornament.
The English sense is based on the
error of supposing ideal to be the
noun (instead of the adjective) in
the French phrase ; & the English
noun ideal, without beau, is accord¬
ingly the right word to use, unless
flower, perfection, very type, pattern,
pink, or some other word, is more
suitable.
beau monde. See French words.
beauteous. See Poeticis.us, &
PLENTEOUS.
beautiful. But the home b. needs
other groicing greenery when the
festive season arrives./TIIE BED
BE AUTIF UL. To see the Eng¬
lish bed of supreme beauty you must
take train to . . . Such vulgarizing
adaptations of Bunyan, now com¬
mon, have upon readers the effect
described in Irrelevant allusion
beautify. For inflexions see \ eiujs
IN -IE &c., 0.
beaux yeux. See French words.
because. After such openings as
The reason is, The reason why . . . is,
the clause containing the reason
must not begin with because, but
with that. Correct accordingly :—
The reason was because they had
joined societies which became bank¬
rupt./The chief reason why he wcl-
comed this bill was b. he regarded it
as .. ./The reason why he had always
avoided the honour of the Garter was
because he knew that it cost £1000.
Their joining, his belief, his know¬
ledge, are the reasons ; & these can
he paraphrased into the noun¬
clauses that they had joined &c., but
not into the adverbial clauses be¬
cause they had joined &c. For similar
mistakes, see Haziness.
beccalico. IT. -os ; see -o(e)s G.
bedizen. The OED allows both i
& i, but prefers the I, & states that
‘ all English orthoepists ’ do so.
bedouin (be'dobe'n) serves as noun
singular or plural ( bedouins being
now comparatively rare), or as ad¬
jective. The forms bedawy or be-
dawee (sing.), & bedawin or bedaween
BEHOOF
(pi.), are also now used as nearer to
the Arabic ; see Didacticism.
beef. For plural see -ve(d).
befal(l), befel(l). The second 1
should be kept ; see -ll-, -l-, 4.
begging the question. See Tech¬
nical terms.
begin. 1. Past tense began, former¬
ly also (& still rarely) begun. 2. For
It was begun to be built &c., see
Double passives.
behalf & behoof are often confused
both in construction & in sense.
Modern usage is settling down to
a clear differentiation ; & those who
are not fully conversant with the
history of the words would do well
to confine themselves to the really
current types here given. On his
&c. behalf, or on befialf of all Sec.,
means as representing him, all, &c.
(I can speak only on my own behalf ;
Application was made on behalf of
the prosecutor) ; on is the normal
preposition ; the phrase does not
mean, except additionally & by
chance, for the advantage of ; it is
still in common use. For or to his
&c. behoof, or for or to the behoof of
all &c., means for or to the advantage
of him, all, See. (For the behoof of
the unlearned ; To the use & behoof
of him tfc his heirs ; Taking towns
for his own behoof ) ; for & to are the
prepositions ; the is normally used ;
the meaning of behoof is simply
advantage ; the phrases are more or
less archaic.
behemoth. Bihe'moth is the cor¬
rect pronunciation, though be'Imbth
is perhaps commoner.
beholden, beholding. As p.p. of
behold, beholden is now obsolete ex¬
cept in poetry. In the sense bound
by gratitude (which it got when
behold could still mean hold fast)
it is still in use, though archaic by
the side of obliged ; beholding in that
sense is an ancient error due to
ignorance of how beholden got its
meaning, & should be allowed to
perish.
behoof. See behalf.
BEHOVE
47
BELOW
behove, behoove. The first spelling
is the better. As to pronunciation,
the OED says * Historically it rimes
with move , prove , but being now
mainly a literary word, it is generally
made to rime with rove, grove, by
those who know it only in books ’.
belay, belie. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c ., 1, 3.
belike. See Archaism.
belittle has one meaning that may
pass uncensured, viz, to dwarf by
contrast ( A tower not so tall as to b.
the main building). The OED says
‘ The word appears to have origin¬
ated in U.S. ; whence in recent
English use in sense 3 which is
* depreciate, decry the importance
of ’. It cannot be denied that since
1881, the date of the earliest British
quotation, it has gained considerable
currency in this sense ; but it is still
felt by many to be an undesirable
alien that should not be allowed to
supplant the old-established words,
of which we have a large supply
suitable for various contexts &
shades of meaning— disparage, decry,
depreciate, make light of, slight, run
down, cry down, poohpooh, deride,
ridicule, slight, minimize, lower.
belles-lettres survives chiefly in
publishers’ circulars, library cata¬
logues, & book reviews, its place
having been taken elsewhere by
literature (sometimes mere or pure
literature) used in a special sense;
that sense is, as defined by the OED,
‘ Writing which has claim to con¬
sideration on the ground of beauty
of form or emotional effect ’. Like
other words that require a speaker
to attempt alien sounds (such as the
ending -€tr is), belles-lettres can never
become really current; & its right
to live at all, by the side of literature,
depends on the value of a differ¬
entiation thus expressed by the
OEDBut it is now generally
applied (when used at all) to the
lighter branches of literature or the
aesthetics of literary study * ; i.e.,
Paradise Lost is rather literature
belles-lettres, though The
Essays of Elia is both. This re¬
stricted application, however, itself
needs defence, b. properly including
the epic as much as the toy essay,
just as literature docs. We could in
fact do very well without b., & stiil
better without its offshoots bellclrif t
& belletristic.
belly is a good word now almost
done to death by Gentkemsm. It
lingers in proverbs & phrases, but
even they are being amended into
up-to-date delicacy, & the road to
the heart lies less often through the
b. than through the stomach or the
tummy. The slaying of the slayer
now in course of performance by
tummy illustrates the vanity of
genteel efforts; a perpetual succes¬
sion of names, often ending in
nursery ineptitudes (smock, shift,
chemise, shimmy), must be con¬
trived. Stomach for belly is a
specially bad case, because the
meaning of stomach has to be
changed before it can take the place
of b. in many contexts. The ten¬
dency, however, is perhaps irre¬
sistible.
beloved is, when used as a p.p.
(b. by all; was much b.), disyllabic
(-uvd) ; as a mere adjective (dearly
b. brethren ; the b. wife of), or as
a noun (my b.), it is trisyllabic
(-uvid) ; the first of these rules is
sometimes broken in ignorance of
usage, & the second with a view to
the emphasis attaching to what is
unusual. Cf. blessed, cursed.
below, under. There is a fairly
clear distinction between the pre¬
positions, worth preserving at the
cost of some trouble ; but the pre¬
sent tendency is to obscure it bv
allowing under to encroach ; & if
this continues b. will seem more &
more stilted, till it is finally aban¬
doned to the archaists. The dis¬
tinction is that b., like its contrary
above (cf. also the Latin infra &
supra), is concerned with difference
of level & suggests comparison of
independent things, whereas under,
like its contrary over (cf. also the
BENEATH
48
BESIDE(S)
Latin sub & super) is concerned with
superposition & subjection, & sug¬
gests some interrelation. The classes
b. us are merely those not up to our
level ; those u. us are those that we
rule. B. the bridge means with it
higher up the stream ; a. the bridge,
with it overhead. Contexts in
which b. is both right & usual are
b. par, b. the salt. Contexts in which
u. is encroaching are men b. 45,
b. one’s breath, no-one b. a bishop,
incomes b . £160. Contexts in which
u. is both right & usual are u. the
sun, the sod, the table, the circum¬
stances, the Stuarts, tyranny, pro¬
tection, one’s wing, one’s thumb,
a cloud. Cf. also beneath.
beneath has still one generally
current sense—too mean(ly) or low
for {lie married b. him ; It is b.
contempt ; It would be b. me to
notice it). Apart from this it is now
a poetic, rhetorical, or emotional
substitute for under or below.
Benedick, not Benedict, is the
spelling in Much Ado, & should
always be the spelling when the
name is used generically for a con¬
firmed or captured bachelor ; but
Benedict is often used ( Penalize the
recalcitrant Benedicts by putting a
heavy tax upon them) either (& pro¬
bably) in ignorance, or on the ir¬
relevant ground that Shakspere
might have done well to use the
more etymological form in -ct.
Bengalee, -ali. Pronounce beng-
gaw'll. The form in -ee is perhaps
still the commoner.
benign, benignant, malign, ma¬
lignant. The distinction between the
long & short forms is not very clear,
nor is it consistently observed. But
it may be said generally that benign
& malign refer rather to effect, &
benignant & malignant to intention
or disposition :— Exercises a benign
or malign influence ; A benignant
or malignant deity. An unconscious
possessor of the evil eye has a
malign but not a malignant look ;
discipline is benign rather than
benignant, indulgence benignant
rather than benign. The difference
is the same in kind, though less in
degree, as that between beneficent ,
maleficent, & benevolent, malevolent.
It is to be noticed, however, (1) that
the impulse of personification often
substitutes the -ant forms for the
others, e.g. as epithets of destiny ,
chance, &c. ; (2) that the distinction
is less generally maintained between
benign & benignant than between the
other two (e.g., of benign appearance
is common, where benignant would
be better) ; (3) that nevertheless in
medical use as epithets of diseases,
morbid growths, &c., the forms are
benign (as w r ould be expected) &
malignant (contrary to the rule) ;
tills use of malignant is perhaps a
stereotyped example of the personi¬
fying tendency, which benign escaped
because benignant, a recent forma¬
tion, did not exist when the words
were acquiring their medical sense.
See also malignancy.
bereaved, bereft. The essential
principle is perhaps that bereaved is
resorted to in the more emotional
contexts, bereft being regarded as
the everyday form (cf. beloved).
The result in practice is that (1) be¬
reft is used when the loss is specified
by an o/-phrase, & bereaved when it
is not, the latter naturally suggesting
that it is the greatest possible (^lre
you bereft of your senses ; The blow
bereft him of consciousness ; A be¬
reaved mother ; Weeping because she
is bereaved) ; but (2) bereaved is
sometimes used even before of when
the loss is that of a beloved person
(A mother bereft, or bereaved, of her
children ; Death bereft, or bereaved,
her of him). See -t & -ed,
beseech. Besought is the estab¬
lished past & p.p., though beseeched,
on which the OLD comment is
merely ‘ now regarded as incorrect ’,
still occurs, probably by inadver¬
tence, & Milton has beseecht.
besidc(s). The forms have been
fully differentiated in ordinary mod¬
ern use, though they are often con¬
fused again in poetry, & by those
who prefer the abnormal or are
unobservant of the normal, (l) Be-
side is now only a preposition, besides
having all the adverbial uses ; be¬
sides would have been normal in
And what is more, she may keep her
lover beside./ We talked of thee dc
none beside. (2) Beside alone has the
primary prepositional senses by the
side of (Sat down beside her ; She is
an angel beside you), out of contact
tvith (beside one-self, the question, the
mark, the purpose). (3) Besides
alone has the secondary preposi¬
tional senses in addition to, except ;
it would have been normal in Other
men beside ourselves. /1 have no
adviser beside you .
besom. Pronounce be'zm. It has
two uses only, (1) as the name for
a gardener’s twig broom, (2) as a
poetic expression for some purifying
or destroying agency. °
bespeak. The p.p. form bespoke
perhaps lingers only, beside the now
usual bespoken, as an attributive
adjective meaning made to order
(bespoke goods, boots, &e.) in contrast
with ready-made.
besttr is now always used reflex-
idfoma+^ WW f/ b ' Tn y se ^ ’ & never,
idiomatically, as an ordinary transi-
s^ed should have been
Mnrn?m Th i; exa ™P l ? °f the French in
Morocco' has bestirred Italy into
activity m Africa.
Tho^e wh^wi hT French words.
nose who wish to use the phrase in
wntmg must not suppose, like the
male wnter quoted below, that the
IrS der ^ Ca ? be Varied : From the very
txz* mystay * —
i^n^wn‘T uctions & mean -
thiZk »• 0r ™ enta l substitute for
®es the only unhappy on the earth .
beL^Vt words.
■ft, bet * are in idio-
Mmlts ten / e & P P- He
1 could not; They betted
49 _BETTERMENT
I a good deal in those days ; I have bet
£500 against it ; How 'much has been
bet on him ? ; The money was all
betted away. These examples, in
which it will probably be admitted
that the form used is better than the
other, suggest that bet is preferred in
the more usual connexion, i.e. with
reference to a definite transaction or
specified sum, & betted when the
sense is more general.
better. The idiomatic phrase had
better requires care ; the following,
lor instance, contains a violation of
usage The fact that many moderate
men on both sides were disquieted by
the incident of the Prince's presence
in the House was enough to satisfy
Inm that he had better been away.
Correct forms are He had better be
away. He had better hair been away
lie had better been away, which is not
English, is perhaps due, when it
occurs, to confusion with the totally
different construction,correct though
tending to the archaic, He had been
better away. In this last, better be¬
longs to he, & the full form is He
would have been better (if he had been)
away, so that better necessarily
fofiows & does not precede been.
had better have been away,
c hC iw \ S 1Ic xcoul(i hm ' e (i.e.
find) (it) better (to) have been away, &,
belter belongs to it, i.e. to to hair been
away (not, of course, to been).
better, bettor. See -or
betterment. For the use of the
word in general contexts, & apart
Irom its technical application to
property, see Saxonism. The late
Lady Victoria devoted her entire life
to the b. of the crofters db fishermen ;
keen satisfied with
the English for betterment, which is
improvement, he would not have been
blinded by the unusual word to the
faet that he was writing nonsense ;
the lady s effort was not to better or
improve the crofters, but their lot.
lie would reform our methods all
round beginning with increased alten-
th r ™r lk st iPP l y & the conse¬
quent b. of infant feedina
BETWEEN _°
between is a sadly ill-treated word ;
the point on which care is most
necessary is that numbered 5.
1 . B. you do 1. 2. B. each, every.
3. B. ... & b. 4. Difference b.
5 . B. ... or &c. .
1. B. you do I, which is olten
said, perhaps results from a hazy
remembrance of hearing you do me
corrected in the subjective.
2. B. may be followed by a single
plural (b. two perils ) as well as by
two separate expressions with and
( b. the devil do the deep sea) ; but it
must not be followed by a single
expression in which a distributive
such as each or every is supposed to
represent a plural. The following
must be corrected :— A batsman
who tried to gain time by blowing his
nose b. every ball (after every ball,
b. the balls, or b. every bail & the
next). The absence of professional
jealousy that must exist in future b.
each member of our profession (b. the
members, or if emphasis is indispens¬
able, b. each member ... & the rest).
3. B. . . . do b. The temptation to
repeat b. with the second term,
which comes in long sentences, must
be resisted ; B. you do b. me is at
once seen to be absurdly wrong ;
the following is as ungrammatical:—
The claim yesterday was for the
difference b. the old rate, which was
a rate by agreement, do b. the new, of
which the Water Board simply sent
round a notice. Sec Over-zeal.
4. B., used after words like differ¬
ence, seems to tempt people to put
down for one of the terms the exact
opposite of what they mean :— My
friend Mr. Bounderby -would never see
any difference b. leaving the Coke-
town ‘ hands ’ exactly as they were do
requiring them to be fed with turtle
soup it- venison out of gold spoons
(for leaving read refusing to leave)./
There is a very great distinction be¬
tween a craven truckling to foreign
nations it* adopting the altitude of the
proverbial Irishman at a fair, who
goes about asking if anybody would like
to tread on the tail of his coat (Read
avoiding for adopting).
BETWEEN, 5
5. B _ or &c. In the commonest
use of b ., i.e. where two terms are
separately specified, the one & only
right connexion between those terms
is and. But writers indulge in all
sorts of freaks ; the more excep¬
tional & absurd of these, in which
against, whereas, & to, are experi¬
mented with, are illustrated in
It is the old contest b. Justice do
Charity, b. the right to carry a weapon
oneself against the power to shelter
behind someone clse’s shield (Here
Elegant variation has been at
work ; to avoid repeating between
. . . and is more desirable than to
please the grammarian)./ He distin¬
guishes b. certain functions for which
full do rigorous training is necessary,
whereas others can very well be dis¬
charged by men who have had only the
limited training (Read d others that
can)./Societies with a membership b.
one thousand to five thousand. These
are freaks or accidents ; the real
temptation, strong under certain
circumstances, is to use or for and;
They may pay in money or in kind is
wrongly but naturally converted
into The choice is b. payment in
money or in kind. So We have in
that substance the link b. organic or
inorganic matter./Forced to choose
b. the sacrifice of important interests
on the one hand or the expansion of
the Estimates on the other./ He must
choose b. coming to an agreement
which is being widely denounced as
anti-patriotic, or insisting on a solu¬
tion which -would probably create fresh
dangerous friction. These again are
simple, requiring no further cor¬
rection than the change of or to and.
Extenuating circumstances can be
pleaded only when one or each of the
terms is compound & has its parts
connected by and, as in :— The
question lies b. a God d a creed, or
a God in such an abstract sense that
does not signify (Read b. a God do
a creea\ on the one hand. So on the
other a God in such Szc.)./The con¬
flict, which was previously b. the mob
ib the Autocracy, is now b. ike Par¬
liament do the King or the Parliament
BETWIXT
51
BIO
& the Bureaucracy (This means that
the question now is whether Parlia¬
ment & King, or Parliament &
Bureaucracy, shall rule, & this way
of putting it should be substituted :
The conflict was previously b. mob db
Autocracy ; but the question &c.).
betwixt. See Archaism.
beverage. See Pedantic humour,
& Working & stylish words.
beware is now used only where be
would be the part required with
ware regarded as = cautious, i.e. in
the imperative (B. of the dog /),
infinitive (He had better b.), & pres,
subjunctive (Unless they b.) ; be¬
waring, I beware or bewared, was
bewared of, &c., are obsolete.
bewilderedly. See -edly.
bi- prefixed to English words of
time (bi-hourly, bi-weekly, bi-monthly,
bi-quarterly, bi-yearly ) gives words
that have no merits & two faults :
they are unsightly hybrids, & they
are ambiguous. To judge from the
OED, the first means only two-
hourly; the second & third mean
both two-weekly, two-monthly, &
half-weekly, half-monthly ; & the
last two mean only half-quarterly,
half-yearly. Under these desperate
circumstances we can never know
where we are. There is no reason
why the bi - hybrids should not be
allowed to perish, & the natural &
unambiguous two-hourly & half-
hourly, fortnightly & half-weekly,
two-monthly & half-monthly, half-
y et frty & half-quarterly , two-yearly &
alf-yearly, of which several are
already common, be used regularlv
of & the words (bien¬
^hioned; these latter have now
MjMst become ambiguous them-
dyes from the ambiguity of the
mis-shapen brood sprung of them.
staSd 1 ?? 1 V, • Pr ° b t bly inven ted to
18 sometimes confused
.* sometimes distinguished
word j see S**"" 1 * is ^
Mm- For inflexions see -s- t -ss-.
Sec
arc
bias(s)edly. A bad form ; see
-edly.
bicentenary, bicentennial.
CENTENARY.
biceps, triceps. If plurals
wanted, it is best to say - ccpscs , the
regular English formation ; not
-cipites (the true Latin), both be¬
cause it is too cumbrous, & because
Latin scholars do not know the
words as names of muscles ; nor
-ceps, which is a mere blunder ; cf.
forceps, & sec Latin plurals 4.
bid. 1. In the auction sense the
past & p.p. are both bid (lie bid up
to £10 ; Nothing was bid).
2. In other senses, the past is
usually spelt bade & pronounced bad
(cf. ate) ; the p.p. is bidden, but bid
is preferred in some phrases, csp.
Do as you are bid.
3. Bid one go &c. has been dis¬
placed in speech by tell one to go &c.,
but lingers in literary use.
4. In the sense command, the
active is usually followed by infini¬
tive without to (I bade him go), but
the passive by to (lie was bidden
to go).
bide. Apart from archaism &
poetic use, the word is now idio¬
matic only in b. one s time, & its past
in this phrase is bided.
bien entendu. See French words
biennial. See bi-.
biens6ance. See French words.
big, great, large. The differences in
meaning & usage cannot be exhaus¬
tively set forth ; but a few points
may be made clear. Itoughlv, the
notions of mere size & quantity have
been transferred from great to lar*c
& big; great is reserved for lets
simple meanings, as will be ex¬
plained below ; large & big differ,
first, in that the latter is more
familiar & colloquial, & secondly, in
that each has additional senses—
mrge its own Latin sense of generous,
& big certain of the senses proper to
great, in which it tends to be used
sometimes as a colloquial & some*
times as a half-slang substitute.
It will be best to classify the chief
BIG
52
BILLION
uses of great as the central word,
with incidental comments on the
other two.
1. With abstracts expressing things
that vary in degree, great means
a high degree of (g. care, ignorance,
happiness, tolerance, charity, joy,
sorrow, learning, facility, generosity,
comfort) ; big is not idiomatic with
any of these ; & though large is used
with tolerance, charity, & generosity,
it is in a special sense—broad-minded
or prodigal. With words of this kind
that happen themselves to mean size
or quantity {size, quantity, bulk,
magnitude, amount, tonnage) large &
big are sometimes used, though
neither is as idiomatic as great, &
big is slangy.
2. With words denoting persons or
things such that one specimen of the
class deserves the name more fully
than another (e. g., one fool is more
a fool, but one boot is not more
a boot, than another), great does not
imply size, but indicates that the
specimen has the essential quality
in a high degree ; so a g. opportun¬
ity, occasion, friend, landowner,
majority, schoolmaster, shot (shooter),
nuisance, stranger, brute, fool, haul,
race (contest), undertaking, success,
linguist, age. Here large could be
substituted with landowner, major¬
ity, haul, & undertaking, but merely
because a large quantity of land,
votes, fish, or money, is involved ;
big could stand with the same four
on the same ground ; it is slangily
used also with most of the others ;
this is bad ; a great fool should mean
a very foolish fool, & a big fool one
whose stature belies his wits.
3. A great has the meaning eminent,
of distinction, & the g. the meaning
chief, principal, especial {a g. man ;
g. houses ; a g. family ; the g. ad¬
vantage, or thing, is) ; & from these
comes the use of great as a distinctive
epithet ( the g. auk ; G. Britain ;
Alexander the G. ; the g. toe ; go
out by the g. gate), with the idea of
size either absent or quite sub¬
ordinate. In these senses large
cannot be used, though it would
stand with many of the same words
in a different sense {a g. family has
distinguished, but a l. family numer¬
ous, members) ; big is here again
slangily & ambiguously substituted
for great; a big man should refer to
the man’s size, or be extended only
(as in the big men of the trade ; cf.
large with landowner &c. in 2) to
express the quantity of his stock or
transactions. The b. toe, however,
& such examples as the b. gate, show
that big may serve as a distinctive
epithet instead of great without
slangy effect when difference of size
is the salient point of distinction ;
& in such contexts it is now idio¬
matic.
4. Finally, great does sometimes
mean of remarkable size—the sense
that it has for the most part resigned
to large & big — ; but it is so used
only where size is to be represented
as causing emotion ; large & big give
the cold fact ; great gives the fact
coloured with feeling ; e. g., lie hit
me with a great stick is better than
with a large or big stick, if I am angry
about its size ; but in Perhaps a big
or large slick might do it would be
impossible to substitute great ; simi¬
larly Big dogs are belter out of doors,
but I am not going to have that great
dog in here ; Ilis feet are large or
big, but Take your great feet off the
sofa ; What a great head he has!
suggests admiration of the vast
brain or fear of the formidable teeth
it probably contains, whereas What
a large head he has ! suggests dis¬
passionate observation.
bi-hourly. See bi-
bike. See Curtailed words.
bilbo. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
billet doux. Pronounce bi'lidoo'.
The plural is billets doux, but should
be pronounced bi'lidoo'z. See
French words.
billion, trillion, quadrillion, &c. It
should be remembered that these
words do not mean in American
(which follows the French) use what
they mean in British English. For
us they mean the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, &c.,
BI-MONTHLY
58
BLOOM
power of a million ; i.e., a billion is
a million millions, a trillion a million
million millions, &c. For Americans
they mean a thousand multiplied by
itself twice, three times, four times,
&c.} i. e., a billion is a thousand
thousand thousands or a thousand
millions, a trillion is a thousand
thousand thousand thousands or a
million millions, &c.
bi-monthly, bi-quarterly, see bi-.
bird’s nest, bird(’s)-nest(ing). The
noun should always have the’s, & is
better without the hyphen as two
words (pi. birds’ nests) than with it
(pi. bird’s-nests). In the verb &
gerund the ’s is also usual, but is
often omitted.
bise. See wind, n.
bishopric. See see.
bistre, -ter. See -re & -er.
bivalve. For succulent b. see
Pedantic humour.
bivouac. Participles -eked, -eking :
see -c-, -CK-. 6 *
bi-weekly, bi-yearly. See bi-.
black(en). The short form is used
when the intentional laying on of
colouring-matter is meant, & otber-
mse the long ; we black boots with
blacking, grates with black lead, &
faces with burnt cork ; we blacken
a reputation, oak blackens with age,
& the ceiling is blackened with
K e 5 exception is that we
ra t. her than blacken, a person’s
eye for him. See -en verbs.
i?l ee F REN cn WORDS.
Mam(e)able. Spell without the -e- ;
Bee mute e. *
££ TOtSe - See Technical
inflexions see
v fi? - IE &c., 2.
hif®* o See Fr ench words.
“We. See -able.
e^t^’ b ^ nt ' f' mded is now ‘he
eveiyday torn (core/ug,, Utnded
mmi blended amuse-
‘ instruction); but blent
m Poetic, rhetorical, &
contexts (pity & dnger
West.
accent used
below (blessed) is for the purpose of
the article only. The attributive
adjective is regularly disvllabic
(blesstd innocence ; what a "blessed
thing is sleep ! ; the blcssM dead ;
every blessid night ; not a blessed one),
& the plural noun with the, which
is an absolute use of the adjective,
is so also ; but the monosyllabic
pronunciation is sometimes used in
verse, or to secure emphasis by the
unusual, or in archaic phrases j the
spelling is then blest :—our blest
Redeemer ; that blest abode ; the
Isles, the mansions, of the West.
lhe past tense, p.p., &, predicative
adjective, are regularly monosylla-
bic ; the spelling is usually biassed
in the past tense, blest in clearly
adjectival contexts, & variable in
the p.p. (J/e blessed himself ; God
has blessed me with riches ; lie is
blessed, or blest, with good health, in
hts lot, &c. ; Blessed, or blest, if
I know ; Those who win heaven,
blest are they ; It is twice blest ) ; in
the beatitudes & similar contexts
however, blessed is usual. BlcssM
makes sometimes -est ; sec -er &
-est 4.
blessedness. For single b., see
W ORN-OUT nUMOUR.
blithesome is a Needless vari
of blithe ; see -some.
blizzard. lor synonymy see wind,
n.
blond(e). The -e should be drop-
ped ; the practice now usual is to
retain it when the word is used
either as noun or as adjective of a
woman & drop it otherwise ( the
blonde girt ; she is a blonde ; she has
a blond complexion ; the blond races) •
but this is by no means universal’
b between blond women
& blonde women (with blondes women
m the background) at once shows
its absurdity.
bloody, vb. For Inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
bloom, blossom. Strictly, bloom
fl* “ v * ^^rs to the flower as itself
the ultimate achievement of the
plant, & blossom n. & v. to the flower
BLOUSE °
as promising fruit ; the distinction,
as regards literal flowers, is perhaps
rathe” horticultural than literary or
general ; at any rate it is often
neglected ; but The roses are in
bloom, The apple-trees are in blossom,
& other uses, confirm it ; and in
figurative contexts, the blooming-
time or bloom of a period of art is its
moment of fullest development, when
its blossoming-time or blossom is
already long past.
blouse. Pronounce blowz.
blowzed, -sed, blowzy, -sy. The
OED spells with z.
bluebell. In the south this is the
wild hyacinth, Scilia nutans ; in the
north, & esp. in Scotland, it is the
flower called in the south harebell ,
Campanula rotundifolia, with fewer,
larger, & thinner-textured flowers
than the other.
blu(e)ish. Spell without e. See
.Mutf. e.
bluey. See -ey & -y.
boatswain. The nautical pronun¬
ciation (bo'sn) has become so general
that to avoid it is more affected than
to use it. See Pronunciation.
bodeful is a modern stylish sub¬
stitute for ominous ; see Working
& STYLISH WORDS, & SaxONISM.
body, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., G.
bog(e)y, bogie. The OED prefers
bogy for the bugbear, & bogie in
coachbuilding; the golf word is
usually spelt Bogey.
bohea. Pronounce bohe'.
bolt, boult. The word of which the
spelling varies is that meaning to
sift. Of this the OED says :—‘The
historical spelling of the word is
boult : unfortunately the diction¬
aries have confounded it with ’ [the
other verb bolt] ‘ & authorized the
spelling bolt ’. It is perhaps, how¬
ever, not too late to restore the
better spelling boult in literary use
at least.
bombasine. The OED puts first
the pronunciation bombaze'n.
bona fide(s). Bona fide is a Latin
BORN(E)
ablative meaning in good faith ; its
original use is accordingly adverbial
(Was the contract made bona fide ?) ;
but it is also & more commonly used
attributively like an adjective ( Was
it a bona fide, or bona-fide, con¬
tract ?) ; in this attributive use the
hyphen is correct, but not usual ;
in the adverbial use it is wrong.
Bona fides is the noun ( His bona
fides was questioned) ; the mistake
is sometimes made by those who
know no Latin of using fide instead
of fides : The fact that Branting ac¬
cepted the chairmanship of the Com¬
mittee should be sufficient evidence of
its bona-fide.
bonbon. See French words.
bond(s)man. The two forms are
properly distinct, bondsman meaning
a surety & being connected with the
ordinary bond & bind, & bondman
meaning a villein, serf, or man in
bondage, & having (like bondage)
nothing to do with bond & bind ;
but bondsman is now rare in its true
sense, & on the other hand is much
more used than bondman in the sense
proper to the latter. The confusion
is not likely to be corrected, & is of
V
no importance.
Bon(e)y. See -ey, -ie, -y.
bonhomie. Sec French words.
bon mot. See French words.
The plural is bons mots.
bonne. See French words.
bonne bouche. The meaning of the
phrase in French is not that which
we have given it ; but variation of
meaning or form is no valid objection
to the use of a phrase once definitely
established ; see a l’outrance.
bonnes fortunes, bon ton, bon
vivant. See French words.
bookcase. Pronounce boo'k-kas,
not bdo'kils.
bookie, -y. See -ey, -ie, -y.
bookman. See Novelty-hunting,
Saxonism.
booze, -zy, bouse, -sy, bowse, -sy.
The booz- forms are now established,
& the others should be abandoned.
born(e). The p.p. of bear in all
senses except that of birth is borne
55
BOURN(E)
(I have borne with you till now; Was
borne along helpless) ; borne is also
used, when the reference is to birth,
(a) in the active ( Has borne no
Children ), & (b) in the passive when
by follows (Of all the children borne
by her one survives) ; the p.p. in the
sense of birth, when used passively
without by, is born (Was born blind ;
A bom fool ; Of all the children born
to them ; The melancholy born of
solitude ; Born in 1898).
born6. See French words.
botanic(al). The -ic form is ‘ now
mostly superseded by botanical,
except in names of institutions
founded long ago, as “ The Royal
Botanic Society ” *— OED. See
-ic(al).
both. 1. Both ... as well as. 2. Re¬
dundant both. 3. Common parts in
both . . . and phrases.
1. Both ... as well as. To follow
b. by as well as instead of and, as is
often done either by inadvertence or
in pursuit of the unusual, is absurd ;
how absurd is realized only when it
is remembered that the as well of
as well as is itself the demonstrative
to which the second as is relative, &
can stand in the place occupied by
both instead of next door to as. In
the following examples, either omit
both or read and for as well as ; as
welt, it will be seen, can be shifted
into the place of both, if the object
u §* ve _ timely notice that the
carters strike, the composer, or the
adjective, is not the whole of the
matter: He has figured prominentlu
y-n the carters' strike, in which many
°J V s members were involved, as well
® the more recent railway strike. /
lhe metrostyle will always be of ex-
n n & interest, b. to the composer as
public./ymei differ,
jwm who m being used b. as an adjcc-
£ ® mell as a noun.
of/iSw ndant ? 0<A - The addition
or any other word that
SfdSli 4 i***? 688 * * 8 at least a fault
i worst (e.g. with be-
S***k-*® illogicality. In the ex¬
amples, both should be omitted,
unless the omission of the other
word(s) in roman type is preferable
or possible :—If any great advance is
to be at once b. intelligible dr inter¬
esting./ The currents shifted the mines,
to the equal danger both of friend
cb foe./We find b. Lord Morlcy dc
Lord Lansdowne equally anxious
for a workable understanding./ To the
ordinary Protestant b. Lalitudinarian
<fr High-Churchman were equally
hateful./ The International Society is
not afraid to invite comparisons be¬
tween masters b. old dr new.
3. Common parts in both . . . and
phrases. Words placed between the
both & the and are thereby declared
not to be common to both members ;
accordingly, 11. in India ctr Aus¬
tralia is wrong ; the right arrange¬
ments arc (a) It. in India dr in
Australia, (b) In b. India dr Aus¬
tralia ; of these b sounds formal, A.
is often shrunk from as a remedv
worse than the disease ; but there
is no objection to a, which should be
used. Similarly, II. the Indians d
the Australians is right & unobjec¬
tionable ; II. the Indians dr Aus¬
tralians is common but wrong ; The
b. Indians dir Australians is theo¬
retically right but practically im¬
possible.
bother. See pother.
boulevard. See French words.
boult. See bolt.
bounden is still used, & bound is
not, with duty. It is also used
alternatively with bound as the p.p.
of bind in the sense oblige (I am much
bounden, or bound, to you) ; but the
whole verb, including the p.p., is
a mere Archaism in this sense.
bounteous, -iful. See plenteous.
bourgeois. See French words.
As the name of a printing type, in
which sense the word is English, it
is pronounced berjoi's.
bourn(e). There are two words,
which were originally burn & borne,
but are now not distinguished, con¬
sistently at any rate, either in spel¬
ling or in pronunciation. The first
(which retains in Scotland & the
BOWDLERIZE
56
BRIER
north its original form burn) means
a stream, but is now applied as
a current word only to the torrents
of the chalk downs, full in winter &
dry in summer ; it serves in poetry
as an ornamental synonym for
brook. The second means properly
a boundary (from French borne) as
in The undiscovered country from
whose borne No traveller returns, but
is used almost solely, with a dis¬
torted memory of that passage, in
the sense of destination or goal.
The OED prefers bourn stream, &
bourne goal, & the differentiation
would be useful.
bowdlerize. Pronounce bow-,
bowsprit. Pronounce bo-,
brace, n. (= two). See Collec¬
tives 3.
brachycephalic, -lous. See -ceitia-
LIC.
brachylogy. Sec Technical terms.
braggadocio. PI. - os ; see -o(e)s 4.
brain(s), in the sense of wits, may
often be either singular or plural, the
latter being perhaps, as the OED
suggests, the familiar, & the former
the dignified use. In suck or pick
a person’s brain(s), the number is
indifferent; Has no bb. is commoner
than Has no b., but cither is English.
Some phrases, however, admit only
one number or the other, c.g. cudgel
one’s bb., have a thing on the b., have
one’s b. turned.
brainy, meaning acute, ingenious,
&c., is, & may as well remain, an
Americanism.
brake, break, nn. The words
meaning (1) bracken, (2) thicket,
(3) lever, (4) crushing or kneading
or peeling or harrowing instrument,
(5) steadying-frame, though perhaps
all of different origins, are spelt
brake always. The word that means
checking-appliance is usually brake,
but break sometimes occurs owing to
a probably false derivation from to
break (the OED refers it to N° 3
above, which it derives from OF
brae = F bras arm). The word mean¬
ing horsebreaker’s carriage-frame, &
applied also to a large wagonette, is
usually, & probably should be,
break ; but brake is not uncommon.
The word meaning fracture &c. is
always break.
Bramah {B. lock &c.) is pronounced
brS-, not brah-.
branch. For synonymy see field.
bran(d)-new. The spelling with -d
is the right (fresh as from the fur¬
nace) ; but the d is seldom heard,
& often not written.
bravado. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
brave in the sense of fine or showy
is an Archaism, & in the sense of
worthy a Gallicism ; make a b.
show, however, is fully current.
bravo, brava, bravi. In applauding
operatic performers &c., the first
form is used to a man, the second to
a woman, & the third to the com¬
pany.
bravo. PI. -ocs in sense bullies, - os
in sense cries of applause ; see
-o(e)s 1, 3.
brazen. See -en adjectives, &
-ER & -EST 2.
breadthways, -wise. See -ways,
-WISE.
break. 1. For p.p. see broke(n).
2. For spelling of nouns see brake,
break.
breakfast, break one’s fast. The
divided form is now a mere Archa¬
ism. Pronounce bre'kfast.
breeches &c. The singular noun &
its derivatives ( breechloader , breech¬
ing, &c.) have usually -ech- in pro¬
nunciation ; breeches the garment
has always -ich-, & the verb breech
(put child into bb.) usually follows
this.
breese, breeze, brize, are all existent
spellings of the word meaning gadfly.
A difference from the other breeze
being useful, the first is recom¬
mended.
brevet, n. & v. Pronounce bre'vit,
not brive't ; the past & p.p. are
accordingly breveted, see -T-, -tt-.
breviary. Pronounce bre- ; see
False quantity.
bricken. See -en adjectives.
brier, briar. 1. For the word mean-
ing thorny bush, the spelling brier,
& _the monosyllabic pronunciation
bnr, are nearer the original & pref¬
erable ; brere is still nearer, but
now a poetic archaism only. 2. The
name of the pipe-wood is an entirely
different word, but also best spelt
brier.
brilliance, -cy. oee -ce, -cy
brindle(d), brinded. The original
form brinded is archaic, & should be
used only in poetry. Brindled , a
variant of it, is now the ordinary
adjective, & brindle, a Back-forma¬
tion from this, & convenient as a
name for the colour, should be used
only as a noun.
brisken. See -en verbs.
Britain, British, Briton. For the
relation of these to England En«-
lish(man), see England. &
name for an idiom
used in Great Britain & not in
America, is a Barbarism, & should
be either Britannicism or Britishism,
just as Ilibemicism or Irishism will
do, but not Iricism. Gallicism &
bcot(t)Mism cannot be pleaded, since
Garnish & Scotch are in Latin
Galhcus & Scot(t)icus , but British is
Bnlanmcus . The verbal critic, who
alone uses such words, should at
. see ^ that they are above
criticism.
Britisher is a word made in America,
n °^. dlsco . u ntenanced in Ameri-
? , Nonaries as 4 in jocose use
only or as ‘ almost disused ’ ; if
rmSS P !l ras f 3 P ve the actual & not
merely the desirable American usage,
is ^ ere ai T doubts, it
ciled tho ® n tish Writers recon-
25“ lf » convenient function of
Ameri^ Cmg ri 131 the user of *t is
th? wo?d ; o 3’,i on the other hand,
KT£ applyingVtfco
« the German, have to
?-* “ ot , Dutch or to change
oame to please us. s
broad, wide. Both words have
general currency; their existence
side by side is not accounted for by
one’s being more appropriate to any
special style ; what difference there
is must be in meaning ; yet how
close they are in this respect is
shown by their both having narrow
as their usual opposite, & both
standing in the same relation, if in
any at all, to long. Nevertheless,
though they may often be used in-
dmerently (a b. or a tv. road ; three
Ject w. or b.), there are (1) manv
words with which one may be used
& not the other, (2) many with
which one is more idiomatic than the
other though the sense is the same,
(3) many with which cither can be
used, but not with precisely the
same sense as the other ; these num¬
bered points are illustrated below.
The explanation seems to be that
wide refers to the distance that
separates the limits, & broad to the
amplitude of what connects them.
When it does not matter which of
these is in our minds, either word
does equally well; if the hedges are
lar apart, we have a w. road ; if
there is an ample surface, we have
a b. road; it is all one. But (1)
backs, shoulders, chests, bosoms,
are b., not w., whereas eves »&
mouths are w., not b. ; at tv'. inter -
vals give a tv. berth , a to. ball, w. open,
lu al . j° f wh,ch b. is impossible, have
the idea of separation strongly ; «£-
to. trousers, tv. sleeves, tv. range, tc.
influence, to. favour, tv. distribution,
the to. world, where b. is again im¬
possible, suggest the remoteness of
the limit. Of the words that admit
b. but refuse tv. some are of the
simple kind (b. blades, spearheads,
leaves ; the b. arrow), but with many
some secondary notion such as
generosity or downrightness or
neglect of the petty is the repre¬
sentative of the simple idea of
amplitude ( b. daylight, B. Church,
b. jests, b. farce, b. hint, b. Scotch,
b. facts, b. outline).
words with which one of
the two is idiomatic, but the other
BROADNESS
58
BUMBLE-BEE
not impossible, are :—(preferring
broad) expanse, brow, forehead, lands ,
estates, acres, brim, mind, gauge ;
(preferring wide) opening, gap , gulf,
culture.
(3) Some illustrations of the differ¬
ence in meaning between broad &
o
wide with the same word ; the first
two may be thought fanciful, but
hardly the others : A w. door is
one that gives entrance to several
abreast, a b. door one of imposing
dimensions ; a w. river takes long to
cross, a b. river shows a fine expanse
of water ; a 7t\ generalization covers
many particulars, a b. generalization
disregards unimportant exceptions ;
a page has a b. margin, i.e. a fine
expanse of white, but we allow a w.
margin for extras, i.e. a great interval
between the certain & the possible
costs ; a w. distinction or difference
implies that the things are very far
from identical, but a b. distinction or
difference is merely one that requires
no subtlety for its appreciation.
broadness is now used instead of
tlie usual breadth only when the
meaning is coarseness or indelicacy
of expression.
Brobdingnag (not -ignag) is the
spelling.
broccoli (not -oco-, nor do) is the
best spelling. The word is an
Italian plural, & is generally used
collectively like spinach &c. ; but if
a or the plural is wanted, a broccoli,
two broccolis, are the forms.
brochure, pamphlet. See French
words. II . has no right to exist in
English, since it is not needed by the
side of ]>. Its introduction in the
19th c. was probably due to mis¬
conception of the French uses. In
French b. is used where the French
p. (chiefly applied to scurrilous or
libellous or violently controversial
pamphlets) is inappropriate. The
sense ‘ a few leaves of printed
matter stitched together ’ has always
belonged in English to p., though‘it
has by the side of this general sense
the special one (different from the
French) ‘ p. bearing on some question
of current interest (esp. in politics
or theology)’. ‘Dans sa brochure
appel^e en anglais pamphlet \ quoted
in French dictionaries from Voltaire,
gives us the useful hint that the
English for b. is p.
broider(y). Sec Archaism, Poetic-
isms.
broke(n). The form broke, now
obsolete or a blunder in most senses,
is still idiomatic (1) as p.p. of break-
dismiss the service ( he was broke for
cowardice) except in the attributive
use (a broken officer), and (2) in the
slang phrase stony-broke.
bromine. For pronunciation see
IODINE.
bronco. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s C.
brow. In the sweat of thy brow is a
Misquotation.
Bruin. See Sobriquets.
brusque, though formerly so far
naturalized as to be spelt brusk &
pronounced brusk, is now usually
pronounced broosk.
brutal, brute, brutish. Brutal
differs from brute in its adjectival or
attributive use, & from brutish, in
having lost its simplest sense of the
brutes as ojtposed to man & being
never used without implying moral
condemnation. Thus, while brute
force is contrasted with skill, brutal
force is contrasted with humanity.
In torturing a mouse, a cat is
brutish , & a person brutal. For com¬
parison of brutal, see -er & -est, 4„
Brythonic. Sec Gaelic.
bubo, buffalo. PI. -oes ; sec -o(e)s E
buck. See hart.
buffet. The OED pronounces this
bu'fit in the sense sideboard or cup¬
board, & as French in the sense
refreshment bar. See also French
WORDS.
buffo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
bugaboo. PI. - oos ; see -o(e)3 4.
bulbul. Pronounce bbb'lbool.
bulletin. See French words.
bully, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
bullyrag. See ballyrag.
bumble-bee, humble-bee. See
bummalo
59
BURST
Needless variants. Neither form,
however, though there is no differ¬
ence of meaning, is a mere variant
of the other ; they are independent
formations, one allied with boom, &
the other with hum. The first form
is preferable, because its imitative
origin is more apparent.
bummalo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
bunkum, buncombe. The first
spelling is recommended, as de¬
cided!
secon
name, is tfie original ; but the* word
is equally significant with either
spelling, & no purpose is served by
trying to re-establish the less usual.
ly the prevalent one
d, from an American
buoy is now pronounced boi, &
attempts to restore bwoi, the pro¬
nunciation ‘ recognized by all ortho-
epists British & American are
doomed to fail; the OED, in spite
first 6 Statement quoted, puts boi
JR. bUn \ The word meaning
prickly seed-vessel &c. is usually,
con y e mently be always,
bur; the word describing northern
?hT U ?L ation is aIwa y s burr ; in ah
Sm W °* ds ’ Which are les *
be made universal. & 1
js ta e ^™> The second form
lth refere nce to a ship’s
Ca P acit y 5 for which burden
VA ^ Zr ' I ™ Us * d ’ a Needless
2SSi. in other uses il is an
bureaucrat, &c. The formation is
that all attempt at
S? 8 £ & abandoned ^
bam'lrjit to insist on
mss
t ttei to the
b 3ie fnrm ^ pretend that - eau -
‘!“t ordinarily
^» it is only to be desired that
the spelling could also be chanced
to bur oct ui &c. K
lit i Burgh, still in
English use with reference to Scotch
elections is pronounced like the
Enghsh form borough, Burgher, an
archaism, is pronounced her ’gcr.
JUSfr . Sce P ack -iormation. a
verb being undoubtedly wanted <fe
words on the pattern of burglarize
being acceptable only when there is
° tber P° 3sibi,it y. it is to be hoped
that burgle may outgrow its present
facetiousness & become generally
current. b
burlesque, caricature, parody, trav¬
esty. In wider applications the
words are often interchangeable •
a badly conducted trial, for instance
may be called a b., a c., a />., or a t.\
of justice ; a perverted institution
may be said, without change of
sense to b., e., />., or i., its founder's
intentions ; &, the others having no
adjectives of their own, the adjective
burlesque can serve them, as well as
its own noun, in that capacity (a b.
portrait, poem, &c.). Two dlstinc-
however, are worth notice
(lj o., c., & p. t have, besides their
wider uses, each a special province:
action or acting is burlesqued, form
& features are caricatured, & verbal
expression is parodied, (2) travesty
differs from the others both in
having no special province, & i n
being more used than they (though
all four may be used either way)
when the imitation is intended to be
or pass for an exact one but fails,
& not to amuse by its mixture of
likeness & unlikeness to the original.
burnt, burned. Burnt is the usual
orm, esp. m the p.p. ; burned tends
to disappear, & is chiefly used with
a view to securing whatever im¬
pressiveness or beauty attaches to
the unusual ; see -t & - ED .
burr. See bur.
burst, bust. In the slang exores-
BURY
& should be used by those who use
the phrases.
bury. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
bus is sufficiently established to
require no apostrophe ; for the
plural, see -s-, -ss-.
business, busyness. The second
form, pronounced bfzinls, is used as
the simple abstract noun of busy (the
state &c. of being busy) for distinc¬
tion from the regular business with
its special developments of meaning.
buskin. For the b. meaning the
tragic stage &c. see Battered
ORNAMENTS.
bustle. See Pronunciation,S ilent t.
busy, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., G.
but. 1. Case after b. — except.
2. Redundant negative after b. 3.
Illogical b. 4. Wheels within wheels.
5. B. . . . however. 6. But which.
1. Case after but = except. The
question is whether b. in this sense
is a preposition, & should therefore
always take an objective case ( No-
one saxv him but me, as well as I saw
no-one but him), or whether it is a
conjunction, & the case after it is
therefore variable (I saw no-one but
him, i.e. but I did see him ; No-one
saw him but 1, i.e. but I did see
him). The answer is that but was
originally a preposition meaning
outside, but is now usually made
a conjunction, the subjective case
being preferred after it when ad¬
missible. A correspondent who has
collected a large number of examples
in which an inflected pronoun
follows but informs me that 95 % of
them show the conjunctional use ;
Whence all b. he (not him) had fled
exemplifies, in fact, the normal
modern literary use. All but him
is used (a) by those who either do
not know or do not care whether it
is right or not—& accordingly it is
still good colloquial—, & (b) by the
few who, being aware that b. is
originally prepositional, are also
proud of the knowledge & willing
to air it—& accordingly it is still
pedantic-literary. It is true that
the conjunctional use has prevailed
owing partly to the mistaken notion
that No-one knows it b. me is the
same sort of blunder as It is me; but
it has prevailed, in literary use, &
it is in itself legitimate ; it would
therefore be well for it to be univer¬
sally accepted.
2. Redundant negative after but.
But (now rare), but that (literary), &
but what (colloq.), have often in
negative & interrogative sentences
the meaning that . . . not. But just
as I shouldn't wonder if he didn’t
fall in is often heard in vulgar speech
where didn't fall should be fell, so
careless writers insert after but
the negative already implied in it.
Examples (all wrong) :— Who knows
b. that the whole history of the Con¬
ference might not have been changed?/
Who knows but what agreeing to differ
may not be a form of agreement rather
than a form of difference?/IIow can
Mr. Balfour tell b. that two years hence
he may not be tired of official life?
For similar mistakes, see Haziness.
3. Illogical but. A very common
& exasperating use of but as the
ordinary adversative conjunction is
that illustrated below. A writer
having in his mind two facts of
opposite tendency, & deciding to
give them in two separate & com¬
plete sentences connected by but,
forgets that the mere presence of the
opposed facts is not enough to
justify but ; the sentences must be
so expressed that the total effect of
one is opposed to that of the other ;
he must not be seduced into throw¬
ing in an additional circumstance
in one (usually the second) of his
sentences that will have the unin¬
tended effect of neutralizing the
contrast In vain the horse kicked
& reared, b. he could not unseat his
rider (if the kicking was in vain, the
failure to unseat involves no con¬
trast ; either in vain or but must be
dropped). /Pole was averse to burning
Cranmer, b. it was Alary who decided
that his recantation was not genuine
& that he must die (The fact in
«<
Hi
,4
contrast with Pole’s averseness is
Cranmer’s having to die ; this may
be given simply— but Cranmer was
burnt, or with additional details—
U was decided &c., or even Maru
decided &c.—, as long as the opposi¬
tion between the sentences remains •
but U was Mary who decided at once
makes the second sentence har¬
monious instead of contrasted with
Ijbe first; ^Ind it was Mary who
decided, ox But Mary decided)./So
far as Mr. Haldane's scheme tends
towards the encouragement of local
Pfnotism it can do nothing but good :
to the only point about the scheme
which seems to me to be doubtful con -
ccms the question of the 1 d if£ d
respmsMlity (There being only one
SS™** with the goodness 2d!
nutted in the first sentence. Omit
»id, or else write But there if a
r correspon-
S he a pparently docs not
S"? « }he arguments of his fellow
'°th^ tfTr iUee ™
TZL \f J 1 * a^fapTerSZ
Salonica to *i% UTa fi e & goodwill at
order /Fith noc se * their house in
the t!ir her 0mit but > or convert
writing 6iJ e ^ e ^ eS into one by
black, fcS t / or ™ 11 « not
To the il is tokife)./ ■
to s 0/ ,A(rf «“* ’
too, u“* Club has
tecA of Jif r JL/f 0rmc ?L beb ind the
to, o/Jf. r ; i S W«' (Either omit
61
—____BY
: noT^ ^black ? (wrTng)%
^*amsk A «
effect produced nhcn'.niu^^?''!';
bv ;?,?y ntniStcd 8c,, tenoes connected
i^jica.c<i“bv , w n 12 1 11 232d r :^. 1 ;*^
he did not follow un his th r „„V7 ? ' 7/ *
fuefu Tf , fi‘,!r' m ‘ nSl thc Vninfkifit.
nZrT T m ‘ >^he^%
Tbfy on z :”*’ ,r "" «*» &»:
orLlizatiZ h"‘, C ’ Wt 10 a ''
which it in*it • °/ an or £ a,nz uhon
uetreaf . ! , m l an V-l' b • toiirA is
mZleb 7 / "Tw hc ”'b‘t
. e > o. Ac rfitf 7io t £ f: f
nuZl't/Z ™ rcM , mm 'to
ou hword l V ulfor Zone.
%fntr tl h k s P cclalit !/> b. it has followed
eo/ w/c precedents in spreading over
P rc/io/c country south of the Tweed
B. we are glad that it ,/ a Scot who
ha* ventured to blame golf.
always* due to rnerp^^ )*? prrhaps
L rnuTt f Tc . al ,r cmcd U is to be found,
L \ i lSea l C; b - iba t, however is
had not changed, & that*was ^ !
With lossrs'T'lL S catalr d withdrew
reinforced'by ^ rC ‘ Urned '
6. For but which see wmcn.
Since less excusah^ b ^
hese, due tS ? bllln <iers than
ieca sionaUy ocph^? 88 carelessness,
ftwgrecn, as is nf? S ‘ 11 is not an
s/ZnTtZ' * V
^ ib toelu-^,^ & '-ong
buxom. See -er «fe -est, 2.
buz(z). See -z-, -zz-.
oy, prep, owing to the variety of
X S ZIT h apt , t0 be oointentTon-
senf J? Cd SeV : Cral tlmes in the same
& the en f he use s are parallel
the rej>etition intentional (We can
now travel by land, by sea, or bu eUr)
monotony is better than the^EiJ-
n^Z ? X ^ TIOX (blJ land > 0,1 Me sea,
or through the air) often affected : but
BY
62
CAFFRE
The following
such accidental recurrences of by as
are here shown are slovenly(cf. of) : —
The authors attempt to round off the
play by causing Maggie to conquer by
making John laugh by her poor joke
about Eve was not worthy of him./Pal¬
merston wasted the strength derived by
England by the great war by his brag.
by, bye, by-. The spelling, & usage
in regard to separating the two
parts, hyphening them, or writing
them as one word, are variable. As
the noun & adjective are merely
developments of the adverb or pre¬
position, it would have been reason¬
able to spell always by ; but bye is
now too firmly established in some
uses to be abolished ; & the question
of hyphening, separating, or com¬
bining, is dillicult.
scheme might secure consistency
without violating any usage that
deserves respect.
1. The noun is bye ( leg-bye ; Jones
a bye ; by the bye).
2. The adjective (collateral, sub¬
ordinate, incidental, additional, &c.)
should be written by - ( by-road ,
by-election, &c.) ; the spelling bye
is due to the desire to distinguish
from the preposition, but is only
needed for this purpose if the hyphen
(unobjectionable even in words made
for the nonce ; the by-effects is no
worse than the bye effects) is omitted.
3. The adverb should be spelt by &
joined on without hyphen ( bygone,
bystander, &c.).
4. Some special words :—by & by
has the adverb or preposition twice,
& should follow their spelling ;
bye-bye sleep, & bye-bye good-bye,
are unconnected with by, & have
usually the e ; by-laiv is perhaps
also unconnected, & is often spelt
bye-, but may well be assimilated to
words under rule 2.
A list is added for convenience :
by & by, by-blow, bye (n.), bye-bye,
by-election, by-end, bygone, by-lane,
by-law, by-name, by-pass, bypast,
by-path, by-play, by-product,
by-road, bystander, by-street, by
the bye, by-way, by-word, by-work.
C
cabbalist(ic), cabbala, &c. These
are the right spellings, not caba-.
cable(gram). The verb cable (trans¬
mit, inform, &c., by cable) is both
convenient & unobjectionable ; cable¬
gram is not only a Barbarism, but
a needless one, since cable (cf. wire vb
& n.) serves perfectly as a noun also
in the sense submarine telegram.
cacao. Pronounce kaka'o, & see
cocoa. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
cache. See French words.
cachet is mainly a Literary
critics’ word ( bears the c. of genius
&c.), & should be expelled as an
alien ; stamp, seal , sign manual, are
good enough for English readers.
See French words ; &, for syn¬
onymy, SIGN.
cachinnate, -ation, -atory. See
Polysyllabic humour.
cacoethes scribendi. See Battered
ORNAMENTS.
cacophonous, cacophony. See
Anti-Saxonism.
cactus. PI. usually -uses ; see -us.
caddie, caddy. The golf-attendant
has -ie, see -ey, -ie, -y ; the tea-box
has -y.
caddis is preferable to cadclice.
cadet. For this pronounced as
French & appended to a name see
French words.
cadi. Pronounce kah'di ; pi. cadis.
cadre, being an established military
technicality, should be anglicized in
sound & pronounced kah'der, in pi.
kah'derz ; the French pronunciation
is especially inconvenient in words
much used in the plural.
caduceus. PI. -cel ; sec -us.
caecum, Caesar, caesious, caesura,
&c. See m, ce.
caesura. See Technical terms.
cafe is naturalized in the sense
coffee-house or restaurant ; in the
sense coffee it is a French word.
cafe chantant, cafe noir. See
French words.
caffeine. Pronounce k&'fiin.
Caffre. See kafir.
CANAAN(ITE)
caiman. See cayman.
caiq ue. Pronounce kae'k.
c aiss on. Pronounce ka'sn.
caky, not cakey . See -ey & -y.
cal careous, -rious. The first form
is definitely wrong, the ending being
from Latin -arius, which gives
-arious or -ary in English ; but it is
so firmly established that perhaps
a return to the correct but now
obsolete second form is out of the
question.
calculate. 1. C. makes calculable ;
see -able 1. 2. The Americanism is
an example of Slipshod extension ;
the sense I consider-as-the-result-of-
a-calculation passes into the simple
sense I consider. We shall win, I c.,
by a narrow majority shows the
normal use, the assumption at least
being that the numbers have been
reckoned & compared. We shall be
in time, I c. is (according to British
usage) correct if the time wanted &
the time at disposal have been
worked out in detail, but wrong if it
is a mere general expression of san¬
guineness. You don't know everything,
I c. is the full-fledged Americanism.
calculus. The medical word has
pi. -li ; the mathematical,-/uses. See
-us.
caldron. See cauldron.
Caledonian. Putting aside its
special sense ( inhabitant ) of ancient
Scotland, & its ornamental use in
names of clubs, companies, &c., the
word serves chiefly as material for
Polysyllabic humour.
calembour. See French words.
Calends, not k-, is usual,
calf. For plural &c. see -ve(d).
cahbre. The OED prefers thi
*^ er ) & the pronuncia
* hber * See -RE & -eb.
SUSk • p k‘ os; see -°( E ) s 3 -
JJSJ ?\* he spelling, & k&'llf th
wh«i states, however, that * orien
J^sts now favour Khaltf '; se
Sjaphy &c. should not be al¬
to calig Greek compounds
are made cither with xa\Ki- from
koWos beauty, or with saKo- from
sa\6 s beautiful. Choice is therefore
between calligraphy & calography ;
& as the actual Greek compounds
were saWiypatpia &c., calligraphy is
obviously right.
callus. PI. -uses ; see -us. The
word is often wrongly spelt callous,
from confusion with the adjective,
calmative, being queer both in pro¬
nunciation (k&'lmatlv, not kah'ma-
tlv) & in formation (there is no
Latin word for -alive to be attached
to), should be left to the doctors, if
even they have a use for it beside
sedative , as a technical term.
caloric, a word now no longer in
scientific use, is preserved as a
synonym for heal only by Pedantic
humour.
calumniate makes -viable ; see
-able 1.
camaraderie. Sec French words.
cambric. Pronounce ka-.
camellia. The spelling with -11- is
quite fixed, & the mispronunciation
-me-, now so prevalent as to be
almost justified by usage, will no
doubt give way to -me- as the
spelling becomes familiar.
camelopard does not contain the
word leopard, & should be neither
spelt nor pronounced as if it did.
Pronounce kamS'lopard. But giraffe
is now the usual word.
camembert. See French words.
cameo. Pronounce k&'mio. PI.
cameos, see o(e)s 4. For c ., intaglio ,
& relief, see intaglio.
camomile, cha-. Ca- is the literary
& popular form ; cha-, which repre¬
sents the Latin & Greek spelling but
has no chance of general acceptance,
would be better abandoned in phar¬
macy also.
campanile. Pronounce k&mpane'll.
PI. -les.
Canaan(ite). The prevalent pro¬
nunciation is undoubtedly ka'nyan-
(lt), & this is a quite justifiable
escape from the difficult & unEng-
lish ka'na-an ; ka'na-an passes into
ka'nayan, & that into ka'nyan ; the
pronunciation ka'nan, alone recog¬
nized by the OED, but chiefly in
clerical use, is a worse evasion of the
same difficulty.
canaille. See French words.
canard should be anglicized, & have
the d of the sing. & the ds of the pi.
sounded.
cancel makes -lied, &c.; see -ll-, -l-.
candelabrum. The pi. -bra is still
preferred to -brums ; the false sing.
-bra with pi. -bras should not be used,
candid. See -er & -est 4.
cando(u)r. Keep the u ; but see
-our & -OR.
cane makes cany ; see -ey & -y.
canine. The pronunciation ka'nln
(not kani'n, nor k&'nin), though
little recognized in dictionaries, is
both the commonest & the best.
Feline, bovine, asinine, leonine, are
enough to show that Recessive
accent is natural ; &, if k&- is due
to dread of False quantity’-, it is
certainly not worth fighting for on
that ground.
Cannibalism. That words should
devour their own kind is a sad fact,
but the guilt is perhaps less theirs
than their employers’ ; at any rate
the thing happens :— The true facts
should be made known in regard to
whom is actually due the credit of
first proving the existence of petroleum
in this country. 7'o has swallowed
a to./It is more or less — & certainly
more than less—a standardized pro¬
duct. More has swallowed a more./
Although the latter were overwhelm -
ingly superior in numbers, the former
had the advantage of being under one
control, & that of Napoleon himself.
That has swallowed a that ; the full
form would be 1 & that control the
control of’, which gives 4 & that
that of ’ ; but this cannibal may
perhaps be thought to have con¬
sumed rather himself than another
of his kind. /The less said about the
method the insurgents were being
dealt with in all too many cases the
belter. In has swallowed an in,
since ‘ to deal with the insurgents
this method ’ is not English, though
4 this way ’ is. /The Council of the
League shall direct the Members of
the League as to which combatant is
to be applied the Decree of Non¬
intercourse. To has swallowed a to,
as its way is when employed by
as -to writers.
cannon. 1. For plural see Col¬
lectives 2. 2. As the natural name
for the thing, c. is passing out of use
& giving place to gun, which is now
the regular word except when con¬
text makes it ambiguous.
canon, canyon. The second is re¬
commended. Pron. k&'nyon.
canorous. See Poeticisms.
cant. For meaning & use, see
Jargon.
cantatricc is usually pronounced as
Italian (-echa), sometimes as French
(-es) ; singer should be preferred
when it is not misleading ; other
English substitutes, as songstress,
female singer, are seldom tolerable ;
but see Feminine designations.
canto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s G.
canton(ment). The noun canton is
usually k&nto'n, sometimes k&'nton.
The verb is in civil use k&nto'n,jbut
in military use generally kantoo'n.
The noun cantonment, which_ is
military only, is generally kantoo'n-
ment.
canvas(s). The material is best
spelt -as ; so also the verb meaning
to line &c. with c. ; for the plural of
the noun, & for canvas(s)ed &c. in
this sense, see -s-, -ss-. The verb
meaning to discuss, ask votes, &c.,
has always -ss ; so also the noun
meaning the process &c. of can¬
vassing in this sense.
caoutchouc. Pronounce kow'chook.
capercailye, -lzie. The best spelling
is the first, with pronunciation
k&perka'ly!.
capitalize, -ization, -ist. Accent the
first, not the second syllables ; see
Recessive accent.
capsizal. See -al ; capsize is noun
as well as verb.
CANAILLE
64
CAPSIZAL
t •
CAPTION
CASE
caption, in the sense title or heading
(‘ chiefly used in U.S.’—OED), is
rare in British use, & might well be
rarer.
carabineer, carbine. Though car¬
bine has displaced carabine, the -a-
remains in The Carabineers as the
name of a regiment; cf. Welch.
carafe is, apart from its use in
Scotland, chiefly a Genteelism for
water-bottle.
caravanserai, -sera, -sary. The
first spelling (pronounce -ri) is the
best.
carbolic, carbonic. The first is the
spelling for the disinfectant, the
second for the poisonous gas.
carcass, -ase. The -ss form stands
first in the OED.
careful. See -er & -est 4.
CARELESS REPETITION. See RE¬
PETITION OF WORDS & SOUNDS.
caret. Pronounce k&'rSt.
cargo. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
caricature. See burlesque.
caries is a Latin singular meaning
decay; pronounce kiS'iez.
carillon. Pronounce k&'rllyon, or
as in French words.
cark(lng). The verb is practically
obsolete, & the adjective, surviving
only as a meaningless epithet of
care, should be let die too.
camelian. See cornelian.
carol makes - ller , -lling , &c. ; see
-LL-, -L-.
carotid. Pronounce karo'tid ; see
False quantity.
carousal. See -al ; carouse is itself
a noun.
carpet. For on the c. (under dis¬
cussion) see Gallicisms ; a disad¬
vantage peculiar to the phrase is
55? , e , se . nse required for c., viz
tablecloth, is obsolete.
Carriageable. For such formations
see -able 4.
For inflexions see Verbs in
&c., e.
*Ib. See -ey, -iE, -y.
quart(e), in fencing. The
mrtomstill the commonest
in technical books followim*
. >
D
French authorities, should be pre¬
ferred if only as keeping the pro¬
nunciation right.
carte blanche, carte-de-vlslte. See
French words.
cartel, in the old senses, is pro¬
nounced kar'tl ; in the new sense of
manufacturers’ combination it re¬
presents German Kartell , is often
so spelt; it may therefore be ex¬
pected to accent the last syllable for
some time at least. The manu¬
facturers’ c. is a contract between
independent establishments regulat¬
ing the amount of output for each,
& in certain cases also the prices
( Enc. Brit.) ; cf. trust.
carven is a Revival, not having
been used between the 16th & 18th
cc.
caryatid. Pronounce karlu'tld.
case. There is perhaps no single
word so freely resorted to as a
trouble-saver, & consequently re¬
sponsible for so much flabby writing.
The following extract from a legal
treatise, in which the individual
uses are comparatively justifiable,
shows how the word now slips off
the pen even of an educated
writer :— In the majority of cc. where
reprisals have been the object, the
blockade has been instituted by a
single State, while in cc. of inter¬
vention several powers have taken
part; this is not, however , neces¬
sarily the c.
To obviate the suspicion of an
intolerant desire to banish it from
the language, let it be admitted that
case has plenty of legitimate uses, as
In :—If I were in your c. ; A bad
c. of blackmailing ; 1 am only
putting a c. ; Circumstances alter
cc. ; In c. of fire, give the alarm ;
Take brandy with you in c. of need ;
The plaintiff has no c. ; IVhat suc¬
ceeds in one c. may fail in another ;
Never overstate your c. ; Tariff-
reform is in bad c. ; In no c. are you
to leave your post ; It would be
excusable for a starving man, but that
was not your c. ; There are seven cc.
of cholera .
CASE
66
CASE
The bad uses are due sometimes to
the lazy impulse to get the beginning
of a sentence down & to let the rest
work itself out as it may, & some¬
times to a perverted taste for long-
windedness, Periphrasis, or Ele¬
gant variation. It will be seen
that in the case of, the worst offender,
can often be simply struck out
(brackets are used to show this), &
often avoided by the most trifling
change, such as the omission of
another word (also bracketed). Many
examples are given, in the hope that
any writer who has inspected the
mis-shapen brood may refuse to
bring more of them into the world :—-
Older readers will, at least (in the c.
of) those who abhor all Jingoist ten¬
dencies , regret that the authors have
. . ./lie has used this underplot before
in (the c. of) ‘ The Fighting Chance ’./
That he could be careful in correcting
the press he showed in (the c. of) the
4 Epistle to John Driden \/ln the
cc. above noted, when two or more
handlings of the same subject by the
author exist, the comparison of the
two usually suffices to shoxv how little
vamping there is in (the c. of) the
latter ./(In the c. of) Pericles (, the
play) is omitted./(In the c. of) cigars
sold singly (they) were made smaller./
(In the c. of Purvey his) name was
first mentioned in connexion with
Bible translation in 1729 (Purvey’s)./
In the latter c. lines were laid down,
but (in the c. of) the ponderous motor-
’bus machine (it) runs . . ./(In) Mr
Baring Gouldfs c. he) was, like Miss
Ilesba Strelton, mistaken for a rela¬
tive./In every c. except that of France
the increase has been more rapid than
in the c. of the United Kingdom
(every country except F. ; in the
U.K .)./Though this sort of thing
proceeds from a genuine sentiment in
(the c. of) Burns./In the c. of no poet
is there less difference between the
poetry of his youth tfc that of his later
years (No poet exhibits less)./0/
sympathy Mr Baring has a full mea¬
sure, which, in his c., is more valuable
an asset than familiarity with military
text-books (which is more valuable
to him than)./^4M those tears which
inundated Lord Hugh Cecil’s head
were dry in the c . of Mr Harold Cox
(dry for Mr )./In the instances under
notice, except in the c. of Braddell,
there was no disposition to treat the
bowling lightly./In no c. does the
writer of any one of the four Gospels
give his own name (None of the four
evangelists gives)./(in) many (cc.
the) answers lacked care./He has
large interests in various joint-stock
enterprises, &, in cc., possesses a seat
on the board (& sits on the board of
some of these). /In no one c. did the
Liberals win a seat./Even in the
purely Celtic areas only in two or
three cc. do the first bishops bear
Celtic names (only two or three of
the first bishops bear). /That in all
public examinations acting teachers in
every c. be associated with the Univer¬
sities (teachers be always associated).
/In many (cc. of) largely frequented
buildings, as much dust as this may
be extracted every week./His historical
pictures were (in many cc.) masterly
(Many of his )./ln this & other cc.,
such as coal, the world is living on its
capital (What, coal a case ? we cry
it mercy ; we took it for a fuel).
The Elegant variation^, as was
implied above, is in clover with case ;
it is provided, in instance, with one
of those doubles that he loves to
juggle with, & be the case enables
him to show his superiority to the
common mortal who would tamely
repeat a verb ; we conclude with
a few of his vagaries :—Although in
eight cc. the tenure of office of members
had expired, in every instance the
outgoing member had been re-elected./
Thunderstorms have in several cc.
occurred, & in most instances they
have occurred at night./In thirty-two
cc. there are Liberal candidates in the
field, & in eleven instances Socialists
supply the third candidate./There are
four cc. in which old screen-work is
still to be found in Middlesex churches,
& not one of these instances is so
much as named./We gather that he
remained what his previous record had
led us to anticipate would be the c.
CASEIN
CASES
67
(anticipate that he would remain)./
This Conference will lay a foundation
broader dk safer than has hitherto been
the c. (been laid)./// is not often
worth while harking back to a single
performance a fortnight old ; but this
is not the c. with the Literary Theatre
Club's production of Salome (but it
is worth while).
casein. Pronounce ka'slln.
CASES. 1. General. 2. The status
of case. 3. Specimens of case mis¬
takes. 4. Temptations.
1. General. The sense of case is
not very lively among English-
speakers because, very few words
having retained distinguishable case-
forms, it is much more often than
not needless to make up one’s mind
what case one is using for the pur¬
pose of avoiding solecisms. Mis¬
takes occur chiefly, though not only,
with (a) the few words having case-
forms, mostly personal pronouns,
& (b) the relative pronouns. Ac¬
cordingly, necessary warnings, with
illustrations & discussion, are given
in the articles i, me, he, she, we,
US, THEY, WHO 1, 2, THAT REL.
ebon. 5, & what 3 ; & to these may
be added be 6, let, & than, which
words are apt to deceive weak
grammarians. To those warnings
the reader is referred for practical
purposes, & the present article can
be devoted to a confession of faith
in case as an enduring fact, a mis¬
cellaneous collection of quotations
showing that it cannot quite be
trusted to take care of itself, & a
glance at the conditions that make
mistakes most likely.
♦u* status of case. Is case,
then, a notion permanently valuable
& inevitably present, or can we, &
nmy we as well, rid our minds of it ?
We know that grammarians are
often accused, & indeed often guilty,
^hnS° ggmg - f he minds of English
cMdren with terms & notions that
Jttsessential to the understanding of
* La i in Bynt * x > but have no
b^nng on English. We know that
the work done by the classical case-
endings has been in large part trans¬
ferred in English to tw’o substitutes :
the difference between the nomina¬
tive & the accusative (or subject &
object) English indicates mainly by
the order in which it arranges its
words ; & the dative, ablative, loca¬
tive, & such cases, it replaces by
various prepositions. We know that
English had once case-forms for
nouns as well as pronouns, & that
nevertheless it found them of so
little use that it has let them all
disappear. We know that, if the
novelists are to be trusted, the un¬
educated And the case-endings even
of pronouns superfluous ; 4 Me &
my mate likes ends ’ said the
ruffian who divided the rolypolv
between himself & his ally & left
their guest the hiatus ; he" had no
use for I, even when the place to be
filled was that which belongs to the
subject, & the instinct of case, if it
exists untaught, might have been
expected to act. We know, lastly,
that not everyone who has learnt
grammar enough to qualify es
journalist or novelist is quite safe on
his cases when the test is a little
more severe than in Ale & my mate.
Is the upshot that case is moribund,
that our remaining case-forms am
doomed to extinction, that there i„
behind them no essential notion or
instinct of case itself, that no fuss
whatever need be made about the
matter, that the articles of which
a list was given above are much ado
about nothing, & that the right
policy is to let the memory of case
fade away as soon as we can agree
whether / or me, she or her , who or
whom , is to be the survivor of its
pair? Possibly it is ; Subjunctives
are nearly dead ; case too may be
mortal ; but that fight to a finish
between 1 & me & the other pairs
will be a lengthy affair, & for as long
as it lasts the invisible cases will
have their visible champions to
muster round. Meanwhile let me
confess my faith that case visible &
invisible is an essential of the Eng¬
lish language, <fc that the right
68
CASES, 4
CASES, 3_
policy is not to welcome neglect of
its rules, but to demand that in the
novels & the newspapers, from which
most of us imbibe our standards of
language, they should be observed.
3.°Specimens of case mistakes.
A. Three years of dining are a pre¬
liminary for he who would defend his
fellows./Should not a Christian com¬
munity receive with open arms he who
comes out into the world with clean
hands & a clean heart?/Ihey came
to fight in order to pick up the chal¬
lenge of he who had said ‘ Our future
lies on the water'./But it is the
whimsical perplexity of Americans
contemplating the appearance of Lon¬
don that provides he who guides with
most amusement.
B. 1 saiv a young girl gazing about,
somewhat open-mouthed & confused,
whom 1 guessed ( correctly) to be she
whom 1 had come to meet./It is not
likely that other & inferior works were
done at the same time by an impostor
pretending to be he./
C. One comes round again to the
problem of Kant— he, too, a cosmo¬
politan like Goethe./It is sad to look
in vain for a perambidator in Nurse¬
maids' Walk, & to discover only one
solitary person, & he a sentry, on the
steps of the Albert Memorial.
D. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath pre¬
pared for them that love him./Yet the
coal is there in abundant quantities,
there is nothing the world wants
so much or can be dispensed with
such handsome profit to those who
produce it.
E. By that time Mr Macdonald will
be in possession of the decision of the
Conservative Party, & it will then be
for he & his advisers to take a de¬
cision.
F. Let Gilbert's future wife be whom
she may.
4. Temptations. The groups in the
last section exemplify the conditions
that put one off one’s guard & sug¬
gest a wrong case. First in fre¬
quency & deadliness comes the
personal pronoun in a place requiring
the objective case followed by a
relative that must be subjective,
when there is a temptation to regard
he-who or they-who as a single word
that surely cannot need to have the
question of case settled twice oyer
for it ; & hazy notions of something
one has heard of in classical gram¬
mar called relative attraction per¬
haps induce a comfortable feeling
that one will be safe whether one
writes he or him. That is a delusion \
neither relative attraction nor in¬
verse attraction (the right term here)
is a name to conjure with in modern
English grammar, though the text¬
books can muster a Shaksperian &
Miltonic example or two ; in modern
grammar they are only polite names
for elementary blunders. All the
A examples should have him instead
of he.
The next temptation is to assume,
perhaps from often hearing It is me
corrected to It is I, that a subjective
case cannot be wrong after the verb
to be. But in the B examples it is
not to be that decides the case of he
& she ; it is whom & impostor , & her
& him must be substituted.
It is hard not to sympathize with
the victims of the next trap—appo¬
sitions such as those of the C ex¬
amples. k Him, too, a cosmopolitan
‘ & him a sentry ’, do sound as if one
was airing one’s knowledge of the
concords. Well, perhaps it is better
to air one’s knowledge than one’s
ignorance of them ; but the escape
from both is to be found in evading
the pronoun ( another cosmopolitan,
or also a cosmopolitan ) or sacrificing
the apposition (& he was a sentry).
The invisibility of case in nouns
tempts us to try sometimes whether
they may not be made to serve two
masters. In the verse from Corin¬
thians that stands first in D, things
has to serve seen-&-heard as object,
& have entered as subject. 1 Cor. ii. 9
is the reference, & a glance at the
R.V. shows, with its which in italics,
that the Revisers did not regard its
grammar as passable. The second
D example has the peculiarity that
CASINO
CAST-IRON IDIOM
the word whose case is in question,
viz that, not only has no distin¬
guishable cases, but is not on show
at all; but the sentence is ungram¬
matical unless it is inserted twice—
nothing that the world wants so much ,
or that can be dispensed.
Another trap is the compound
subject or object ; when instead of
a single pronoun there are a pronoun
& a noun to be handled, the case
often goes wrong where if the pro¬
noun had been alone there would
have been no danger. Even the
divider of the rolypoly, who can
easily be believed to have said Me
db my mate likes , would never have
said Me likes ; still less could we
have had in the E example It will
be for he to take.
The P example is a little more
complicated, but of a kind that not
infrequently presents itself. The
temptation is to look before & after,
& doubt in which direction the
governing factor is to be found. We
first, perhaps, put aside the error of
supposing that be requires a sub-
J 'ective, i.e. who , & remember that
et puts wife in the objective, which
raises a presumption that the same
case will follow, i.e. whom ; but then
it perhaps occurs to us that the part
to be played by who(m) is that of
complement to may ( be ), which
ought to be in the same case as she.
In this difficulty the last resource is
to write the sentence in full, Let
Gilbert's wife be her who she may be ;
& the insertion of the omitted her
haying provided the first be with the
objective complement that it re¬
quires, we find ourselves able to
write who as the subjective com¬
plement required by the second be ;
who is in fact the grammatical
English j cf. whoever.
casino. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
cast, vb. See Formal words.
cast(e). Caste is sometimes wrongly
written for cast in certain senses less
obviously connected with the verb
cast —mould, type, tendency, hue,
&c. The confusion is the more
natural since cast was formerly the
prevalent spelling for the hereditary
class also ; but the words are now
differentiated, & cast is the right
form in such contexts as : — reflec¬
tions of a moral c., heroines of such
a c., a man of the c. of Hooker
Butler, my mind has a melancholy c.,
his countenance was of the true Scot¬
tish c., a strongly individual c. of
character, their teeth have a yellowish c.
caster, -or. The word meaning
pepperbox &c., & swivelled chair-
wheel, should be caster, meaning
literally thrower, & veerer, from the
ordinary & an obsolete sense of cast ;
but -or, probably due to confusion
with other castors, is now usual.
cast Iron used as a noun (c. i. is
more brittle) should be written as
two separate words ; cast-iron is the
attributive or adjectival form (a
c.-i. bracket) ; see IIvruKNS.
CAST-IRON IDIOM. Between Idiom
& Analogy a secular conflict is
waged. Idiom is conservative,
standing in the ancient ways, insist¬
ing that its property is sacrosanct,
permitting no jot or tittle of altera¬
tion in the shape of its phrases.
Analogy is progressive, bent on
extending liberty, demanding better
reasons than use & wont for respecting
the established, maintaining that the
matter is what matters & the form
can go hang. Analogy perpetually
wins, is for ever successful in recast¬
ing some piece of the cast iron ; Idiom
as perpetually renews the fight, &
turns to defend some other object
of assault. ‘ We aim to prove it ’,
4 This is claimed to be the best ‘ They
are oblivious to hardship ’, 4 1 doubt
that it ever happened ’, 4 In order that
the work can proceed ’, 4 He is re¬
garded an honest man’,‘A hardly won
victory’, 4 With a view of establishing
himself ’—all these, says Idiom, are
outrages on English ; correct them,
please, to: We aim at proving it, They
claim that this is the best. They are in¬
sensible to hardship, I doubt whether
it ever happened. In order that the
work may (fie able to) proceed. He is
CATHOLIC
CAST-IRON IDIOM_
regarded as an honest man, A hard
won victory, With a view to estab¬
lishing himself. But why ? retorts
\nalo"y ; is not to aim* tne same
as to ° design ? is not to claim to
represent ? does not oblivious mean
insensible ? is not to doubt to be
unconvinced ? would not so that
convey the same as in order that ?
is not regarding considering ? is not
-lv the adverbial ending, & is not
icon to be modified by an adverb ?
&, if in view of is English, why
should with a view of be unEnglish ?
Away with such hair-splittings &
pedantries ! when one word is near
enough to another to allow me to
use either, I propose to neglect your
small regulations for the appurten¬
ances proper to each.
Not that Analogy, & those whom it
influences, are offenders so deliberate
& conscious as that account might
seem to imply ; they treat regard
like consider not because they choose
to flout the difference that Idiom
observes, but because it comes
natural to them to disregard dis¬
tinctions that they have not noticed.
In Analogy 2 it has been pointed
out that it has very important
functions to perform apart from
waging its war upon Idiom ; &
therefore the admission that this
book is wholly partisan in that war
need not be interpreted as a con¬
demnation of analogy always &
everywhere ; the Analogy that wars
against Idiom is unsound or hasty
or incomplete analogy.
The cast-iron nature of idiom may
now be illustrated by a few phrases,
shortened down to the utmost, in
which some change that to the eye
of reason seems of slight importance
has converted English into some¬
thing else He did it on his own
accord ; Contented himself by saying;
Spain was materially enhanced ; We
entertained him to dinner ; Tried to
father it on to me ; Follow events at
close hand ; Lest the last state be¬
comes worse than the first ; Is to
a great measure true ; Had every
motive in doing it ; A fact of which
70
I he took every opportunity ; Am not
privileged with his friendship ; Has
been promoted to captain ;. The re¬
sentment I feel to this Bill ; . We
must rise equal to the occasion;
Fell sheerly down ; I cannot state he
was present ; Stood me in splendid
stead ; Guests came by the hundreds ;
It was not long until he called.
Discussion or actual quotations lor
these lapses will be found under the
words italicized ; & a few articles
that have special bearing on the
present subject are : aim ; claim ;
doubt(ful) ; fact ; Friday ; in
ORDER THAT ; OBLIVIOUS ; PLEA¬
SURE 5 PREFER 3; REGARD 2; RE¬
SORT ; such 1 ; that conj. 2;
Unidiomatic -ly ; & view.
castle. See Pronunciation, Silent
t. C. in the air is English ; c. in
Spain is a Gallicism.
castrate. See -atable.
casuistic(al). The OED has four
quotations for each form ; of the
-ic four, three are later than the
18th c., of the -ical four only one ;
from which it would seem that -ic is
the modern choice ; see -ic(al).
catachresis. See Technical terms.
catacomb. Pronounce -dm.
catalectic. See Technical terms.
catamaran. OED puts first k&ta-
mar&'n.
catarrh should not be used for cold
without good reason ; see Working
& stylish words.
catchpole, -oil. The OED puts
-ole first.
catchup. See ketchup.
category should be used by no-one
who is not prepared to state (1) that
he does not mean class, & (2) that he
knows the difference between the
two ; see Working & stylish
words, & Popularized techni¬
calities.
cater, quatre, in dice &c. Spell
cater & pronounce ka'ter ; for the
other names see cinque.
Catholic. It is open to Roman-
Catholics to use C. by itself in a sense
that excludes all but themselves ;
but it is not open to a Protestant to
CATHOLIC(AL)LY
71
-CE,-CY
use it instead oi noman-yuu^^
without implying that his own
Church has no right to the name of
C. Neither the desire of brevity (as
in the C . countries ) nor the instinct
of courtesy (as in I am not forgetting
that you are a C.) should induce any¬
one who is not Roman-C. to omit
the Homan-.
catholic(al)ly. Both forms are rare,
& consequently no differentiation
has been established ; a catholicly &
a catholically minded person may
mean either one of wide sympathies
&c. or one inclined to Catholicism.
catsup. See ketchup.
cattle. See Collectives 5.
ca(u)ldron. Spell with the u.
cause. The main cause of the higher
price of meat in France is due to the
exclusion of foreign cattle. The main
cause is the exclusion ; the price is
due to the exclusion ; out of two
rights is made a wrong. See Hazi¬
ness for this type of blunder ; with
reason it is still commoner than with
added to it, the hard c is preserved
before the native suffixes -ed, -er.
-ing, & -y, by the addition of k
{mimicked, bivouacker, trafficking,
panicky), but not before the classical
suffixes -ian, -ism, -ist, -ity, *ize
{musician, criticism, publicist, elec¬
tricity, catholicize).
cease is rapidly giving way to stop,
as cast has given way to throw ; it is
no longer the word that presents
itself first ; we substitute it for stop
when we want our language to be
dignified ; it is now poetic, rhetori¬
cal, formal, or old-fashioned, though
not sufficiently so to have such
labels attached to it in dictionaries.
No effort should be made to keep
words of this kind at work ; they
should be allowed to go into honour¬
able retirement, from which the
poets & the rhetoricians can summon
them at need ; the man who says he
is going to c. work is, unless the state¬
ment has a rhetorical importance,
merely pompous. See Formal
words.
cause.
cause cel^bre, causerie, causeuse.
See French words.
causerie. See Technical terms.
causeway, causey. Either form is
correct, the first being not a false
spelling of the second, but a shorten¬
ing of causey-way. Causeway , how¬
ever, has so far ousted causey (except
in some local names) that those who
use the latter are naturally taken for
pedants protesting against an error
that is, after all, not an error ; see
Didacticism.
caveat. Pronounce ka'viat, & see
False quantity.
cayiar(e). Spelling & sound have
varied greatly; the pronunciation
k&viar', & the corresponding spelling
caviar , are recommended.
cavil makes -Her, -lling, &c. ; see
-LL-, “L”.
cayman, cai-. Spell with y.
-CK-. When a word ending in
c has a suffix beginning with a vowel
-ce, -cy. Among the hundreds of
words corresponding to actual or
possible adjectives or nouns in -ant
or -ent, large numbers now present
no choice of form : no-one hesitates
between avoidance, forbearance, ad¬
mittance, magnificence, coincidence,
or intelligence, & a form in -cy ; nor
between buoyancy, constancy, vacan¬
cy, agency, decency, or cogency, &
a form in -ce. But about large
numbers also it may easily happen
that one has doubts which is the
right form, or whether one is as good
as the other, or whether both exist
but in different senses : persistence
or persistency ? frequency or fre¬
quence ? emergency or emergence ?
When there is doubt about a word
not given in its place in this book,
& again when one is given without
further comment than See -ce, -cy,
it is to be presumed that either -ce
or -cy may be used ; but three
generalities may be added. First,
that short words favour -cy, &
longer ones -ce ; it was not by de-
CEDARN
72
CENTO
sign, but by a significant accident,
that all the -cy words given above
as having no -ce alternatives were
metrical matches for buoyancy.
Secondly, that many words tend to
use the -ce form in the singular, but
.ties rather than -ces in the plural,
e.g. irrelevance, but irrelevancies.
And thirdly, that euphony often
decides, in a particular context, for
one or the other ending. Of the
first point a good illustration is
provided by frequency & innocence ;
formerly both endings were common
for each, but now from the shorter
adjective frequent -ce is almost obso¬
lete, & from the longer innocent -cy
is an archaism preserved by Bible
texts. On the second it may be
added that words used concretely in
the plural meaning specimens of the
quality &c. (truculencies ^truculent
phrases, irrclevancies = irrelevant
points, inadvertencies — acts of in¬
advertence) partly account lor the
peculiarity, since when there is
differentiation it is -cy, not -ce, that
tends to the concrete, as in emer¬
gency = event that emerges com¬
pared with emergence = the emerging.
And on the third point convincing
examples will be found under trans¬
parence.
Articles in which differentiation
between the two forms is recorded
as existing or recommended are
consistence, dependence, effervescence,
emergence, independence, indifference,
permanence, persistence ; residency &
excellency are forms chiefly used in
special senses while the -ce forms do
the general work ; & under com¬
placency the -cy form is recom¬
mended for differentiation not from
complacence, but from complaisance.
cedarn. See -en adjectives.
cee-spring, C-spring. The second
form is perhaps better ; cf. D-trap,
L-joint, Collar of SS, T-square, U-
tube, Y-joint, Y-cartilage.
Celestial = Chinese. Except in the
C. Empire, which translates a native
name for China & may be used
seriously, the word is facetious only,
& ranks with Polysyllabic
MOUR.
’cello. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6. Being
nmv much commoner than i riolon-
cello, it might well do without its
apostrophe. Pr. che'lo, sec Italian.
Celt(ic), K-. The spelling C-, & the
pronunciation s-, are the established
ones, & no useful purpose seems to be
served by the substitution of k-.
celtice, -ed. See latine.
cenobite &c. See coenobite.
centenary, centennial, nn. meaning
hundredth anniversary. Centenary,
the usual British form, has the dis¬
advantage that the notion of years
is not, except by modern develop¬
ment, contained in it ; this, how¬
ever, is true also of century, & need
not count for much. Centennial,
chiefly used (as a noun) in America,
has the disadvantage that it gives
a less convenient pattern for forming
the names of higher anniversaries
on. As these are sometimes wanted,
it is worth while to maintain cen¬
tenary.
The shots made at these higher
names often resulting in monstrosi¬
ties, a list of not intolerable forms
is here offered. Bicentenary, which
might have been ducenary, & ter¬
centenary (trecenary), must be taken
as established ; but quatercentenary
& quincentenary need not. The pro¬
nunciations sente'nari (not sent!-)
& mile'nari (desirable in itself for
distinction from millinery ) would
suit the others best. Centenary,
bicentenary, tercentenary, quad-
ringe'nary, quingenary, sesce'nary,
septingenary, octingenary, nonge'-
nary, millenary.
centi-, hecto- In the metric sys¬
tem centi- denotes division, & hecto-
multiplication, by a hundred ; cf.
DECA-, DECI-, & KILO-, MILLI-.
centime. See French words.
cento. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 6. The
pronunciation is s£- ; the word is
Latin, but is often mispronounced
ch€- as if Italian ; the Italian is
centone, & the French centon.
CENTRE
CHANTY
*.
73
centre, center. See -re & -er ; &,
for cent(e)ring, Spelling points 4.
century. Each c. as ordinally
named (the 5th, 16th, c.) contains
only one year (500, 1600) beginning
with the number that names it, &
ninety-nine (401-499, 1501-1599)
beginning with a number lower by
one. Accordingly 763, 1111, 1300,
1912, belong to the 8th, 12th, 13th,
& 20th, ec. For the curiously differ¬
ent Italian reckoning, see trecento.
-cephalic, -cep halo us. Compounds
( brachy-, dolicho-, hydro-, &c.) accent
the -ceph- of - cephalous, but the -al-
of - cephalic. As there is no difference
of meaning, however, & -ic is the
commoner, -cephalous should be
abandoned as a Needless variant.
cerement is disyllabic (scrm-).
ceremonial, ceremonious, aa. Cere¬
monial means connected with or
constituting or consisting of or fit
for a ceremony (i.e. a piece of ritual
or formality) or ceremonies (the -al
law ; a -al occasion ; for -al reasons ;
-al costume). Ceremonious means
full of or resulting from ceremony
i.e. attention to forms (why be so
-ous? ; -ous people', -ous politeness).
In these examples the termination
not used could hardly be substi¬
tuted, even with change of meaning.
But with some words -al & -ous are
both possible, though not indiffer¬
ent : a -ous court is a sovereign’s
court in which ceremony is much
observed ; a -al court would be a
judicial court set up to regulate
ceremonies; a visitor may make
a -ous entry into a room, but an
army a -al entry into a town that has
capitulated.
ceriph. See serif.
certes. Pronounce ser't&s. See
Archaism.
certify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -IE See., 6.
certitude is now restricted to the
single sense of absolute conviction
* ee ^ n g quite sure ; certainty can,
but often does not, mean this also,
& the use of c. may therefore obviate
cerulean. See is., ce.
cervical is pronounced servi'kl by
purists, but ser'vlkl is commoner ;
see on doctrinal in False quantity ;
the Latin for neck is cervix, -ids.
Cesarevitch or -witch, Cesarevna,
are the right forms for the Czar’s
eldest son <fe that son’s wife. Pro¬
nounce slz&'rlwlch. Czarevitch is
an obsolete title superseded by
Grand Duke.
cess. For synonymy see tax.
ceterach. Pronounce se'ter&k.
ceteris paribus. Pronounce se'terls
p&'ribas.
chagrin. Pronounce shagre'n. The
pronunciation shagri'n, used to
avoid improbable confusion with
shagreen, would commit us to cha-
grinned instead of chagrined ; see
-N-, -NN-.
chagrinedly. Four syllables ; see
chairwoman. See Feminine de¬
signations.
chaldron. Pronounce chawl-.
chalet. See French words.
chalybeate. Pronounce kali'blat.
cham. Pronounce k&m.
chamade. See French words.
chamois, in or used for c.-lcathcr, is
best pronounced sh&'ml.
chamomile. See camomile.
champaign. The OED pronounces
ch&'mpan, & rejects shampa'n &
sh&'mpan.
chance, n., makes chancy ; see
-ey & -Y.
chance, vb, as a synonym for
happen (it chanced that . . . ; 1
chanced to meet him) stands in the
same relation to it as cease to slop.
chancellery, -ory, -erie. The first
form (accented on the first syllable)
is that preferred by the OED.
Change, in on Change, is not an
abbreviation of Exchange , & should
have no apostrophe,
chantage. See French words ;
blackmail is generally preferable.
Chanticleer. See Sobriquets.
chanty, sh-, sailors’ hauling-song.
Spell c-, but pronounce shft- ; the
CHAP
74
CHEERFUL
anomaly is accounted for by the
supposed derivation from French
chantez sing ye.
chap, Chop, jaw or cheek. In lick
one’s cc., fat-cc., c.-f alien, both spell¬
ings are common ; in Hath c., chap
only is used, &, in the cc . of the
Channel , chops only.
chaperon. The addition of a final e
is wrong. Pronounce sha pcron.
char-a-banc is a word in popular
use, & the popular pronunciation
(sh&'rab&ng) should be accepted ;
if the spelling sharabang, or at the
least charabanc, could be introduced
too, so much the better. See French
words ; the French spelling in the
singular is char-a-bancs, PI. -cs,
character is a valuable & important
word with several well-marked
senses. The worst thing that can
happen to such a word is that it
should be set to do inferior & com¬
mon work, which, while it could be
more suitably done by meaner words,
has to be done so often that the
nobler word is cheapened by famil¬
iarity. Character, like case & other
good words, now occurs a hundred
times as a mere element in Peri¬
phrasis for once that it bears any of
its independent senses. The average
writer can perhaps not be expected
to abstain from the word for the
word’s sake ; but, if he realizes that
at the same moment that he degrades
the word he is making his sentence
feeble and turgid, he will abstain
from it for his own sake. A few
slightly classified examples of the
abuse are therefore added.
(a) C. is used with adjectives as
a substitute for an abstract-noun
termination, -ness, -ty , &c. :— The
very full c. of the stage-directions
indicates . . . (great fullness). /On
account of its light C. y Purity & Age
Usher's whisky is a whisky that will
agree with you (lightness. But this
is the kind of literature in which
such idioms are most excusable)./
Unmoved by any consideration of the
unique & ancient c. of the fabric
(uniqueness & antiquity).
(b) A simple adjective x is watered
into of a x character ; the right
water for such solutions, which are
bad in themselves when not neces¬
sary, is kind ; but the simple adjec¬
tive is usually possible : -Employ¬
ment of a patriotic c. (patriotic em-
ployment)./77iere is no unemploy¬
ment of a chronic c. in Germany./
The attention which they receive is of
a greatly improved c./IHs influence
must have been of a very strong c. to
persuade her./The number of mis¬
prints is inconsiderable; we have
noticed only one of a disconcerting c,
(kind ; or one that need be discon¬
certing). /Payments of the c. in ques¬
tion (of this kind; or such payments).
character, characteristic. For
synonymy see sign.
char(e). The form chare (part.
charing , pron. -ar-) is said by the
OED to be the usual one. This is
doubtful even now, & the invariable
& commoner charwoman is at any
rate sure to establish char, charring,
before long.
charge d’affaires. See French
WORDS.
charivari. Pronounce shar'ivar'i.
charlatan &c. Pronounce sh-.
Charles’s wain. For -s’s see
Possessive puzzles 1.
charm. For the noun in literary
criticism see Literary critics’
words.
chartreuse. See French words.
chasse, chasse, chassis. See French
words.
chasten. See Pronunciation,
Silent t.
chastise is never spelt with z ; see
-ise)(-ize.
chateau, chauffeur, chaussure. See
French words ; &, for chateaux or
chateaus, -x.
cheap(ly). See Unidiomatic -ly.
check (draft on bank). See cheque.
checker. See chequer.
(check)mate. Mate is the usual
form in chess, & checkmate in
figurative use.
cheerful, cheery. The latter has
reference chiefly to externals
75
CHINAMAN
voice, appearance, manner, &c.
Resignation may be cheerful with¬
out being cheery ; & a person may
have a cheerful, but hardly a cheery,
spirit without his neighbours’ dis¬
covering it. The cheerful feels &
perhaps shows contentment, the
cheery shows & probably feels it.
For cheerful see -er & -est, 4.
chef, chef-d’oeuvre. See French
WORDS.
chemist &c., chy-. Che- is now esta¬
blished, though chymist is still some¬
times seen over drug-shop windows.
cheque, though merely a variant of
check , is in British usage clearly &
usefully differentiated from it with
the sense bank-draft, check being
chiefly American in this sense.
chequer, checker. The first spelling
is very much commoner for both the
noun & the verb.
cherub, cherubic. Cherub has pi.
cherubim chiefly when the Cherubim
are spoken of as a celestial order ;
cherubims is wrong ; in figurative
use cherubs is usual. Cherubic (see
-B-, -BB-) is pronounced -dob-.
Ches(t)nut. Spell with & pronounce
without the t.
chevalier d’industrie. See French
words.
chevaux de frise. See French
words. Cheval de frise is now rare;
cheoaux de frise is treated either as
sing, or as pi. ( a wall with a c.d.f or
a wall with c.d.f.).
chevelure. See French words.
chevy. See chivy.
chiaroscuro. Pronounce kyar'-
oskoor'o.
chiasmus. See Technical terms.
chibouk, -ouque. Pronounce ch- ;
spell -k.
chic. See French words.
chicane. Pronounce sh-.
chick(en). Chicken is the original
& still the ordinary form, chick
serving as a diminutive & being used
chiefly of an unhatched or unfledged
bird, the young of small birds, or
(endearingly, in pi.) children. For
pi. of chicken see Collectives 4.
chide stands to scold as cease to
stop. Past chid , p.p. chid(den).
chiefest, formerly common, is now
felt to be an unnatural form, & used
only as an ornament,
chiffon. See French words.
chilblain. So spelt ; see -ll-, -l-, 4.
c hildis h, childlike. The distinction
drawn is so familiar that childish is
in some danger of being restricted
to the depreciatory use that is only
one of its functions, while childlike
is applied outside its sphere ; the
face, for instance, that we like a
child to have should be called not
a childlike, but a childish face ; the
rule that childish has a bad sense is
too sweeping, & misleads. Childish
used of adults or their qualities, &
childlike (which should always be so
used), have the opposite implica¬
tions of blame & approval ; childish
means ‘ that ought to have out¬
grown something or to have been
outgrown ’, & childlike 1 that has
fortunately not outgrown something
or been outgrown ’ ; childish sim¬
plicity in an adult is a fault ; child¬
like simplicity is a merit ; but
childish simplicity may mean also
simplicity in (& not as of) a child,
& convey no blame ; childish en¬
thusiasm may be either a child’s
enthusiasm or a man’s silly enthu¬
siasm ; childlike enthusiasm is only
that of a man who has not let his
heart grow hard.
childly. See Revivals.
chilli is the right spelling for the
capsicum pod (unconnected with
Chili) ; pi. chillies.
chlll(y). The form chill (as adj.) is
only a Literary word, chilly being
that in general use.
chimera, -aera, -aera. See .e, ck.
Pronounce klmer'a.
Chinaman &c. The normal uses
are :— A Chinaman (rarely Chinese) ;
three Chinamen (sometimes Chinese );
50,000 Chinese (sometimes China¬
men) ; the Chinese (rarely China¬
men). Chinee for Chinaman is a
formation from Chinese ;
ng still felt to be irregular
CHIROPODIST
76
-CIATION
rare except as conscious slang, but
common in such use.
chiropodist is a Barbarism & a
Genteelism.
chirrup(p)ing &c. See -p-, -pp-.
chisel makes -lied &c. ; see -ll-, -l-.
chivalry &c. The pronunciation
sh-, instead of eh-, though based on
a mistake, is now established, & the
OED places it first. Of the adjec¬
tives chivalrous & chivalric the
second should be either let die as
a Needless variant or restricted
to the merely grammatical function
of representing the phrase of chivalry ,
as in the chivalric ages.
c(h)ive. Spell with the h.
chivy, che-. The -i- certainly gives
the prevailing sound, &, being now
written also more often than it was,
will doubtless become the accepted
spelling before long.
chlorine. For pronunciation see
IODINE.
chloroform. The OED pronounces
klor'o-, not klb'ro-. The latter, how¬
ever, which is also common, is (sec
False quantity) not illegitimate.
chock-full is the spelling, not
choke-full.
choir, quire. Though the first
spelling, which goes back little
further than the 18th c., neither
bears its pronunciation on its face
nor represents the French or the
Latin forms well, & is therefore in¬
ferior, attempts to restore quire are
not likely to succeed, & are best
avoided.
choler(ic). Cholcr, except when
used hisloricallv with reference to
the four humours, is now a mere
Archaism ; choleric, however, has
survived it, & is preferable in some
contexts to irascible, quick-tempered,
&c.; pron. ko'lerik.
choliambic. See Technical terms.
chop, cutlet. A chop is cut from
the loin & includes a rib ; a cutlet is
cut from the neck, or may be a small
piece of meat from any part &
include no bone.
chorale. Pronounce korah'l. As to
spelling, the -e is strictly incorrect,
but both usual & convenient,
obviating confusion with the adj.
choral ; cf. locale & morale, & see
a l’outrance.
c(h)ord. There are two words
chord, one of which, that used in
Harmony, has no connexion with
cord ; the other (touch the right
chord ; the chord of an arc ; the
vocal chords ; the spinal chord) is the
same as cord, but has had its spelling
corrected after the Greek original.
It is well to remember that in the
four phrases mentioned chord means
simply string ; but the spelling cord ,
which would have been legitimate &
avoided confusion in any of them, is
ruled out by custom except in the
last & possibly the last but one.
chose jugee. See French words.
chouse, having been current for
300 years (Ben Jonson 1G10), need
not be avoided as slang by those who
have occasion to use it.
christen. See Pronunciation,
Silent t.
Christmas. Pronounce kri'smas ;
see Pronunciation, Silent t.
chi’omo. See Curtailed words.
PI. -os, see -o(e)s 5.
chronic in the illiterate use for bad,
intense, severe, (the rveather has been
c. ; that was a c. fight last night), is
a Slipshod extension. See Popu¬
larized technicalities.
chronique scandaleuse. See French
words.
chrysalis has pi. chrysalises, chry¬
salids, or chrysalides (krisa'lidez) ;
the first should be made the only
f o rm.
chute. See shoot.
chutney, -nee. Spell -ney.
chymist &c. See chemist.
-ciation. Nouns in -ation from
verbs in -date have, if they follow
their verbs, the very unpleasant
combination of two neighbouring
syllables with the -sh- sound (im&-
shia'shn from emaciate). The alter¬
native pronunciation -siashn, some-
♦
CICADA
77 CIRCUMSTANCE
times recognized by the OED (e. g.
in association ), avoids the bad sound,
& is legitimate on the analogy of
denunciation, pronunciation, annun¬
ciation, of which all might have had,
& the last has in annunciate, a verb
in -date as well as that in -ounce.
Words in -tiation (as initiation) can
perhaps hardly be treated in the
same way, except those that, like
negotiation, have alternative forms
with -c- for -t- ; nigosia'shn seems
possible, but not proplsla'shn.
cicada, cicala, cigala. The first is
the original Latin word taken into
English (pronounce -ka-); the second
is Italian (-kah-) ; the third is the
French dgale with termination as¬
similated in English to the others
(-gah-). The first is recommended.
cicatrice, cicatrix. The first, pro¬
nounced sl'katns & in pi. si'katrlslz,
is the English word. The second,
pronounced sika'triks & in pi. sik-
otri'sez, is the Latin in surgical &
other scientific use.
cicerone. Pronounce chichero'ni;
pi. deeroni, pron. -ne.
ci-devant. See French words.
Cincinnatus. So spelt.
cinema, cinematograph, kin-. The
cin- forms are obviously more handy
for words destined to constant
popular use, & should be accepted
heartily. There is indeed very little
in any of the objections made to
them. The points are : (1) c or k ? ;
(2) the syllable accented ; & (3) the
curtailed form of dnema. 1. English
c for Greek k, far from being wrong,
w normal ; cf.. catholic, cenotaph,
Circe, colon , cubic , cycle. It may be
regrettable that, since kinetic &
Kinematic are abnormally spelt, the
c ® nilex ion of dnematograph with
them is obscured ; but that is their
mult, not its. 2. The vowel sounds
. .® syUable accents will be found
justified in the article False quan¬
tity. The chief objection—to mis¬
placing in sl'nlma the stress of the
Greek kipe'ma—falls to the ground
When it is remembered that dnema
w not the Greek word kinema at all.
but a curtailed form of cinemato¬
graph, whose second syllable is
bound to be -nl- in popular speech.
3. Curtailing is an established habit,
no worse in cinema than in the
schoolboy’s rep, our ancestors’ mob,
or our own dynamo & bike & phone ;
see Curtailed words.
Cingalese. See Sinhalese.
cinq(ue). The five on dice &c. is
pronounced single, & best spelt
cinque. Ace, deuce, trey (-a), cater
(ka-), & sice (sis), arc the others of
the series.
cinquecento. Pronounce chlngk-
wlche'nto ; for meaning see tre¬
cento.
cinq(ue)foil. Pronounce sl'ngkfoil.
The OED puts the longer form first,
cipher. So spelt ; sec v & i.
Circe. Pronounce scr'sl.
circuit(ous). Pronounce ser'klt, but
serku'Itus (not scr'kltus).
circulate makes -lablc ; see -able 1.
circumbendibus. Sec Facetious
FORMATIONS.
circumcise, not -izc ; see -isi:)(-ize.
circumlocutional, -nary, -utory.
Though an adjective is often wanted
for circumlocution , none of these
three has won any favour ; it is
better to make shift with peri¬
phrastic.
circumstance. The objection to
under the cc., & insistence that in the
cc. is the only right form, because
what is round us is not over us, is
puerile. To point out that round
applies as much to vertical as
to horizontal relations, & that a
threatening sky is a c. no less than
a threatening bulldog ( Under the
drcumstanccs I decided not to ven¬
ture), might lay one open to the
suspicion of answering fools accord¬
ing to^ their folly. A more polite
reply is that ‘ the cc.* means the
state of affairs, & may naturally be
conceived as exercising the pressure
under which one acts. U. t. cc. is
neither illogical nor of recent inven¬
tion (1665 in OED), & is far more
often heard than i. t. cc. The OED,
far from hinting that either form is
CIRQUE
78
CLASSIC(AL)
incorrect, assigns them^ different
functions :—‘ Mere situation is ex-
pressed, by u tti the circurnst&rices }
action affected is performed “ under
the circumstances ”
cirque. Pronounce serk.
cirrus has pi. cirri ; see -us.
Cissy, -i3. See -ey, -ie, -y.
cit(e)able. Spell -ta- ; see Mute e.
cither(n), cittern, gittern, zither(n).
When the forms are distinguished,
cither is the general word including
the ancient cithara & its more
modern representatives, zither(n) is
appropriated to the Tyrolese instru¬
ment, & cithern, cittern, gittern, all
mean that common in the lGth &
17th ce. ; cittern & gittern might well
be dropped as Needless variants.
cityless. So spelt ; cf. pitiless.
civil. See -er & -est, 4.
clad. Sec clothe.
claim. 1. A vulgarism that has
made its way, probably through the
advertisement column, into journal¬
ism, & is now of daily currency, is
the use of claim in the senses of
assert, maintain, or represent, with
the infinitive construction admissible
after them, but not after it (see
Analogy). The only legitimate
infinitive after c. occurs when c. is in
the active & also has the same sub¬
ject as the infinitive (he claims to
have proved his case, to be the heir,
to be rewarded). Examples of the
false idiom are :— This new product ,
which Mr Sandow claims to be abso¬
lutely pure (asserts). /An automatic
self-starter, which is claimed to be
very reliable (represented). /The gun
is claimed to be the most service¬
able weapon of its kind (asserted)./
Failure to live up to what we c. to be
our most serious convictions (repre¬
sent). /Usage is not, as it is often
claimed to be, the absolute law of
language (asserted)./^. play by Tol¬
stoy, which is claimed to take the
first place among . . . (represented)./
A problem which is claimed to be
among the most pressing (main¬
tained).
2. The use of claim n. or vb follow¬
ed by (or implying) a that- clause,
when c. means not demand but
assertion), is also, though less
grossly, contrary to British idiom ;
I c. (demand) that it should be post¬
poned is English, but hardly I c.
(assert) that it is false :—The c. is
made that there are a certain class of
men out of work who . . ./The Prus¬
sian franchise, the reform of which,
it is claimed by Liberals, the Reichstag
will have to take in hand.
clamant in the senses clamorous,
shouting, insistent, (a c. crowd, c.
appetites) is a Poeticism ; in the
sense flagrant or crying (a c. in¬
justice, scandal) it is due to Novelty-
hunting.
clamour, clamorous. See -our- &
-OR-.
clandestine. Pronounce klande'stin.
clangour, clangorous. See -our- &
-OR-.
claque. See French words.
Clarenc(i)eux. The OED puts the
spelling -ccux first, & pronounces
kla'rensu.
clarify, clarity. The OED pro¬
nounces kl&ri- ; klari- is also legi¬
timate, but not (see False quan¬
tity) obligatory. For inflexions of
-fy, see Verbs in -ie &c., G.
clari(o)net. The two forms denote
the same instrument, but the -onet
form is in more general use (& there¬
fore preferable in literature), while
musicians & musical connoisseurs
affect the other.
classic(al). The adjectives are
distinguished rather by suitability
to different contexts than by differ¬
ence of meaning. Classical is the
usual word, & it would perhaps
never be noticeably the wrong one,
even where classic is more idiomatic
(e.g., we can say, if we choose, This
is classical ground) ; on the other
hand, there are many combinations
in which classic would sound ridi¬
culous ; classic education, classic
allusions, are impossible. Classic ,
however, is often preferred (1) where
the language is of an ornate kind
79
CLIME
CLASSIFY
(compare steeped in classic lore with
learned in classical mythology) ; (2)
where the speaker’s emotion of
admiration or respect is to be con¬
veyed (compare Do you prefer the
classical or the romantic style ? with
A style classic in Us perfect self-
restraint ; 1 did not ask for classical
regularity of features with The classic
regularity of his features ; St An¬
drews, the classic home of golf with
R. v. Hobbes was cited as the classical
case).
classify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -IE &c., 6.
clause. It conduces both to clear¬
ness & to brevity if the word in its
grammatical sense is applied only
to what is sometimes called a sub¬
ordinate c., & never either to a com¬
plete sentence or to the framework
of the sentence, which is often called
the main or principal c., but may
equally well be called main sentence.
The definition of a c., then, should
be subordinate words including a
subject & predicate, but syntacti¬
cally equivalent to a noun or adjec¬
tive or adverb * ; in this book the
word is always to be understood thus.
clayey. See -ey & -y.
clear(ly). See Unidiomatic -ey.
cleave, split, has past tense clove or
cleft or cleaved , p.p. cloven or cleft or
cleaved.
cleave, stick, has past tense cleaved
or (arch.) clave, p.p. cleaved.
clematis. Pronounce kle'matis ;
see False quantity.
clench, -inch. The spellings are so
far differentiated as to be generally
applied thus: we clench a nail,
a rivet, our hands, jaws, & teeth,
an object held, a rope ; we clinch
an argument & a bargain, & the fact
or statement that settles an argu¬
ment is a clincher.
Clerestory. Pronounce kler'stori.
Clerk. The pronunciation -erk,
now sometimes heard instead of the
long-established -ark, is due to
excessive respect for spelling ; cf.
OFTEN.
clever is much misused, especially
in feminine conversation, where it is
constantly heard in the sense of
learned, well read, bookish, or
studious ; a woman whose clever¬
ness is apparent in all she does will
tell you that she wishes she was c.,
that she cannot read c. books (mean¬
ing those of the graver kind), & that
Mr Jones must be a very c. man,
for he has written a dictionary.
But in fact ignorance & knowledge
have no relation to cleverness, which
implies ingenuity, adroitness, readi¬
ness, mental or manual quickness,
wit, & other qualities incompatible
with dullness, but not with ignor¬
ance or dislike of books.
clew, clue. The words are the
same, but the more recent clue is now
established in the usual sense of
idea or fact that may lead to a dis¬
covery, while clew is retained in the
nautical sense, & in the old-fashioned
sense skein or ball of wool from
which the usual sense of clue has
been developed.
clich6. See French words, &, for
the meaning. Technical terms.
Clothing among them was a minus
quantity./Engine troubles were the
order of the day. The roman-type
phrases are cc.
clientele should be written without
italics or accent, & pronounced
kliente'l ; see French words.
climacteric. The old pronunciation
was kllm&kte'rik, which stands first
in the OED ; but klim&'kterlk (see
Recessive accent) is probably now
commoner & is likely to prevail.
climactic is falsely formed from
climax, & it may fairly be demanded
of the literary critics who alone have
occasion for the adjective that they
should mend or end it.
climax. See Technical terms.
clime is distinguished from cli¬
mate (1) in being more suited for
poetic & rhetorical use ; it occurs,
however in ordinary prose also, with
the limitation that (2) it means
always region (often with reference
to its characteristic weather), A
CLING
80
co¬
il, ever, like climate, the weather con¬
ditions themselves ; we say strangers
from every c., but never the country
has a delightful c.
cling has past clung, not clang.
eliqu(e)y. Spell -quy ; see -ey & -y.
close. C. the door, the window, your
mouth, used in the literal sense &
in everyday speech instead of shut,
expose the speaker to grave sus¬
picion of Genteelism, though The
door is closed for ever upon that possi¬
bility, & similar figurative uses, are
innocent. See also Formal words.
close(ly). See Unidiomatic -ly.
closure, gag, guillotine, kangaroo.
The first is the name given to a pro¬
vision by which debate in the House
of Commons can be cut short in
spite of the wish of a minority to
continue it ; the closure is brought
into operation by a motion That the
Question be now put.
Gag is the word used ehiefiy by the
closured party to describe the
ordinarv closure or its developments,
the guillotine & the kangaroo.
The guillotine, or closure by com¬
partments, is thus defined in the
Ency. Brit. ‘ The guillotine means
that the House decides how much
time shall be devoted to certain
stages of a measure, definite dates
being laid down at which the closure
shall be enforced & division taken ’.
The kangaroo, or kangaroo closure,
is a further development. The
guillotine having the disadvantage
that the limited time may be wasted
on minor matters & none be left for
important ones, the Chairman of
Committees is empowered to select
the amendments that shall be de¬
bated, the unselccted ones being
voted on without debate.
cloth may be pronounced either
-awth or -6th ; the plural of the
first is -awdhz, but of the second
-oths. See also -to & -dii.
clothe has clad beside clothed both
as past & p.p. While clothed, how¬
ever, is suitable to all contexts
(except where dressed is preferable
as less formal), clad is (1) always
slightly, & often intolerably, archaic
in effect, & (2) never used absolutely,
but always with some specification
of the kind of clothing. Accordingly,
clad cannot be substituted in You
were fed & clothed at my expense ,
lie clothed himself hurriedly. When
he was clothed he admitted us. But
clothed can be substituted in any of
the following phrases, which are
selected as favourable for the use of
clad \-~-Lightly, well, insufficiently,
clad ; He clad himself in shining
armour ; Clad with righteousness ;
Hills clad with olives ; Clad in blue.
clothes. The usual pronunciation is
kloz, though this is often deliber¬
ately abstained from in the mistaken
belief (confirmed by the OED) that
it is ‘ vulgar or careless See
Pronunciation.
cloud-burst. See wind, n.
clubbable. See -able 4.
clue. See clew.
co-. There are three ways of
writing cooperate (coop-, co-op-,
coop-), & two of writing copartner
(cop-, co-p-). The diaeresis should
at once be rejected as possible only
in some words (those in which co-
is followed by a vowel), whereas the
hyphen is possible in all. Next it
should be recognized that hyphens
in the middle of words are no orna¬
ment, & admittance should be re¬
fused to all that cannot prove their
usefulness. In the alphabetical list
given below of the commoner words
beginning with co- together or co¬
complementary, the spelling printed
is to be taken as recommended, &
the number affixed to each word
refers the reader to the following
classification :—
1. In some words the hyphen is
never used.
2. Many are either so common or
so analysable at a glance that the
hyphen, though sometimes used, is
entirely superfluous.
3. Some are used & seen only by
the learned, who may be expected to
know them at a glance without
hyphens.
81
CODEX
4. Some always have the hyphen
apparently by way of a (sic), or
announcement that the spelling is
intentional.
5. Some, if no hyphen is used, tend
to fall at the first glance into wrong
syllables & so perplex.
6. When a writer believes himself
to be making a new word, he natur¬
ally uses the hyphen —my co-secretary,
their co-authorship , &c.
Established words in co-.
coacervation 3. coadjutor 1. coadu-
nate 3. coagulate 1. coalesce 1.
coalition 1. coaxial 3. co-declination
5. coeducation 2. coefficient 2.
coequal 2. coerce 1. coessential 2.
co-etaneous 5. coeternal 2. coeval 2.
coexecutor 2. coexist 2. coextensive
2. cognate 1. cohabit 1. coheir 2.
cohere 1. coincide 1. coinstantane-
ous 2. coition 1. co-latitude 5. coop¬
erate 2. coopt 2. coordinate 2.
coparcenary 2. copartner 2. co-rela¬
tion 4. co-religionist 4. co-respon¬
dent 4. cosecant 3. coseismal 3.
cosignatory 2. cosine 2. cotan¬
gent 2. cotemporary 2. co-tenant
5. co-tidal 5.
coal. 1. Haul, & call, over the cc.
are both in use, though the former is
perhaps commoner. 2. Coal-vase
for -scuttle is chiefly a shop term, but
appears sometimes as a Genteelism.
3. Coal-mouse, coal-til(mouse), are
better spelling than cole-, since the
latter obscures the connexion with c.
coastal is a Barbarism, the -oc
showing at once that -al has bee
added to an English & not a Lati
wo *d. If an adjective had bee
really — . .
costal „ _ __
can be performed by coast (the coa
trade, towns, &c. ; a coast voyage), <
the predicative by coastwise or oi
along &c., the coast. Coastal shoul
he abandoned.
coat-card, court-. Coat- is
original form, but it has been oi
corruption court-, & is ms
in the OED.
Pronounce ko'bawlr
cobra de capello. Spell de, & pro¬
nounce dl.
cocaine* The pronunciation kok&'n,
stigmatized by the OED (in 1893)
as vulgar, is now so general that
attempts to maintain ko'kaln arc
useless.
coccyx. Pronounce kfi'kslks.
Cockaigne is properly the name of
a luxurious Utopia ; the use of it
for London as the home of Cockneys
is a mistake or a pun.
cockle. The cc. of the heart is of
some age (quoted from 1671) but of
disputed origin ; such phrases arc
best not experimented with, but
kept to their customary form &
context ( rejoice , warm , the cc. of the
heart).
cockney fled. So spelt : see -fied.
cock’s-comb, cockscomb, coxcomb.
The first for the comb of a cock, the
second for the fool’s cap & the
plants, & the third for the fop.
cocky, cocksy, coxy. The first is
the form in general colloquial use,
the last a schoolboy variant estab¬
lished in particular schools, & the
second the fuller but less used
spelling for the third.
COCO(a), coker. Cacao & coco, inde¬
pendent words, have corrupted each
other till the resulting cocoa is used
always for the drink often for the
coco(a)-nut palm ; coker(nut &c.) is
a shop spelling devised to obviate
the confusion. Coco-nut, coco fibre,
&c., are still used, though the -a
more often appears ; they should be
kept in existence if possible, & cocoa
be restricted to the drink & the
powder from which it is made ; the
uncrushed seeds & the plant are
still usually spelt cacao.
codify. Pronounce k5-, not ko-.
The tendency to prefer a, £, I, 6, to
a, e, i, 6, in such forms is seen in
gratify, pacify , ratify, edify, specify,
verify, vilify, vivify, modify ; whether
a similar list on the other side could
be made is very doubtful.
codex has pi. codices ; see -ex, -ix.
CODLIN(G)
82
COLLECTIVES
codlin(g). Spell with the g.
c(o)enobite. Spell coe-; see m , ce.
coercible, -cable. Spell -ible ; see
-ABLE 2.
coffee. Pronounce ko-, not kaw-.
cog. The phrase cogged dice is due
to a misunderstanding of the old
to cog dice, which meant not to load
them, but to cheat in throwing
them ; loaded should be used.
cogent. See -er & -est. 4.
cogitate makes -itable; see -able 1.
cognate. For the sense in grammar
see Technical terms.
cognizance, cognizant, cognizable,
cognize. Cognize alone has the -g-
always sounded. Of the four, cog¬
nizance is the word from which the
others have sprung, & it had for
some time no -g- to be sounded ; the
introduction of the - g- has affected
pronunciation, but kon- is still
common in the first three, & should
be maintained at least in cognizance
& cognizant ; cognizable should be
either kd'nizabl or, if it is to be as¬
similated to cognize, kbgnl'zabl.
For synonyms of -nee, see sign.
coiffeur, coiffure. See French
WORDS.
coincidence. The long arm of c. is
a Hackneyed phrase. Varying its
form, endowing it with muscles,
making it throw people about, &
similar attempts at renovation, only
make matters worse :— The author
does not strain the muscles of coin¬
cidence's arm to bring them into rela¬
tion./Nor does Mrs Moberhj shrink
from a use of ‘ the long arm' quite un¬
necessarily. /The long arm of c. throws
the Slifers into Mercedes's Cornish
garden a little too heavily.
colander, cullender. Both are pro¬
nounced ku'lender ; the first spell¬
ing, which is nearer the Latin stem
(cf. percolate), is also more frequent
in the 19th-c. quotations in the OED.
col-, com-, con-. There is a ten¬
dency among the more or less il¬
literate, on whom spelling exercises
an excessive influence, to pronounce
words beginning with these syllables
& having the word-accent on the
second syllable (such as collective ,
colloquial, combustible, commandment ,
commercial, concomitant, condition,
confederate) with a distinct short o
(kondi'shn, komah'ndment, instead
of the correct kondi'shn, komah'nd-
mnt).
colicky. Spell the adj. with -cky;
cf. bivouac(ked), & -c-, -ck-.
collapsable, -ible. The first is
better; see -able 2.
collate. See -atable.
collation. The reporter who can be
content with repast instead wins the
moderate gratitude, & he who says
meal the fervent admiration, of most
I of us ; see Working & stylish
words.
collectable, -ible. The first is
better ; see -able 2.
COLLECTIVES. The word is ap¬
plied to many different things, & in
Technical terms an attempt is
made to disentangle them. Flock 1
(a number of sheep or parishioners)
is a collective of one kind, & flock 2
(woollen waste) is of another ; flock 1
may be treated as singular or plural
(His f. was attacked by wolves ; Ills
f. was without a pastor or were
unanimous in disapproval), & can
itself be used in the plural with the
ordinary difference in meaning from
the singular ( shepherds tending their
flocks) ; flock 2 can be used either in
I the singular or in the plural, the
meaning being the same, a material,
& flock being treated always as
singular & flocks as plural (A flock
mattress ; A mattress of flock or
flocks ; the flock has, the flocks have,
not been disinfected). But the word
collective is applied to both, as well
as to many equally dissimilar kinds
of noun, for which see Technical
terms.
Reference of a word to this article
means that it has the peculiarity
indicated by the number of the
following table that is given in the
reference.
1. Words that have no separate
plural form, but are the same in both
COLLEGE
numbers, e.g. counsel, deer, grouse,
reindeer , salmon, sheep, trout, {Many
counsel were briefed; The grouse
were shy ; We saw no deer).
2. Words having a plural, but
whose singular used in a collective
sense, & treated as either singular or
plural, is generally preferred to it,
e.g. shot, cannon, {The shot scatters
too much ; Three shot were extracted
from his head).
3. Words of number or amount
that when used after definite or
indefinite numerals have often or
usually the singular instead of the
plural form, e.g. brace, dozen, hun¬
dred, fathom, pound, hundredweight,
(We shot 20 brace ; Six fathom deep ;
A few hundredweight of coal ; Six
pound of lard).
4. Names of an animal or vegetable
that can have a & mean an indi¬
vidual, or be used in the singular
without a & mean the things as food
or as objects of sport, e.g. salmon,
lamb, pig, grouse, potato, cabbage,
(Went out sticking pig ; Have some
potato ; Cabbage is a blood-purifier).
5. Words having no plural, but
able, being nouns of multitude, to
take either a singular or a plural
verb, e.g. cattle (The c. is sold ; The
c. are in the hay). For the many
/'ta GrS occasioned b y these words
(2«e German Government acknow¬
ledge him as its official courier) see
Personification, & Number 6.
college. The indiscriminate as¬
sumption of the name by schools
that are no more colleges than others
contented with the ordinary title is
asa( ^ degradation & obscuring of
the word’s meaning. Mothers (not
yet, perhaps, fathers) are now heard
to speak of sending their boys to
college when they mean merely to
this at least should^ be
; . lt 4 is to< > late to ask the
setf-styled colleges * to consider
I* 18 for their real to
See Working & stylish
s.
83
COME-AT-ABLE
collie, colly. See -ev, -ie, -y.
collocutor, colloquist, Interlocutor,
are rival candidates for a post that
undoubtedly ought to be filled ; we
all need occasionally a single word
to stand for the other speaker, the
person who was talking to <Sc being
talked to by me, you, him, or her.
None of the three is very satis¬
factory, but if two could be rejected
the third would have a better
chance, & collocutor (kbiokuter)
seems the best.
collusion &c. 1. Pronounce -lob- ;
see lu. 2. The notion of fraud or
underhandedness is essential to
collusion, & the following is a mis¬
use :— The two authors, both pro¬
fessors at Innsbruck, appear to be
working in c. ; l lie supposed arrange¬
ment is merely that their periods
shall not overlap ; in collaboration
will therefore not do ; if in concert
will not, the thing must be given at
length.
COLON. See Stoi\s.
colossal in the sense not of enor¬
mous (as in c. folly &c.), but of in¬
describably entertaining or delight¬
ful or ridiculous, is a Germanism not
deserving adoption ; the similar use
of Immense, though we do not name
it honoris causd, is at least of native
development.
COlo(u)r. Keep the -u- ; but see
-our & -or. For synonvmy see
TINT.
colour makes colourable, colourist,
but coloration, decolorize ; sec -or &
-our, -or- & -our-. Hybrid de¬
rivatives.
com-. For pronunciation in com¬
mandment &c., see col-.
combat. Pronounce ku-. Part. «£-
p.p. -ating, - ated ; see -T-, -tt-.
combe. See coomb.
combinedly. Four syllables if used :
see -edly.
come. For c. into one’s life, see
Hackneyed phrases.
come-at-able, get-at-able. Wri te
with the hyphens. C. was made as
long ago as the 17th c., but, except
COMEDIAN
84
COMMENCE(MENT)
in g., the experiment has not been
successfully repeated, & probably
will not be.
comedian, tragedian, have, in the
sense actor, the feminines comedienne,
tragedienne, perhaps best pronounced
kome'die'n, traje'die'n, & written
without accents ; see French pro¬
nunciation. It is unfortunate that
c. & t. also mean writer, which leads
to ambiguity ; but the introduction
of comedist & tragedist for the writers
is a remedy worse than the disease ;
we cannot begin now to talk of the
Greek comedists & tragedists , for
instance.
comedy, farce, burlesque. As
species of drama, the three are dis¬
tinguished in that comedy aims at
entertaining by the fidelity with
which it presents life as we all know
it, farce at raising laughter by the
outrageous absurdity of the situa¬
tions or characters exhibited, &
burlesque at tickling the fancy of the
audience by caricaturing plays or
actors with whose style it is familiar.
comestibles. See Working & stylish
words, & Formal words.
comic(al). The broad distinction,
sometimes obscured by being neg¬
lected, is that that is comic of which
the aim or origin is comedy, & that
is comical of which the effect,
whether intended or not, is comedy.
A comic actor is merely one who acts
comedy ; a comical actor, one who
makes the audience laugh. Comic
hesitation is that in which the hesi-
tator is playing the comedian ;
comical hesitation, that in which
observers find comedv, whether the
hesitator meant them to or was
unconscious of them. Accordingly,
comic is the normal epithet (though
comical may be used, in a different
sense) with actor, opera, scene, relief,
song, singer, history, paper ; comical
is normal (subject to the converse
reserve) with face, effect, expression,
deformity, earnestness, attempt, terror,
hesitation, fiasco. There is some
tendency (the attempt was comic in
the extreme ; The disaster had its
comic side) to use comic where
comical is the right word. This may
possibly be a sign that comical is
on the way to become archaic &
obsolete ; but, the difference of
meaning being fairly definite & of
real use, this would be regrettable.
comity, from Latin edmis courteous,
means courtesy, & the c. of nations
is the obligation recognized by
civilized nations to respect each
other’s laws & usages as far as their
separate interests allow. It has
nothing to do with Latin comes
companion, & phrases based on this
false derivation (obtain admittance to
the c. of states ; entered into the c. of
nations ; a useful member of the
civilized c.), & implying the sense
company, association, league, federa¬
tion, &c., are wrong.
%
COMMA. See Stops.
commando. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s G.
comme il faut. See French words.
commemorate makes -ruble; see
-able 1.
commence(ment). The writers who
prefer ere & save to before & except
may be expected to prefer c. to
begin(ning) in all contexts. Begin is
the word always thought & usually
said, but it is translated sometimes
before it is said, & often before it is
written, into c., which is described
by the OED as ‘ precisely equivalent
to the native begin ’. It is a good
rule never to do this translation
except when begin or beginning is
felt to be definitely incongruous ;
see Working & stylish words. In
official announcements c. is appro¬
priate ; the play-bill tells us when
the performance will c., though we
ask each other when it begins. The
grave historical style also justifies c.,
& historians’ phrases, such as c.
hostilities, keep their form w’hen
transferred to other uses, though we
begin, & do not c., a quarrel ; simi¬
larly we c. operations, but merely
begin dinner. As against the precise
equivalence mentioned above, it
should be observed that begin has,
owing to its greater commonness,
85
COMMONPLACE
COMMISERATE
more nearly passed into a mere
auxiliary than c. ; & from this it
results (1) that begin , not c., is even
in formal style the right word before
an infinitive; in The landholders
commenced to plunder indiscrimin¬
ately, any one can perceive that
began would be better ; (2) that c.
retains more than begin the positive
sense of initiative or intention, & is
especially out of place with an infini¬
tive when this sense is absent, as in
Even the warmest supporters of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer must be
commencing to feel that he should
give some slight consideration to . . .
commiserate. The late Emperor
Francis Joseph , who commiserated
with the imperial bird for that it had
but a single head. The orthodox use
of c. is transitive, & the OED gives
no quotation showing with.
commission(n)aire is best anglicized
both in spelling (- onaire ) & in pro¬
nunciation (komishonar').
commissure. Pronounce kd'misur.
commitment, committal. In nearly
all senses the two forms are inter¬
changeable, but -tal gains ground
while -ment loses it. The sense
engagement, however, i.e. the being
committed to doing something, be¬
longs almost only to - ment , & the
sense perpetration, i.e. the com¬
mitting of some offence, almost only
to -tal. J
eagle or a black female eagle) ; a
neuter word is one of which the
epithets are neither masculine nor
feminine (animal nigrum).
commonplace, platitude, triviality,
truism. The words are all often used
as terms of reproach in describing
the statements made by a speaker or
writer ; but none of them is iden¬
tical in sense with any other, & if
they are not to be misused a rough
idea at least of the distinctions is
necessary. It is something to re¬
member that no-onc should welcome
platitude, triviality, or truism in the
strict sense, as a description of a
statement of his own, whereas it may
be a merit in a statement to be a
commonplace or a truism in its loose
sense.
A commonplace is a thing that,
whether true or false, is so regularly
said on certain occasions that the
repeater of it can expect no credit
for originality ; but the common¬
place may be useful.
A platitude is a thing the stating of
which as though it were enlightening
or needing to be stated convicts the
speaker of dullness ; a platitude is
never valuable. The word is mis¬
used in It is a p. that the lack of
cottages is one of the chief of the
motive forces which drive the peasantry
to the towns. y
committee, in the original sense of
person to whom something is com¬
mitted (esp. now the care of a
lunatic), is pronounced kSmite'.
common makes -er, -est ; see -er &
common, epicene, neuter, in the
grammatical application, thouf
often confused, have distinct sense
a common noun is one that can tal
a masculine or a feminine epith.
t0 th u, sex of the individu
a Want IK * black do S’ canis ni &
«*»» + 1 ? f >ltc ?) J aa epicene word
th ,° ugh its epithets
SFE ° r aIwa y s feminine
be applied to an individual oi
aex (oquila nigra a black m»l.
A triviality is a thing the saying of
which as though it were adequate to
the occasion convicts the speaker of
silliness ; a triviality is never to the
purpose.
A truism in the strict sense (to
I which it might be well, but is per¬
haps now impossible, to confine it)
is a statement in which the predicate
gives no information about the sub¬
ject that is not implicit in the
definition of the subject itself. What
ts nght ought to be done ; since the
nght is definable as that which ought
to be done, this means What ought to
be done ought to be done, i.e.; it is
a disguised identical proposition,
or a truism. It is not well to act with
too great haste ; too great haste being
COMMON SENSE
8G
COMPENSATE
haste greater than it is well to act
with, the sentence tells us no more,
though it pretends to, than anyone
who can define too great haste knew
before the predicate is not well was
added. But What is right pays, or
in other words Honesty is the best
policy, is not a truism either in the
strict sense (since it makes a real
statement & not a sham one) or in
the loose sense (since its truth is
disputable) ; nor is It is not ivell to
act in haste a truism of either kind.
Both statements, however, are com¬
monplaces, & often platitudes.
A truism in the loose sense is a
thing that, whether in point or not,
is so indisputably true that the
speaker is under no obligation to
prove it, & need not fear contra¬
diction. This sense is a Slipshod
extension ; the writer who de¬
scribes his principle as a t. in order
to justify his drawing conclusions
from it would do better to call it an
aodom ; & the critic who depreciates
some one else’s statements as tt.,
not in the strict sense, but meaning
merely that they are too familiar to
be of value, should call them plati¬
tudes or commonplaces .
common sense should be written
as two separate words except when
it is used attributivcly, & should
then be hyphened :— The philosophy
of common sense ; The common-sense
philosophy ; ef. bona fide.
communal. The OED gives ko-
mu'nal preference over ko'munal,
but Recessive accent is likely to
prevail, & the latter is recommended.
See False quantity (on doctrinal).
commune. Both nouns (corpora¬
tion &c. & converse &e.) arc pro¬
nounced ko'mfin. In the verb,
komu'n will probably prevail in the
end (see Noun & verb accent), but
ko'miin is perhaps oftener heard at
present.
communicate makes -cabie ; see
-ABLE 1.
communism. See socialism for
distinction.
communique. See French pro¬
nunciation. Certain newspapers,
or writers, have taken lately to
printing the word with no accent,
presumably to be called komune'k.
This seems ill-advised, the literal
sense ‘ communicated thing ’, & the
difference from words like critique &
physique, being at present exhibited
by the accent & surely worth pre¬
serving.
companionable. For such forma¬
tions see -able 4.
eomparative(ly). For a compara¬
tively few, the comparative few, &c.,
see few 7 .
COMPARATIVES. For misuses, see
-ER & -EST, MORE, & THAN.
compare, in the sense suggest or
state a similarity, is regularly follow¬
ed by to, not with ; in the sense
examine or set forth the details of
a supposed similarity or estimate its
degree, it is regularly followed by
with, not to. He compared me to
Demosthenes means that he sug¬
gested that I was comparable to
him or put me in the same class ;
He compared me with Demosthenes
means that he instituted a detailed
comparison or pointed out where &
how far I resembled or failed to
resemble him. Accordingly, the pre¬
position in each of the following is
the one required by idiom :— Wit¬
ness compared the noise to thunder ;
The lecturer compared the British
field-gun with the French ; The effect
of a trumpet-blast on the ear is com¬
parable to that of scarlet on the eye ;
Shakspere is hardly comparable with
Milton ; Compared with, or to, him
1 am a bungler (this is a common
type in which either sense is ap¬
plicable).
After the intransitive verb (a boiled
mullet cannot c. with a baited one),
with alone is possible.
compass. For synonymy see field.
compendium. PI. -urns, -a ; see
-UM.
compensate. 1. Formerly ko ra¬
pe'nsat, but now ko'mpensat ; see
Recessive accent ; compensatory
Competence
&c. will probably conform & accent
the first before long, but usually
accent the second still. 2. C. makes
-sable ; see -able 1.
competence, -cy. Neither has any
sense in which the other cannot be
used ; the first form is gaining on
the second ; & it would be well if
competency could be abandoned as
a Needless variant ; see -ce, -cy.
complacence, -cy. There is no dis¬
tinction that can be called estab¬
lished ; the second form is the
commoner, & is less liable to con¬
fusion with complaisance (see foil.) ;
complacence might be dropped as a
Needless variant ; see -ce, -cy.
complacent, -ency, complaisant,
-ance. 1. The two sets have clearly
differentiated meanings, but are
often confused (see below) ; it
would help to obviate this confusion
if the more easily distinguished &
better established pronunciation of
the second set (kcSmplIz&'nt, -h'ns,
not kompla'znt, -a'zns) were made
invariable, & if complacency were
always preferred to -accnce (see
prec.).
2. He is complacent who is pleased
with himself or his state, or with
other persons or things as they
affect him; the word is loosely
synonymous with contented. He is
complaisant who is anxious to please
by compliance, service, indulgence,
or flattery; the word is loosely
synonymous with obliging. The
vjong choice has been made in each
of these sentences :— He owed such
funds as he possessed to French com¬
placency ./ He has nothing more to
expect from the complacency of the
authorities./The display of the dia¬
monds usually stopped the tears , <fc
she would remain in a complaisant
state until ...
I wrote the above in
1913, fortified by the OED descrip-
dated 1893) of complacence,
■ & -acent, in the senses
22®,.*°, -aisant, as
respectively * Obs.\ * Wbs.\ & ‘ Whs.'
11 ® a curious illustration of the
87
COMPOUND PREPOSITIONS
changing fashions in wmrds that I
have since collected a dozen news¬
paper examples of complac- words
wrongly used for complais-, & none
of the contrary mistake. It looks as
if some journalists had forgotten the
existence of complais- & the proper
meaning of complac-.
complement. For the sense in
grammar, see Technical terms.
In the verb -ent is clearly sounded
(-gnt) if not given the main accent :
in the noun it is neither accented nor
clearly sounded (-ent) ; see Noun A-
VERB ACCENT.
complete, vb. Sec Formal words.
complicacy, by the side of the
established complexity, has no claim
to favour, & is perhaps due to mere
Novelty-hunting.
compliment. The pronunciation
varies as with complement.
complin(e). ‘ The final e is modern
& unhistorical ’—OED.
compo has pi. -os ; see -o(e)s 5.
composedly. Four syllables ; see
-edly.
compost. Fronounce -5st.
compound, n. & v. See Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
COMPOUND PREPOSITIONS, CON¬
JUNCTIONS, &c. A selection of
these is : —as to (as 3) ; for the pur¬
pose of ; INASMUCH AS ; in CON¬
NEXION 2 with ; in favour of ; in
order that, to ; in reference to ; in
relation to ; in so far as, that :
in so much that ; in that ; in the
absence of ; in the case of ; in the
instance of ; in the matter of ; in
the neighbourhood of ; in the region
of ; of the character of ; of the nature,
of ; with a view to ; with reference
to ; with regard to ; with relation
to ; with respect to. And one or two
specimens of their work are :— At
least 500,000 houses are required, d*
the aggregate cost is in the region of
£400,000,000 ./Sir Robert Peel used
to tell an amusing story of one of these
banquets , in the case of which he <fc
Canning were seated on opposite sides
of Alderman Flower./If I have a com¬
plaint to proffer against Mr Bedford .
COMPREHEND
88
CONCISENESS
it certainly is, except perhaps in the
case of ‘ Monna Vanna ’, not in the
matter of the plays to which he has
refused a licence, hut in regard to
a few of the plays which he sanc¬
tioned./France is now going through
a similar experience with regard to
Morocco to that which England had
to undergo with reference to Egypt
after the occupation.
But so much has been said on the
subject, & so many illustrations
given, elsewhere (see Periphrasis,
& the words in small capitals in the
list above) that nothing but a very
short general statement need be
made here. Of such phrases some
are much worse in their effects upon
English style than others, in order
that being perhaps at one end of the
scale, & in the case of or as to at the
other ; but, taken as a whole, they
are almost the worst element in
modern English, stuffing up the
newspaper columns with a compost
of nouny abstractions. To young
writers the discovery of these forms
of speech, which are used very little
in talk & very much in print, brings
an expansive sense of increased
power ; they think they have ac¬
quired with far less trouble than
they anticipated the trick of dressing
up what they may have to say in
the right costume for public exhibi¬
tion. Later, they know better, &
realize that it is feebleness, instead
of power, that they have been de¬
veloping ; but by that time the fatal
ease that the compound-preposition
style gives (to the writer, that is)
has become too dear to be sacrificed.
comprehend. Sec apprehend.
compress, n. & v. See Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
comptroller, cont-. The first
spelling is not merely archaic, but
erroneous, being due to false asso¬
ciation with count (F conter f. L
computare).
computable, -ative. The accent
now varies, but will probably settle
on the first syllables ; see Recessive
accent.
comrade. Pronounce ko-, not ku-.
con-. For pronunciation in con¬
tinue &c., see col-.
concavity. Pronounce -k&v-.
conceal. See Formal words.
concentrate &c. 1. Accents as in
compensate &c., 2. See -atable.
concept is a philosophical term,
& should be left to the philosophers ;
the substituting of it for the ordinary
word conception as below is due to
Novelty-hunting :—[a caricature
has been described] Now this point
of view constantly expressed must
have had its influence on popular
concepts. See Popularized tech¬
nicalities.
concern. In (so far) as concerns or
regards, the number of the verb
(which is impersonal, or has for its
unexpressed subject 4 our inquiry ’
or some similar phrase) is invari¬
able ; the change to plural, as in the
quotation that follows, is due, like
as follow, to misapprehension :—
Many of these stalks were failures, so
far as concern the objective success.
concernedly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
concernment has no senses that are
not as well, & now more naturally &
frequently, expressed by the noun
concern ; the substitution of the
latter was censured as affectation in
the 17th c., but the boot is now on
the otner leg, & c. should be dropped
as a Needless variant.
concert, n. & v. See Noun & verb
ACCENT. _
concerto. Pronounce konchar'to ;
pi. -os, sec -o(e)s G.
concession(n)aire Omit the -n-, &
pronounce -sesh- ; cf. commission¬
aire.
concessive. See Technical terms.
concettism. Pronounce -chet-.
conch. Pronounce -k.
concierge. See French words.
conciliate makes -liable ; see - able 1.
conciseness, concision. The first is
the English word familiar to the
ordinary man ; concision is the
Literary critics’ word, more re¬
cent in English, used by writers
CONCOLO(U)ROUS
89
CONJUNCTIVE
& often
The second is
variant :
under French influence, _ _
requiring the reader to stop & think
whether he knows its meaning :—
The writing of verse exacts concision,
clear outline, a damming of the waters
at the well-spring . See -ion & -ness.
concolo(u)rous. See Hybrid de¬
rivatives.
concomitance, -cy.
now a Needless
-ce, -CY.
concord. For the sense in gram¬
mar, see Technical terms.
concordat. Pronounce konkor'd&t.
concupiscence, -ent. Accent second,
not third, syllables,
concur makes concurring, but
concu'rrent &c. ; see Pronuncia¬
tion, s.f.
condemning. Pronounce -fiming.
condign meant originally deserved,
& could be used in many contexts,
with praise for instance as well as
with punishment. It is now used
only, with words equivalent to
punishment , & means deservedly
severe, the severity being the im¬
portant point, & the desert merely
a condition of the appropriateness
of the word ; that it is an indis¬
pensable condition, however, is
shown by the absurd effect of:—
Count Zeppelin's marvellous voyage
through the air has ended in c. disaster.
condolence. Pronounce kondo'lens.
condo ttiere. Pronounce -tyari. PI.
-n, pron. -re.
conduct, n. & v. See Noun &
VERB accent.
conductress. See Feminine de¬
signations.
conduit. Pronounce kii'ndlt.
coney. See cony.
confection. The French dress-
makmg term properly means no
more than a piece of attire not made
to measure; but, being applied
hiefly to fashionable wraps &c.,
Jtis sometimes misunderstood as
2f"« m iteelf (like motion) the
peaker s exclamatory admiration.
ifederacy, -eratlon. See fedkra.
Of the verba in -for
accented on the last syllable, two
form adjectives in - ble of which the
spelling & accent are fixed (prefer¬
able & transferable). The others,
for which various forms have been
tried (confer, confe'rrable ; defer ,
none ; infer, i'nferable & infc'rible &
infe'rrable & infc'rriblc ; refer, refer¬
able & refe'rrable &, refc'rrible),
should be made to follow these two,
& the forms should be co'nfcrable ,
i'nferable,preferable, referable, trans¬
ferable.
confessedly. Four syllables ; see
-edly.
confidant, -ante, -ent, nn. Con¬
fident was in use as a noun meaning
confidential friend or person to
whom one entrusted secrets long
before the other forms were intro¬
duced ; but it is now an Archaism,
& to revive it is pedantry. Confidant
is masculine & confidante feminine ;
they are indistinguishable in pro¬
nunciation, & accent the last syllable.
configuration, configure. For pro¬
nunciation, see FIGURE.
confines, n. Accent the first sylla¬
ble ; sec Noun & verb accent.
confiscate &c. 1. Accents as in
compensate &c. 2. C. makes con¬
fiscable ; see -able 1.
conflict, n. & v. See Noun & verb
accent.
conformable. For such formations
see -able 4.
confrere. See French words.
confusedly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
cong6, congee. The second, former¬
ly established, is now obsolete or
archaic ; for the first, see French
words.
congeries. Pronounce konjfc'rlez.
congratulate makes -lable ; sec
-able 1.
_ congregate. Where - s most do c.
is a Battered ornament.
conjugate makes -gable ; sec - able 1.
conjugation, conjunction.
Technical terms.
conjunctive (mood) is a term that
had much better be dropped. The
forms denoted bv c. & subjunctive
CONNOTE
CONJURE 00
are the same, & subjunctive is the
much better known name. C. might
have been useful in distinguishing
uses if it had been consistently
applied ; but it means sometimes
the forms however used ( subjunctive
then being a division under it re¬
stricted to the subordinate uses),
sometimes the forms when used as
main verbs ( subjunctive then being
a division parallel to it restricted as
before), & sometimes merely the
forms when used as main verbs
of conditional sentences ( subjunctive
then being, very unreasonably, the
name for all uses, dependent or in¬
dependent, & c. a division under it).
This is hopeless confusion ; c. should
be given up, subjunctive be used as
the name of the forms whatever
their use, & the differences of func¬
tion be conveyed by other words (de¬
pendent, conditional, optative, &c.).
conjure in the sense bcsccch is
pronounced konjoor', in other senses
ku'njer.
conjuror, -er. In the OED 19th-c.
quotations, -or is five times as
common as -er, & it might well be
accepted as the only form.
connectable, -ible. The first is
recommended ; see -able 2.
connexion, -ction. 1. The first is
the right spelling ; see -xion.
2. In c. with is a formula that every
one who prefers vigorous to flabby
English will have as little to do with
as he can ; see Periphrasis. It
should be clearly admitted, however,
that there is sometimes no objection
to the words ; this is when they are
least of a formula & c. has a real
meaning ( Buses run i. c. w. the trains ;
The isolated phrase may sound offen¬
sive, but taken i.e.w. its context it
was not so). In the prevalent
modern use, however, it is worn
down into a mere compound pre¬
position, with vagueness & plia¬
bility as its only merits. The worst
writers use it, from sheer love of
verbiage, in preference to a single
word that would be more appro¬
priate ( The three outstanding features
i.e.w. [i.e., of] our ‘ Batchworth
Tinted ’, as sample set enclosed, are
as follows). The average writer is
not so degraded as to choose it for
its own sake, but he has not realized
that when i. c. w. presents itself to
him it is a sign that laziness is
mastering his style, or haziness his
ideas. Of the examples that follow,
the first two are characteristic speci¬
mens of compound-prepositional
periphrasis :— The special difficulty
in Professor Minocelsi's case arose
i. c. w. the view he holds relative to the
historical value of .. . (Prof. M. was
specially hampered by his vieus
on). /Regulations with regard to the
provision of free places i.e.w. secon¬
dary education (Regulations for pro¬
viding free places in secondary
schools). /Canvey Island, which is
again coming into prominence i. c. w.
the proposal to establish a great wharf
there (to which attention has been
called by)./Mr J. M. is having a
hard time i.e.w. his desire for re-
election./Sir S. P. wiU shortly retire
from the secretaryship i.e.w. the age
limit.
connoisseur. Pronounce konaser' ;
the modern French spelling (-nai-)
should not be used,
connote, denote. This article is
concerned only with the correlated
senses of the two words. C., not
being really in popular use, has no
senses except the correlated ones ;
but d. has popular uses out of rela¬
tion to c., as A high pulse denotes
(is a symptom of) fever ; Let f d. (be
the appointed symbol for) the force
exerted ; This surely denotes (shows)
that the question is decided.
When c. & d. are in expressed or
implied antithesis, the difference is
twofold, sense 1 of each correspond¬
ing to sense 1 only of the other, &
sense 2 to sense 2 only.
1. A word denotes all the objects
having the attributes that it con¬
notes (or implies the joint presence
of). Father denotes the first Person
of the Trinity, Adam, Edward VII,
Eclipse, & all others to whom the
91
connotation or connotative meaning
of father applies. Ugly denotes
Socrates, Wilkes, the black country,
cowardice, & all other things to
which the connotation of ugly
applies. The whole of the objects
taken together are the word’s de¬
notation or denotative meaning.
A word connotes all the attributes
common to the objects that it de¬
notes (or is predicable of). Father
connotes fatherhood or having be¬
gotten, male sex, prior existence, &
all other attributes common to the
objects included in the denotation
of father. Ugly connotes ugliness or
violation of standards of beaut y,
repellent effect on an observer, &c.
The sum of the common attributes
is the word’s connotation or connota¬
tive meaning.
2. A word denotes the contents of
its barest adequate definition. Father
denotes one that has begotten. Ugly
denotes violating standards of beau¬
ty. The word’s denotation is this
barest definition alone.
A word connotes all or any of the
attributes that, without being de¬
noted by it, are associated with it
either as deducible from its denota¬
tion or as observed to be common to
aU normal specimens answering to
its denotation. Father connotes
male sex, prior existence, greater
experience, affection, guidance, &c.
Ugly connotes repellent effect, im¬
munity from dangers peculiar to
beauty, disadvantage in the mar¬
riage market, &c. The whole of
these are the connotation, & any of
hem is part of the connotation, of
the word.
c ® n< l ues t. Pronounce
k l ngk . er < er )> ngkw&t.
*nfr# SC ^ ence * Write for conscience *
sake; see sake.
or < S?l I J tious * Pronounce kdnsl-
> ; see -ciation.
Bv£X 0CUtiV m For the sense in
syntax see Technical terms.
aniSS 1181 ? *? eans unanimity, or un-
of “Pi™™ or testi-
y * The following, in which it is
CONSEQUENTIAL
confused with census, is nonsense :
Who doubts that if a consenstis were
taken , in which the interrogated had
the honesty to give a genuine reply,
we should have an overwhelming
majority ?
consequential is a word severely
restricted in its application by
modern idiom ; it is unidiomatic in
several of the senses that it might
have or has formerly borne.
Where doubt can arise between
it & consequent, the latter should
always be used when the sense is the
simple & common one of resulting .
& -ial be reserved for that of required
for consistency with something else.
Thus In the consequent confusion he
vanished, but The consequential
amendments were passed. Conse¬
quential confusion is not English :
the consequent amendments is, but
means not (as with -ial) those neces¬
sitated by one previously accepted,
but those that resulted from (e. g.)
the opposition’s hostility or the
discovery of a flaw. The right use
is seen in A good many of these
undiscusscd changes were only conse¬
quential alterations : but the follow¬
ing sentence (in which consequent
would be better, but either is possi¬
ble) shows that the line is sometimes
hard to draw :— Yet whilst he washes
his hands of the methods of the Albert
Hall, with its consequential campaign
of resistance <fe its cry oj 4 no servant
tax', he declares that the Bill must
not be passed.
2. C. does not mean of conse¬
quence ; a c. person may or may not
be important ; all we know is that
he is self-important ; Mr C. bustled
about, feeling himself the most c. man
in the town would not now be
English.
3. C. does not now mean having
great consequences. For so desperate
ds so c. a war as this there should be
substituted a war so desperate db so
pregnant with consequences.
4. A c. crime &c. is an act that was
not criminal &c. in its own nature,
but amounts to a crime &c. in virtue
CONSERVATIVE
CONSPICUITY
of its consequences :— There is a
difference between direct contradiction
& merely c. inconsistency.
conservative. Perhaps the most
ridiculous of Slipshod extensions
is the rapidly spreading use of this
word as an epithet, in the sense of
moderate, safe, or low, with estimates,
figure, &c. 8,000 killed is con¬
sidered a c. estimate./The damage is
placed on a c. estimate at 20,000,000
dollars./Seas that even the c. ship's
logs called ‘ mountainous './The figure
is probably an over-estimation, & a
more c. estimate is that of Kohler./
At least 0,000,000 dollars an hour;
this is a most c. estimate ; probably
it is too low./Based upon the price of
4|d. per ft, & with reasonable care
this should be a c. figure./The dis¬
tributing side of the market takes a
more c. & certainly more hopeful view.
conservatoire, conservatory. The
French, German, & Italian musical
institutions are best called by their
native names— conservatoire, conscr-
vatorium, conservatorio. Academy or
School of Music is better than Con¬
servatory for corresponding English
institutions.
considerable, in the sense a good
deal of, is applied in British use only
to immaterial things (I have given it
c. attention). The use with material
things is an Americanism; the
following are from definitions in two
American dictionaries :— Silk fabric
containing c. gold or silver thread./
Certain pharmaceutical preparations
similar to cerates, but containing c.
tallow.
considerateness, consideration. Con¬
sideration, so far as it is comparable
with -ateness, means thought for
others, while -ateness means the
characteristic of taking (or implying)
such thought ; see -ion & -ness.
It is therefore sometimes indifferent
which is used (He showed the greatest
-ateness or -ation ; Thanks for your
-ateness or -ation). But more often
one is preferable :— IHs -ateness is
beyond all praise ; I was treated with
-ation ; He was struck by the -ateness
of the offer.
consist. C. of introduces a ma¬
terial, & c. in a definition or a state¬
ment of identity ; we must not say
the moon consists in green cheese (no-
one would), nor virtue consists of
being good (many do). Elegant
variation between the two is ab¬
surd :— The external world consisted ,
according to Berkeley, in ideas ; ac¬
cording to Mr Mill it consists of
sensations & permanent possibilities
of sensation. Of is wrong in The most
exceptional feature of Dr Ward's
book undoubtedly consists of the re¬
production of photographs.
consistence, -cy. Sec -ce, -cy. The
-cy form is now invariable in the
noun that means being consistent,
i.e. not inconsistent (-cy is an over¬
rated virtue). In the noun meaning
degree of thickness in liquids usage
varies ; A -ce something like that of
treacle, & Mud varying in -cy cfc
temperature, are both from Huxley ;
it would be well if -ce could be made
the only form in this sense, as -cy
in the other. It is sometimes
doubtful now whether freedom from
inconsistency is meant or meta¬
phorical solidity ; among the OED
quotations are ’.—-Reports begin to
acquire strength & -ce ; A vague
rumour daily acquiring -cy &
strength. The removal of such doubt
would be one of the advantages of
the limitation proposed above for
-ce.
consistory. Accent the first syl¬
lable ; see Recessive accent.
consociation. Pronounce -sosi-;
see -ciation.
consolatory. Pronounce -sol-,
console, bracket, table, &c. Accent
the first (kd'nsol).
consols. Accent the last (konso'lz).
consomme. See French words.
consort. Pronounce the noun
ko'nsort, the verb konsor't; see
Noun & verb accent.
conspectus. PI. -uses ; see -us.
conspicuity, -ousness. See -ty &
-NESS.
CONSPICUOUS
conspicuous. For c. by absence see
Hackneyed phrases ( Even in the
examination for the M.D., literary
quality & finish is often c. by its
absence).
constable. Pronounce kun-.
constitution(al)ist. See -ist.
constrainedly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
construct, construe, translate, with
reference to language. To translate
is to reproduce the meaning of (a
passage &c.) in another language, or
sometimes in another & usually a
more intelligible style. To construe
is to exhibit the grammatical struc¬
ture of (a passage &c.), either by
translating closely (& so it is often
tantamount to translate) or by
analysis. A sense of construe
formerly common, but now dis¬
appearing & better abandoned, is
that in which construct is taking its
place (Aim should not be constructed,
or construed, with an infinitive). The
right pronunciation of construe (for
which conster was long the prevalent
form) is k&'nstroo ; the konstroo'
now often heard by the side of the
noun (ko'nstroo) is no doubt due to
the Noun-&-verb-accent tendency.
* i ^ in legal & quasi-legal
use, is applied to an act that, while
it does not answer to the statutory
or formal definition of the offence
&c. under which (qualified by c.) it
is classed (c. treason, rebellion, blas¬
phemy, obligation , &c.), is seen, when
the true construction is put upon its
motive or tendency, to amount to
such an offence &c. (It was at most c.
blasphemy). Cf, the analogous use
Of CONSEQUENTIAL.
eonsubstantiation. For pronuncia¬
tion see -ciation.
consuetude. Pronounce -swi-
TOBSUmedly. Four syllables ; see
l ® ut t * le word is a Battered
ORNAMENT.
adTE™™**?; I- Pronounce the
mIt - the verb kS'nsumat;
^consummation. For „
unshed see Hackneyed phrasfs
93 CONTENT(S)
I consumption, consumptive, should
be kept alive, if possible, as better
words for ordinary non-scientific use
than tuberculosis & tuberculous.
contaminate makes -noble ; see
-able 1 .
contango. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
contemn. Pronounce part. -Cinlng,
but agent-noun -6mner.
contemplate &c. 1 . Accents as in
compensate &c. 2. See -atadle.
co(n)temporary, -oraneous, &c. The
OED shows conclusi vely that con- is
the only right spelling.
contemptible) (contemptuous. Mr
Sherman, speaking in the Senate ,
called the President c demagogue who
contemptibly disregarded the Govern¬
ment, because President Wilson,
speaking at Columbia yesterday, said
an International I.abour Conference
would be held at Washington, whether
the Treaty was ratified 'or jiot. Mr
Sherman probably meant, & not
improbably said, contemptuously.
See Pairs & snares.
content, v. C. oneself with (not by)
is the right form of the phrase that
means not go beyond some course ;
the following are wrong :— We must
c. ourselves for the moment by observ¬
ing that from the juridical stand-point
the question is a doubtful one./The
petition contents itself by begging that
the isolation laws may be carried out.
content(ment). The two forms now
mean practically the same, content¬
ment having almost lost its verbal
use ( The contentment of his wishes
left him unhappy) & meaning, like
content , contented state. Content¬
ment is the usual word, content sur¬
viving chiefly in to heart's content &
as a poetic or rhetorical variant.
content(s), what is contained. The
OED says ‘ The stress conte'nt is
historical, & still common among the
educated ’. The stress co'ntent is
due partly to Noun & adjective
accent & partly to the wish to
differentiate from content = content¬
ment. But contents is still almost
always accented on the last, & that
CONTEST
94
CONTRARY
accent is recommended for content
also.
contest. 1. Pronounce the noun
ko'ntgst, the verb konte'st ; see
Noun & verb accent.
2. The intransitive use of the verb
(Troops capable of contesting success¬
fully against the forces of other na¬
tions ; cf. the normal contesting the
victory with) is much rarer than it
was, & is better left to contend.
continual, continuous. That is -al
which either is always going on or
recurs at short intervals & never
comes (or is regarded as never
coming) to an end. That is -ous in
which no break occurs between the
beginning & the (not necessarily or
even presumablv long-deferred) end.
continuance, continuation, continu¬
ity. Continuance has reference to
continue in its intransitive senses of
last, go on ; continuation to continue
in its transitive senses of prolong,
go on with, & (in the passive) be gone
on with. Choice between the two is
therefore open when the same sense
can be got at from two directions ;
We hope for a -ance of your favours
means that we hope they will con¬
tinue ; We hope for a -alion of them
means that we hope you will con¬
tinue them ; & these amount to the
same thing. But the addition that
continues a tale or a house is its
-ation, not its -ance, & the time for
which the pyramids have lasted is
their -ance, not their -ation ; we can
wait for a -ation, but not for a -ance,
of hostilities ; we like a thing for a
-ance, but not for a -ation ; &,
generally speaking, the distinction
has to be borne in mind. Con¬
tinuity, though occasionally confused
with continuance, is less liable to
misuse, & it is enough to say that
its reference is not to continue, but
to continuous. For solution of con¬
tinuity see Polysyllabic humour.
continuant. See Technical terms.
contract, n. & v. See Noun &
VERB accent.
contractable, -ible. The first is
better ; see -able 2.
contradictious, -tory. The mean¬
ings given to contradicting , captious,
cavilling, cantankerous, quarrelsome,
do not belong to contradictory ; if
either word is to be used, it must be
-tious ; but this, though not in fact
a new word, is always used with an
uneasy suspicion that it has been
made as a temporary stopgap, & it
is better to choose one of the many
synonyms.
contralto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
contrary. 1. The original accent
(kontrar'i) lingers (1) with the un¬
educated in all ordinary uses of the
adjective (not, perhaps, in the c.) ;
(2) with most speakers in the jocose
or childish c. for perverse or peevish,
& in contrariness, -ly, used similarly ;
(3) with many speakers in contrari¬
wise, especially when it either repre¬
sents on the c. rather than in the c.
manner, or is used playfully.
2. On the c., on the other hand. The
idiomatic sense of o. t. o. h. is quite
clear ; except by misuse (see below)
it never means far from that, i.e.,
it never introduces something that
conflicts with the truth of what
has preceded, but always something
reconcilable, though in contrast,
with it. The following two examples
should have o. t. c. instead of
o. t. o. h. :—It cannot be pleaded that
the detail is negligible; it is,o. t. o.h.,
of the greatest importance./The object
is not to nourish 10,000 cats by public
charity ; it is, o. t. o. h., to put them
to sleep in the lethal chamber. An
example of the right use is :— Food
was abundant; water, o. t. o. h., (or
o. t. o. h., water) was running short.
The use of o. t. c. is less simple ; it
may have either of the senses of
which o. t. o. h. has only one ; i.e.,
it may mean either on the other hand
or far from that; but if it stands
first in its sentence it can only mean
far from that. Thus Food was abun¬
dant ; o. t. c., water was running
short is impossible ; but Food was
abundant; water, o. t. c., was running
short is correct, though o. t. o. h. is
commoner &, with a view to future
95
CONVICT
differentiation, preferable. If o. t. c.
is to stand first, it must be in such
forms as Food was not abundant;
o. t. c., it was running short.
contrary, converse, opposite. These
are sometimes confused, & occasion¬
ally precision is important. If we
take the statement All men are
mortal, its contrary is Not all men
are mortal, its converse is All mortal
beings are men, & its opposite is No
men are mortal. The contrary, how¬
ever, does not exclude the opposite,
but includes it as its most extreme
form. Thus This is white has only
one opposite. This is black, but many
contraries, as This is not white. This
is coloured. This is dirty. This is
black ; & whether the last form is
called the contrary, or more em¬
phatically the opposite, is usually
indifferent. But to apply the oppo¬
site to a mere contrary (e.g. to 1 did
not hit him in relation to 1 hit him,
which has no opposite), or to the
converse (e.g. to lie hit me in rela¬
tion to 1 hit him, to which it is
neither contrary nor opposite), is
a looseness that may easily result in
misunderstanding ; the temptation
to go wrong is intelligible when it is
remembered that with certain types
of sentence (A exceeds B) the con¬
verse & the opposite are identical
(B exceeds A).
contrast. 1. Pronounce the noun
ko ntr&st, the verb kontr&'st;
Noun & verb accent. 2. The
transitive use of the verb with one
or the contrasted things as subject,
in the sense be a c. to or set off by c.,
was formerly common, but in
modern writing is either an archaism
or a blunder ; with should always
be inserted. The use meant is seen
m i vJ 16 sun-tinged hermit & the
pate eider c. each other./Monks whose
uurk garments contrasted the snow./
J-ne smooth slopes are contrasted by
opportutanZ C ° Un,ry the
^control makes -lied, - liable, &c.;
contumac(lt)y. See Long variants.
contumacy. Accent the first syl¬
lable ; see Recessive accent.
contumely. The possible pronun¬
ciations, given here in order of
merit, are no less than five :—
ko'ntumli, ko'ntume'll, kd'ntumlir,
kontu'mill, kontu'mll. The well-
known line The oppressor's wrong,
the proud man's c. does much to kill
the last two, which are irrecon¬
cilable with it, & to encourage the
first, which seems, to those whose
knowledge of metre is limited, to fit
blank verse better than the second
& third. The second is kept in
being by contumelious. The OED
gives only the third ; but that has
less chance than any other of sur¬
viving ; a stressed syllable followed
by three unstressed ones is very
unpopular except with professors &
the like if there is an alternative
handy, which is the reason why
despi'cable, hospi'table, &c., still
maintain their ground even against
the Recessive
convenance, convenience. For
mariage dc c., & the convenances, see
French words. For marriage of
convenience see Gallicisms.
conversable. For such formations
see -able 4.
conversance, -cy. See -ce, -cy.
conversation(al)ist. See -ist.
conversazione. Pronounce -atslo nl.
PI. - nes (-niz), -nt (-ne) ; the first is
better.
converse, talk &c. Pronounce the
noun ko'nvers, the verb konver's ;
see Noun & verb accent.
conversely ). 1. Pronounce the adj.
kd'nvers, but the adv. konver'sU.
2. For the sense of the converse, see
CONTRARY, CONVERSE.
convert. Pronounce the noun
kd'nvert, the verb konver't ;
Noun & verb accent.
convertible, -able. The first is
usually better ; see -able 2.
convey. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 2.
conveyance. See Formal words.
convict. Pronounce the noun
CORYDON
CONVINCEDLY_»
ko'nvikt, the verb konvi'kt ; see
Noun & verb accent.
convincedly. Four syllables if
used ; see -edly.
convolvulus* PI* -uses ; see -us,
convoy. Pronounce the noun
ko'nvoi, the verb konvoi' ; see Noun
& VERB ACCENT. For verb inllcxions
see Verbs in -ie &c., 4.
cony, coney. The first, with pi.
conies, is better.
cooee, cooey, signal cry.
puts cooee lirst.
cooky, -ie, -ey. See -ey, -ie, -y.
coolie, -ly, -lee. The first is the
usual modern form ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
coomb, combe. The OED prefers
the first.
cooperate, coopt, coordinate. For
co-o-, cod-, coo-, see co-.
coordinate makes -nable; see
-able 1.
coot. For pi. see Collectives 4.
copra. Pronounce ko'pra.
copulative. See Technical terms.
copy, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., G.
coquet(te) &c. The noun is now
always -ctte, & is applied to females
only." The verb, formerly coquet
only, is often now, & will no doubt
before long be only, -elte ; the
accent, & the influence of -citing,
-etted, -cttish, will ensure that. The
noun coquetry, for which the OED
gives ko'kftrl as the only pronuncia¬
tion, may be expected to change
similarly to the already common
koke'tri.
corbel gives corbelled ; see -ll-, -l-.
cord, chord. For uses in which the
spelling is doubtful, see c(ii)ord.
cordelier. Pronounce kordiler'.
cordillera. Pronounce kordilyar'a.
cordon. Pronounce kor'dn.
core. ‘ Rotten at the core ’ is a
Misquotation.
co-respondent &c. See co-.
cornelian, car-. The first is right
(from French corneline), & the
second due to mistaken etymology.
cornucopia. PI. -as, not - ae.
corolla. PI. -as ; see -ae, -as.
corona PI. -ae ; see -ae, -as.
coronal. Pronounce the noun
(circlet) ko'ronal, the adj. (of the
skull, of a corona) koro'nal.
coronet(t)ed. Omit the second t ;
see -T-, -TT-.
corporal, corporeal, aa. Neither is
now a common word except in par¬
ticular phrases. Corporal means of
the human body, & is common in
-al punishment ; it is also rarely used
with deformity, beauty, defects, &
such words, instead of the usual
personal or bodily. Corporeal means
of the nature of body, material ,
tangible ; so our -cal habitation (the
body), the -cal presence of Christ in
the Sacrament.
corposant. Pronounce kor'pozant.
corps. Pronounce in sing, kor, but
in pi. (though the spelling is the
same) korz ; see French words.
corpulence, -cy. There is no differ¬
ence ; -ce is recommended ; -cy
should be dropped as a Needless
variant.
corpus. PI. corpora ; see Latin
PLURALS.
corpuscle. Pronounce kor'pwsl ;
see Pronunciation.
corral. Pronounce kor&'I.
correctitude, a recent formation
(not given in OED vol. dated 1893),
is a Needless variant for correct¬
ness.
correlate. See -atable.
correlatives. See Technical terms.
corrigendum. PI. (much commoner
than the sing.) -da ; see -um.
corroborate makes -Table ; see
-able 1.
corsage. See French words.
corset. Pronounce kor'sit ; the
spelling -ctte, the pronunciation
korse't, & the use of the plural for a
single specimen, are mere blunders.
cors(e)let. Omit the -c-.
cortege. See French words ;
procession is usually adequate.
Cortes. Pronounce lcor'tes.
cortex. PI. -ices (-isez) ; see -ex,
-ix.
Corybant. Pronounce ko'rib&nt.
PI. -ts or -tes (koriba'ntez).
Corydon. Pronounce ko'ridn.
COUNCIL
coryphaeus. Spell -ae- ; see m, ce.
PI. -aei ; see -us.
cosaque. See French words.
cose, coze, cosy, cozy. The estab¬
lished spelling for the adjective (a
Scotch word of doubtful origin) is
cosy . The verb (& noun) meaning
sit ( sitting ) by the fire &c. is a Back-
formation from this, & therefore
best spelt cose . The verb (& noun)
meaning gossip or chat is referred to
French causer talk, & the spelling
coze , which is the usual one, is also
desirable, by way of distinction, since
the senses of the two verbs are very
liable to confusion. The noun cosy or
cozy meaning a kind of seat is probably
from the adjective, though helped
to become a noun by the French cau-
seuse . The spellings recommended,
then, are: — cosy , comfortable, seat,
teapot-warmer; cose , sit at ease,
spell of sitting so; coze , chat (n. &
v.).
cosset makes - eting, -eted; see
-T-, -TT-.
coster(monger). See Curtailed
words.
costume. The verb is kostu'm.
This pronunciation is probably
commoner, & is preferred by the
OED, for the noun also ; but
kfi'stum (see Noun & verb accent)
is often heard.
cosy, -zy. See cose.
cot(e). The word for bed is or was
Anglo-Indian, is unconnected with
the other words, & is always cot.
The poetic word for cottage, & the
word for shelter (usually seen in com¬
pounds, as sheep-c.), represent allied
but separate old-English words ;
cot 18 now invariable in the sense
cottage, & cote usual in the sense
shelter ; the latter, however, whether
spelt cote or cot, is usually pro¬
nounced kSt, especially in the
commonest word dovecote.
cotemporary. See conte
co-tenant. See co-.
cothurnus. PI. -m ; see -us. As
word for tragedy, c . is a Battered
See co-.
PORARY
1351
cotill(i)on. Spell with the -i-.
cottar, cotter, cottier. The words
are clearly distinguished from cot¬
tager by being applicable not to any
one who lives in a cottage, but to
peasants doing so under certain
conditions of tenure. As compared
with each other, however, there is
no differentiation between them
that is of value ; it is merely that
the -tar, -ter, forms are more used of
the Scotch variety, & -tier of the
Irish. It would be well if cottar were
made the sole form, colter left to the
pin or bolt, & cottier abandoned.
cotyledon. PI. -ns ; see -on 3.
couch, bed, sofa, &c. As a general
word for anything that is Iain on,
bed, lair, &c., the word is poetic
only. As a mere synonym for the
ordinary word sofa in conversation,
it is a Genteelism. As the name
for a particular shape of sofa, it is
a trade word.
couch, the weed. The OED prefers
the pronunciation kowch, & de¬
scribes kooch as that of the southern
counties only.
couchant. Pronounce kow'chont.
could. For such forms as Could he
sec you now, see Subjunctives.
couleur de rose, coulisses, couloir.
See French words.
coulomb. Pronounce kdold'm.
co(u)lter. Spell with -u-.
council, -sel, -cillor, -sellor. A
board or assembly, & the meeting
of such a body, has always -cil, <V
a member of it is -cillor. The ab¬
stract senses consultation, advice,
secret (keep one’s c.), belong to -sel,
& one who gives advice is, as such,
a -sellor, though he may be a -cillor
also ; my -cillors are the members of
my (e.g., the king’s) council ; niy
counsellors , those who advise me
officially or otherwise. Counsel ,
however, has also the semi-concrete
sense of the person or persons (never
counsels ) pleading for a party to
a law-suit ( The second of our three
counsel was the best) ; the use is
originally abstract, as when All the
wealth & fashion stands for all the
COXSWAIN
COUNTENANCE
rich &c. people, or as though advice
were said for adviser{s).
countenance, face, physiognomy,
visage. Face is the proper name for
the part ; countenance is the lace
with reference to its expression ;
physiognomy, to the cast or type ot
features. Visage is now a Literary
word, used ornamentally tor jace
without special significance.
counterpart means thing exactly
similar to, not opposite to or con¬
trasted with, another ; the following
is nonsense : All this is uttcvly false ,
the truth is its very counterpart.
country dance. The form contre-
dance or -se (i.e. counter-dance) is
wrong ; the words mean native
dance or dance of our country,
countryfied, -ified. The first is
recommended ; see -fied.
coup. Pronounce koo ; pi. coups,
pron. kobz. For c. d'etat, de grace,
de main, de theatre, d'ocil, see French
WORDS.
couple. See Collectives 3.
couplet. See Technical terms.
coupon. Pronounce koo'pbn ; see
French words.
course. Of c., as the herald of an
out-of-the-way fact that one has
just unearthed from a book 01
reference, is a sad temptation to
journalists : — From this marriage
came Charles James Fox ; his father
zcas, o. c., created Baron Holland in
17G3 ./Milton o. c. had the idea of his
line from Tacitus./lie is, o. c., a son
of the famous E. A. Sothern, of 4 Lord
Dundreary ' fame./The House being
in Committee, the Speaker would not,
o. c., under ordinary circumstances,
have been present./Much speculation
... as to the precise degree of pageant
which zvill attend Sir Edward Grey's
admission ; the full pageant, o. c., is
that which is associated with a Chapter
of the Order.
court-card is now the established
form ; see coat-card.
court martial. Write as two words
for the noun, & hyphen only lor the |
verb ; see Hyphens, group *Court
Martial. PI. courts martial.
courteous, courtesy, are variously
pronounced ker-, kor-, & koor-; the
first is recommended.
courtesan, ^-zan. Spell -san, &
pronounce kortiz&'n. _
courtier. Pronounce kor-.
coute quo coute. See French
words.
Coventry. The OED prefers ko- to
ku-.
coverlet, -lid. Both forms are old ;
the first is better, the ending almost
certainly representing French lit
bed, & not English lid.
covert, n. The -t is now so seldom
sounded, & is so often omitted even
in writing, that what distinction
remains between covert & cover may
be said to be valueless. The only
sense in which covert, otherwise a
Needless variant, is worth pre¬
serving is the ornithological one
( wing-coverts &c.), in which the ~t is
invariable.
covetous is often, even when read in
church, mispronounced -chws on the
supposed analogy of righteous, &
sometimes mis-spelt -leous.
coward(ly). The identification of
coward & bully has gone so far in the
popular consciousness that persons
& acts in which no trace of fear is to
be found are often called coward(ly)
merely because advantage has been
taken of superior strength or posi¬
tion ; such action may be un-
chivalrous, unsportsmanlike, mean,
tyrannical, & many other bad things,
but not cow T ardly ; cf. the similar
misuse of dastardly.
cowl-like. For the hyphen see
-LIKE.
cowrie, -y. Spell -ie.
cowslip. The true division is cow
& slip, not cow’s & lip ; & the usual
pronunciation with s, not z, is
accordingly right.
coxcomb, cocks-. See cockscomb.
coxswain. Pronounce ko'ksn.
coxy. See cocky.
coyote. Pronounce koyo'tl.
coze, cozy. See cose.
crabbed. See -er & -est, 4.
cramp, as an adjective meaning
crabbed or hard to understand (c.
words , terms, style), narrow (a c.
corner), niggling {writes a c. hand),
has now had its senses divided
between crabbed & cramped, & the
use of it is an affectation.
cran(e)age. Spell without -e- ; see
Mute e.
cranesbill, crane’s-bill. The apos¬
trophe & hyphen are better dis¬
pensed with in established words of
this type ; cf. cockscomb.
cranium. PI. -ia, -ms ; see -um.
crape, cr§pe. The first is the Eng¬
lish word, the second shop French,
crasis. See Technical terms. PI.
erases (kra'sez).
crayfish, craw-. The first is the
British form, the second ‘ now used
chiefly in U.S.’ (OED).
crayon. Pronounce kra'on, & not
as French.
create. See -atable.
cr&che. See French words.
credence, credit. Apart from the
isolated phrase letter of credence &
the concrete ecclesiastical sense table
or shelf, credence has only one mean¬
ing—belief or trustful acceptance ;
the use seen in Two results stand out
clearly from this investigation . . .;
neither of these gives any credence to
the assertions of Lord Ridley that
Protectionist countries had fared better
than Great Britain is a mere blunder ;
gwe credence to means believe, sim¬
ply ; support or credibility is the
word wanted. Credit, on the other
hand, is rich in meanings, & it is a
pity _ that it should be allowed to
deprive credence of its ewe-lamb ;
credence would be better in Charges
like these may seem to deserve some
i c "Tl * in To Sim entire
credtt to whateeer he shall state.
o£?8 m en ¥ t < to > baa “MM of its
email orders), which are all the hetter
for not being confused with the only
sense of give credence to ( One can give
no credence to his word).
credo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
creese, crease, kris, Malay dagger.
The first spelling is recommended as
neither too outlandish (& see Didac¬
ticism) nor liable to confusion.
cremate. See -atable.
cremona. See cromorne.
crenel(le), crenellated. Spell crenel
& pronounce krC'nl. Crenellated has
-11- ; see -ll-, -l-.
creole. See mulatto 3.
crepe, cr6pon. See French words.
crescendo. Pronounce krCsh-. PI.
-os, see -o(e)s 3.
cretic. See Technical terms.
cretin. Pronounce kre'tln.
cretonne. Pronounce kr£'t6n.
crick, rick, wrick, whether identical
in origin or not, are so in sense ; the
third spelling is recommended ; cf.
wrinkle & crinkle, wrack & rack.
cringe makes -ging ; see Mun: e.
crisis. PI. crises (krl'sez).
criterion. PI. -ia ; see -on 1. For
synonymy see sign.
critique is in less common use than
it was, &, with review, criticism, &
notice, ready at need, there is some
hope of its dying out.
crochet, croquet, make -eting, -eted „
pronounced kro'shfing, kro'kllng
krb'shid, kro'kid.
Croesus. Spell so ; see ie, <e.
cromorne, krummhorn, cremona.
Either the first or the second should
be used, the second being the original
(German), the first the French pro¬
nunciation of the second, & the
third a misleading confusion with
Cremona (violin &c.).
crooked. See -er & -est, 2. A
stick that is not straight is a krdo'kld
stick ; one provided with a crook is
a krdokt stick.
croquet. For -ed, - ing, see crochet.
crosier, -zier. The OED prefers -s-.
croup(e). The throat trouble is
always croup . The rump varies, but
CROUPIER
100
CULT
the -e, due to the French original,
might well be insisted on.
croupier. Pronounce kroo pier,
crow. The past is now usually
crowed ( They crowed over us , Ihc
baby crowed loudly ; Three cocks
crowed, or crew, at the same moment) ;
crew is used always in the cock crew
when there is reference to the N.T.
passage, & alternatively with crowed
when cock is the subject in other
connexions.
crown. The C. is often used as a
phrase for the king or queen regarded
not as a person, but as a part of the
constitution. It does not follow that
pronouns appropriate to king can
be used after it, as in these absur¬
dities : — The incontestable fact that
the C. nowadays acts, & can only act,
on the advice of his Ministers./The
people of this country are little likely
to wish to substitute for this [rule by
Cabinet] rule by the C., for whom
the experiment would be most fraught
with peril.
crucify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., G.
cruel makes -ller, -llest.
crumby, -my. Where the reference
is to actual crumb(s), as in a c. loaf
or tablecloth, use -by ; in the secon¬
dary senses fat, comfortable, rich,
&c., use -my. The right spelling for
noun & adjective would be crum(my),
b being due to false Analogy merely ;
but, failing a general reform of
spelling, usage is fixed.
cruse, jar. The OED prefers kroos
to krcloz.
cryptic. For this as compared with
mysterious, obscure, hidden, & other
synonyms, see Working & stylish
words.
crystalline. In ordinary use, pro¬
nounce krl'stalin, see Recessive
accent ; but in poetic & rhetorical
use krlst&'hn is common, cf. wind.
cubic(al). Cubic is the form in all
senses except that of shaped like
cube. So -ic measure, contents,
Soot , equation ; but a -ical box or
stone. Cubic, however, is used of
minerals crystallizing in cubes, as
-ic alum, saltpetre. See -ic(al).
cuckold. Pronounce ku'kld.
cudgel makes -lied, -lling ; see
-LL-, -L-.
cue, queue. Both are pronounced
ku. In billiards, & in the theatrical
use (with the transferred applica¬
tions, as in take one’s c. from), cue
is invariable. In the sense string of
people &c. wailing their turn, queue
is invariable. In the sense pigtail,
queue, which is usual, is recom¬
mended.
cui bono? As generally used, i.e.
as a pretentious substitute for To
what end ? or What is the good ?, the
phrase is at once a Battered orna¬
ment & a blunder. The words mean
To whom was it for a good ?, i.e. Who
profited by it or had something to
make out of it?, i.e. If you want to
know who brought it about ask your¬
self whose interest it was that it should
happen. Those who do not want it
in this sense should leave it alone.
The following is an amusing attempt
to press the correct translation of
the Latin into the service of the
ordinary pointless use :— We have
had repealed occasion of late to press
the question ‘ Cui bono ? ’ in relation
to the proposal to force the Govern¬
ment to a creation of peers. We
must ask it again, in reference to the
scandal of yesterday. What is the
good of it ? Who stands to gain ?
See Misapprehensions.
cuirass(ier). Pronounce kwir&'s,
kwlraser' or kurascr'.
cuisine, cul-de-sac. See French
WORDS.
culinary. Pronounce ku'linarl. The
word is a favourite with the Poly-
SYLLABic-nuMOURist, who often pro¬
nounces it kul-.
cullender. See colander.
cult, as now used, dates only from
the middle of last century ; its
proper place is in books on archaeo¬
logy, comparative religion, & the
like ; that it should be ousting
CULTIVATE
101
CURTS(E)Y
worship in general use is regrettable ;
see Anti-Saxonism.
cultivate makes -vable ; see -able 1.
culture. For the effect on the
word of the German Kultur, cf.
FRIG HTFULNESS.
eum(m)in. The OED prefers
cumin ; but, besides the service
done by the second m in keeping
the pronunciation of a not very
common word steady, the spelling
of Matt, xxiii. 23 (cummin in AV &
RV) is sure to prevail in a word
chiefly used with reference to that
passage.
cumulative. See accumulative.
cumulus. PI. -ll ; see -us.
cuneiform. The slovenly pronun¬
ciation ku'nlform, not uncommon,
should be avoided, & to this end
kune'iform is preferable to the
more difficult ku'nilform ; cf. con¬
tumely.
cunning. See -er & -est 4 .
cup. For ‘ cups that cheer ’ see
Hackneyed phrases.
cupola. Pronounce ku'pola.
curacao, -<joa. Spell -cao ; pro¬
nounce kur'aso.
curare, -ra, wourali. Spell curare,
& pronounce kurar'I.
curate. For * the curate’s egg ’ see
Hackneyed phrases, & Worn-out
humour.
curator. Pronounce kura'tor except
m the Scotch-law use (ward’s guar¬
dian), in which it is kur'ator.
k ® rb ; . The second is a variant
merely, but is now much commoner
than curb in the sense footpath-
edgwg, & seems likely to prevail
ELS? ? 0seI J aUied sen ses fender,
the bn-chain, & i n the sense check
“* or v -> curb is invariable.
cur6. See French words.
;° (E)S 4 - 5 - » is
SSfitaj- 5- -to ; see -um.
CTTOe h ’ w??®. Pronunciation s.f.
>'mJFS curses not loud but
® ee Uacbcneyed phrases.
curst. The adfer
is disyllabic except sometimes in
verse ; the form curst is chiefly used
either to show that the rare mono¬
syllabic pronunciation is meant
(esp. in verse), or to differentiate
the archaic sense ill-tempered. See
-ER & -EST, 4.
Three syllables ; see
cursedly.
EDLY.
cursive.
See Technical terms.
Curtailed words. Some of these
establish themselves so fully as to
take the place of their originals or
to make them seem pedantic ; others
remain slangy or adapted only to
particular audiences. A small pro¬
portion of them, including specimens
of various dates & status, has here
been collected as possibly useful to
those who have, or wish to have,
views on the legitimacy of curtail¬
ment: (aero ) plane ; bike (bicycle);
6ng(antine); (omni)6us ; cafe(riolet);
cad(et) ; cent(um) ; chromolitho¬
graph) ; cinema( tograph) ; cons
(contras) ; (ra)coon ; cojisoIs (con¬
solidated funds) ; co5<rr(monger) ;
coper(point) ; cox(swain) ; curio-
(sity) ; cycle (tricycle or bicycle) ;
dynamo( -electric machine) ; (in)flu-
(enza) ; g?/m_(nasium) ; magneto
(-electric machine); mob\ ile vulgus) •
mods (moderations) ; pants (panta¬
loons) ; par(agraph); phiz (phys^o-
gnomy); (tel e)phonc ; p/io/o(grapIi);
pi(ous) ; pop( ular concert) ; pram
(perambulator); prep( aration); pro¬
fessional) ; props (properties); pub¬
lic house) ; quadrangle) ; quotes
(quotation marks) ; rarfio(activitv) *
rep(robate) ; rep(etition) ; rhino¬
ceros) ; spats (spatterdashes) ; spec -
(illation); specs (spectacles); sterco-
(fype); Sfrarf(ivarius); stylo(graph) ;
subaltern) ; suft(stitute) ; super-
(lor) ; supernumerary) ; tan( gent) ;
(de)fec(tive) ; turps (turpentine) ;
vert (convert or pervert) ; vet-
(ennary) ; race(-chairman) ; vice-
(-chancellor); mce(-president); viva
(voce); Zoo( logical gardens).
curteln-iaiser. See Gallicisms.
curts(e)y, courtesy. Courtesy is
CURULE
102
DARE
archaic & affected for curtsy ; curtsy
n. & v. ( curtsied, curtsying) is better ;
than curtsey, which involves curt¬
seyed ; see Verbs in -ie &c., 2, 6.
curule. Pronounce kur'ool.
curvet. Pronounce kerv£'t in noun
& verb, & spell the verb parts -tted,
-tting, see -t-, -tt-.
cushat. Pronounce ku'shnt.
customs. For synonymy see tax.
cuticle. See Pedantic humour.
cutlet. See chop.
cycle. For the noun & verb as an
abbreviation for ‘ bicycle or tri¬
cycle see Curtailed words. For
c. as a time-word, see time.
cyclone. See wind, n.
cyclopaedia, -die. For - pae-, -pse-,
-pe-, see je, ce. The longer forms
encyclo- are in themselves better, &
encyclopaedia, being common in
titles, is also the prevalent form ;
but cyclopaedic is becoming the more
usual form for the adjective ; cf.
accumulate & cumulative.
cyclopean, -pian. The first (siklo-
pe'an) is more usual than the second
(siklo'plan) ; but neither is wrong.
cyclop(s). The forms recommended
are : for the singular cyclops ; &
for the plural the classical cyclopes \
(siklo'pgz) except in jocular or
familiar use, for which the English
formation cyclopses is suitable. The
sing, cyclop with pi. cyclops results
in confusion.
cymbalo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 0.
cymbocephalic, -ous. Sec -ce-
cualic.
Cymric. Pronounce kl-.
cynic(al). As an adjective, cynic
is used only in the sense of the
ancient philosophers called Cynics
(except in the technical terms cynic
year, cynic spasm), & the word that
describes temperament &e. is cynical;
see -ic(al).
cypher. See cipher.
Cyrenaic. See hedonist.
Czar. See Tsar.
Czarewitch. See Cesarewitch.
Czech, -ck. Spell Czech, & pro¬
nounce clifk.
D
dactyl. See Technical terms.
dado. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
daedal, dse-. See je , ce.
daemon, dse- Write dae- ; see
ce. This spelling, instead of demon ,
is used to distinguish the Greek-
mythology senses of supernatural
being, indwelling spirit, &c., from
the modern sense of devil.
daguerreotype. The OED pro¬
nounces -ger o-.
dahlia. Pronounce da'lya.
dais. Pronounce das ; ‘ always a
monosyllable in Fr., & in Eng.
where retained as a living word ; the
disyllabic pronunciation is a “ shot ”
at the word from the spelling ’—
OED.
damnable. See -er & -est 4.
damning, in the sense cursing, is
pronounced without the n ; in the
sense fatally conclusive it usually has
the n sounded.
damp(en). See -en verbs.
damsel. See Archaism.
danceress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
dandiacal, dandyfied. The amuse¬
ment provided by incorrect forma¬
tions like dandiacal (as though there
were a dandiac corresponding to
maniac &c.) is evanescent, & the
words should be allowed to vanish
with it, especially when an alterna¬
tive word exists, as here. For
spelling of dandyfied see -fied.
dandruff, -iff. The OED places the
-uff form first.
| dare. 1. Dare & dares. 2. Durst.
3. Dare say. 1. Dare as 3rd pers.
I sing. pres, indie, is the idiomatic
i form instead cf dares when the
infinitive depending on it either has
no to or is understood ; this occurs
chiefly, but not only, in interroga¬
tive & negative sentences. Thus
dares, though sometimes used in
mistaken striving after correctness,
would be contrary to idiom in Dare
he do it ? ; He dare not ! — Yes, he
DARK(E)Y
103
dare ; He dare do anything ; No-one
dare oppose him.
2. Durst, which is a past indicative
& past subjunctive beside dared,
is obsolescent, & nowhere now re¬
quired, like dare above, by idiom •
the contexts in which it is still some¬
times preferred to dared are negative
sentences & conditional clauses
where there is an infinitive either
understood or having no to (But
none durst, or dared to, or dared
answer him ,; 1 would do it if 1 durst
or dared). *
3. Dare say as a specialized phrase
with the weakened sense incline to
think, not deny, admit as likely (cf.
the unweakened sense in I dare say
what I think. Who dare say it ?, He
dared to say he, or that 'he, would
not do it), has certain peculiarities :
(a) even when not parenthetic (You,
I a. s., think otherwise), it is never
followed by the conjunction that
/k\ lt > not that it, is a mere lie) ;
1S never dare to say in direct
speech, & the to is rare & better
avoided m indirect speech also (He
dared say the difficulty would dis-
\ 1 to d him 1 dared sa V he
Z hange 4 hls mind ; He dares
say it does not matter) ; ( c ) to avoid
I £ u *ty> it is sometimes written
rLTr WOrd (1 dare sa y she is inno-
is^nL am f SU r e ° f il; 1 d aresay she
* 1 Can believe it); but
not un^ Ce T, USeIess as Ion g as ^ is
be a nnr e a a i y acce Pted, & it cannot
dared ? t0 - th f indirect dares &
sZ inthl Slmp ? e f to av oid I dare
ewr ?t mn h SpeC u- IZed sense w her-
er 11 be ambiguous.
DATE
daJkIe y ‘p See _EY ’ ‘ IE ’ -v.
(19thcen?f ln }f a J ecent formation
(see foS ) i baS , 6d oa a mistake
analogous* growl Hke the
currency tfL x 5 u W< ^ n ai ?y real
recommend If & ? as ^tle to
ft- ™ e‘ifo^am d e„ b tal ,e V die ;
Pmchbeok - See
the "n^f fo™„« dVer V ormed with
forgotten adverbial ter¬
mination -ling, & means in the dark
(Our lamps go out leave us d. •
The wakeful bird sings d.) ; bv a*
natural extension it is also used
as an attributive adjective ( Like d.
nightingales they sit ; They hurried
°n the % r d. journey). But having
nothing to do with the participial
" 'l n& it does not mean growing dark
&C. ; from the mistaken notion that
it is a participle spring both the
misuses of the word itself & the
spurious verb darkle.
darling. See -er & -est, 4.
dartle is too new to deserve respect,
& too old, being still rare, to have
prospects ; it should be let die.
Da sh . For double dashes as a form
of parenthesis, see Stops.
dashing* See -er & -est 4 .
dastard(ly). The essential & original
that^f g ° f ll }ff T° rds is the same as
that of coward(ly), so far at least that
both pairs properly connote want of
be!iS g th ; f bUt S ° s J ron 8 is th e false
belief that every bully must be a
coward that acts requiring great
courage are constantly described as
cowardly or dastardly if they are so
a snortina 1 V nt>t t0 ?' VC the victim
a bomb at a king’s carriage is much
less dastardly than shooting a par¬
tridge, because the thrower takes a
IZZ re f ! risk ; but even when he
torlf tn S y - expose , s himself to being
The words should at least be reserved
risk! h Wh ° do avoid a h personal
data is plural only (The d. are, not is
insufficient./What are the d.?/We
have no d.) ; the singular, compara-
tivdy rare, is datum ; one of the data
s commoner than a datum ; but
datum-line, line taken as a basis is
common. My Intelligence Depart
of^kL d T , ", Ust ? te the miS
g the plural for a singular*
a e. For d., epoch , &c., see time.
DAT(E)ABLE
104
DECAPITATE
dat(e)able. Spell -ta- ; see Mute e.
datival(ly), dative(ly). See abla¬
tive.
daughter. For d. of joy see Gal¬
licisms.
daughter-in-law formerly included
step-dauglitcr ; now, my d.-in-law has
become my daughter by her mar¬
riage, & my step-d. has done so by my
marriage, & the two are confused
only in ignorance.
davits. The OED prefers diV to da-.
-D-, -DD-. Monosyllables ending in
d double it before suffixes beginning
with vowels if the sound preceding it
is a single vowel (a, e, i, o, u, or y),
but not if it is a diphthong or a
doubled vowel or a vowel & r : cad¬
dish, redden, bidding, trodden, tubby ;
but deaden, breeder, goodish, plaided,
lardy. Words of more than one
syllable follow the rule for mono¬
syllables if their last syllable is
accented or is itself a word in com¬
bination (forbidding, bedridden), but
otherwise do not double the d (no¬
madic, nakedest, rigidity, periodical ).
dead letter, apart from its theo¬
logical & post-office uses, is a phrase
for a regulation that has still a
nominal existence, but is no longer
observed or enforced ; the applica¬
tion of it to what was never a regula¬
tion but has gone or is going out of
use, as quill pens, horse-traction,
amateur football, &c., or to a regula¬
tion that loses its force only by
actual abolition (the one-sex franchise
will soon be a d. L), is a Slipshod
extension.
deal, n. 1. The use of a d. instead
of a great or good d., though as old
as Richardson & Johnson (the Shak-
sperian what a deal ! can hardly be
adduced), has still only the status
of a colloquialism, & should be
avoided in writing even when the
phrase stands as a noun (saved him
a d. of trouble), & still more when it
is adverbial (this was a d. better).
2. A d. in the sense of a piece of
bargaining or give-&-take is still
slang.
dean, doyen. The French word
doyen, a bad stumbling-block to the
mere English-speaker, & the un¬
familiar Gallicism dean, are equally
objectionable; as there is nothing
complicated about the idea to be
expressed, senior, with the assistance
if necessary of whatever noun may
be appropriate, should be made to do
the work.
dearie, -y. See -ey, -ie, -y.
dear(ly), advv. With the verb lave ,
dearly is now the regular form, &
dear merely poetic ; but with buy,
sell, pay, cost, &c., dear is still idio¬
matic, & the tendency born of mis¬
taken grammatical zeal to attach an
Unidiomatic -ly should be resisted.
dearth. 1 think it of interest to
point out what a singular d. of in¬
formation exists on several important
points ; for this favourite journal¬
istic device see Periphrasis ; read
how little we know.
debacle. See French words.
debark(ation) are Needless vari¬
ants for the better established
disemb-.
debat(e)able. Spell -la-; see Mute
e.
debauchee. Pronounce dSboshe'.
debouch(ment). Pronounce dl-
bobsh-.
debris, de-. Write without accent,
& pronounce de'bre.
debut, debutant(e). Debut can only
be pronounced as French, & should
not be used by anyone who shrinks
from the necessary effort. There is
no reason why debutant should not
be written without accent, pro¬
nounced de'butant, & treated like
applicant &c. as of common gender.
See French words.
deca-, deci-. In the metric system,
deca- means multiplied, & deci-
divided, by ten ; decametre, 10 m.,
decimetre, ^ m. ; so with gramme,
litre, &c.
decad(e). The -e is now usual.
Pronounce dS'kad.
decadence. So stressed,
decapitate makes decapitable; see
-able 1.
DECENT
decent makes -er, -est; see -er &
-EST.
decided, decisive. Decisive is often
used loosely where decided is the
right word, just as definitive is a
common blunder for definite, & dis¬
tinctive an occasional one for distinct.
A decided victory or superiority is
one the reality of which is unques¬
tionable ; a decisive one is one that
decides or goes far towards deciding
some issue ; a decided person is one
who knows his own mind, & a decided
manner that which comes of such
knowledge ; a decisive person, so far
as the phrase is correctly possi bie at
all, is one who has a way of getting
his policy or purpose carried through,
the two meanings are quite separate •
but, as the decided tends to be de-
when !* 8cts “Ued so even
wnen decisiveness is irrelevant I
TA?? PleS °/ th S wron S use are
The serjeant, a decisive man, ordered
;•**/?, feaning towards zchat
™ost simple. /It was not an age of
first of American poets. The follow-
^ ur ther confusion with
incisive :—The Neue Freie Presse
Xt? ST* iT? dccisive remarks
PrTeza Uahan operations at
105
DEFECTIVE
declension (gram.). See Technical
terms.
declinal, declination, declinature, in
the sense courteous refusal (The
decimals were grounded upon reasons
neither unkind nor uncomplimentaru /
Yuan persists in his declination of
the Premiership./The reported de¬
clinature of office by the Marquis of
Salisbury), are three unsatisfactory
attempts to provide decline with a
18 bettcr to be content
with refusal, modified, if really neces¬
sary, by an adjective. See -al
nouns, & Presumptuous word-
formation.
declin(e)able. Omit the - c - • see
Mute e. *
d6co!let6(e). See French words
decolo(u)rize &c. Sec Hybrid
derivatives.
decorate makes -rable ; sec -abi e l
Pronou "- dikdr'us, not’
Ac“"“ e ’ SeC NOUN &
decry. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6 . IN
dedicate makes -cable • see r- i
-eable. See !ableT **
deem Cti °?* S vv TrcnxiCAL terms.
W d OR?s. ^ HORKING & STYLISH
Unidiomatic -ly.
deer. See Collectives l.
tdefamatory. Pronounce dif&'ma-
defect. For ‘ the defects of his
qualities see Hackneyed phrases
defective, deficient. The differentia.*
/ * ten u S • to become complete
defective being associated more &
w '^ **«*• * *•
Jicient with deficit. That is deficient
of which there is either not enough
or none, that is defective which ha=
something faulty aCt it
ZZ'O* quantity, revenue, warmth
; defective quality, condition
tiT'wt va h ~J P ;,
quality come to the same’hil£%£
instance, much or great insight is the
ev^Sh 1 ^ 3118 ° ri 8 inall y to kill
ment lor cowardice or mutinv Its
the P destrueti S n ? turall y extended to
Kb^ 0 " f -ythi^ W r a e y cko„ a ed r ^
mated hv+f* a i P^ation is deci-
also an^tUng thTfs’di^tr*" 13117
raitir^ JBssjxrjg
avoided,“ee S tS." %) “»**
oee SLIPSHOD extension
.jxt seeTOu °- h --o«i
dSS decl “«Uy. declarative,
-a«d]“7ratlv x°" ou, ; ce -OontJ
second see -ediy. ' for the
d6class6
French
DEFICIT
106
DEFINITE
same as deep or penetrating insight ;
consequently a person’s insight may
be described indifferently as defec¬
tive or deficient. Again, deficiency
in or of a part constitutes a defect in
the whole, & consequently a person
may be called either deficient or
defective in courage or knowledge or
sympathy, & milk may be defective
(though deficient is commoner) in
fatty matter ; compare The dialogue
is not defective (or deficient) in ease
& grace with Ease cfc grace are not
deficient (never defective) in the
dialogue; the following wrongly
neglects this distinction :— 1 wish
you had a Fortunaius hat; it is the
only thing defective in your outfit ;
here deficient is required, though
there would have been no objection
to It is the only thing in which your
outfit is defective ; a verb or noun of
which some part is deficient or
wanting is called defective, where
deficient would also be possible if the
combination had not been stereo¬
typed. Lastly, either word may
sometimes be used, but with a differ¬
ence of meaning from the other ;
deficient water or light is too little
water or light ; but defective water
is impure &e. ; & defective light is
uncertain &c. ; similarly, a defective
differs from a deficient supply in
being irregular or unreliable rather
than insufficient in the aggregate.
deficit. The pronunciation difi'sit
is wrong ; the OED prefers de'fisit
to de'fisit, which is however perhaps
as common ; the Latin quantity
(see False quantity) is no guide.
defile (pass n. & v.). See Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
defin(e)able. Omit the -c- ; see
Mute e.
definite, definitive. Confusion be¬
tween the two, & especially the use
of definitive for definite, is very
common ; many writers seem to
think the words mean the same, but
the longer & less usual will be more
imposing ; & mistakes are made
easy by the fact that many nouns
can be qualified by either, though
with different effects. Putting aside
exceptional senses that have nothing
to do with the confusion (as when
definitive means of the defining
kind), definite means defined, clear,
precise, unmistakable, &c., & de¬
finitive means having the character
of finality ; or, to distinguish them
by their opposites, that is definite
which is not dubious, vague, loose,
inexact, uncertain, undefined, or
questionable ; & that is definitive
which is not temporary, provisional,
debatable, or alterable. A definite
offer is one of which the terms are
clear ; a definitive offer is one that
must be taken or left without
chaffering ; definite jurisdiction is
that of which the application or the
powers are precisely laid down, &
definitive jurisdiction is that from
which there is no appeal ; either
w r ord can be applied with similar
distinctions, to answer, terms, treaty,
renunciation, statement, result, &c.
But with many w'ords to which
definite is rightly & commonly
applied (a definite pain, accusation,
structure, outline, forecast) definitive
either is not used except by mistake
for definite, or gives a meaning rarely
required (c.g. a definitive forecast
means, if anything, one that its
maker announces his intention of
abiding by). The following ex¬
amples show wrong uses, mostly of
definitive :—TFe should be glad to see
more definitive teaching./The fact that
Sunday must be altogether omitted
from the day-boy's life, as part of his
definitively school career, would alone
convince me that . . ./The Bill has
not yet been drawn up, & the Govern¬
ment are not responsible for ''fore¬
casts'’, however definitively they may
be written./The definitive qualities of
jurisprudence have not often found so
agreeable an exponent as the author
of these essays./If Turkey desires
peace, she must definitely renounce
what she has already lost (here, how¬
ever, if the sense explicitly suffices,
& the stronger sense unreservedly is
not intended, no change is neces-
sarv).
r
DEFLEXION
107
DELUSION
deflexion, -ction. See -xion.
defrayal. See -al nouns.
defy* For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
d£gage. See French words.
degree. The phrase to a d., how¬
ever illogical it seems as a substitute
for to the last degree , is at least as old
as The Rivals (Your father, sir, is
wrath to a d.), & objection to it is
futile.
de haut en bas. See French
words.
deify. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
deism, theism. Though the original
meaning is the same, the words have
been so far differentiated that deism
is understood to exclude, & theistn
(though less decidedly) to include,
belief in supernatural revelation, in
providence, & in the maintenance of
a personal relation between Creator
& creature.
dejeuner. See French words.
delectable. In ordinary use (except
in d. lozenges, which are meant to be
recommended by their name) the
word is now ironical only ; i.e., it is
to be taken always, as precious is
sometimes, to mean the opposite of
what it says ; in poetry, sometimes
m fanciful prose, & in the d. moun¬
tains, it retains its original sense ;
so m Of all the fleeting visions which
1 have stored up in my mind I shall
always remember the view across the
plain as one of the most d.
delegate, v., makes -gable ; see
-ABLE 1.
deliberative. For the sense in
grammar, see Technical terms.
he sense not hasty in decision or
inference, which was formerly amon"
those belonging to the word, hal
be en assi gned to deliberate by modem
differentiation ; the use of d. in that
/? D £ W ^ Alt Wrce volu *nes are
a cautious db d. tone, that
Eft !tl¥ to , lhou i hl M men )
Si. ’ defimti ve, & alternate.
I
I
delightful. See -er & -est, 4.
delightsome. See Poeticisms, <fc
-some.
delineate makes -neable ; see -An i.e
1 .
delude &c. For pronunciation see
LU.
delusion, illusion. It cannot be
said that the words are never inter¬
changeable ; it is significant of their
nearness in meaning that illusion
has no verb corresponding to delude
(illude having died out), & delusion
has none corresponding to disillusion
(undeceive & disillusioii being used
according as the delusion has been
due to others’ machinations or to the
victim’s own error). Nevertheless,
in any given context one is usually
better than the other ; two distinc-
tions are here offered :—
1. A d. is a belief that, though false,
has been surrendered to & accepted
by the whole mind as the truth, &
may be expected to influence action ;
d. is being possessed by a d. An i.
is an impression that, though false,
is entertained provisionally on the
recommendation of the senses or the
imagination, but awaits full accept¬
ance & may be expected not to
influence action ; f. is the enter¬
taining of an i. We labour under
dd., but indulge in ii. The dd. of
lunacy, the ii. of childhood or of
enthusiasm. A dangerous d., a
pleasant i. Delusive hopes result in
misguided action, illusive hopes
merely in disappointment. That the
sun moves round the earth was once
R d., & is still an i. The theatre
spectator, the looker at a picture or
a mirror, experience i. ; if they lose
consciousness of the actual facts
entirely, the i. is complete ; if the
spectator throws his stick at the
villain, or the dog flies at his image,
i. has passed into d*
2. The existing thing that deludes
is a d. ; the thing falsely supposed
to exist, or the sum of the qualities
with which an existing thing is
falsely invested, is an i. Optimism
(if unjustified) is a d. ; Heaven is
(if non-existent) an i. If a bachelor
DEMAGOGIC
108
DEPENDABLE
dreams that he is married, his mar¬
riage is an i. ; if he marries in the
belief that marriage must bring
happiness, he may find that mar¬
riage is a d. A mirage, or the taking
of it for a lake, is a d. ; the lake
is an i. What a conjuror actually
does —his real action—is a d. ; what
he seems to do is an 1 . ; the belief
that he does what he seems to do is
a d. The world as I conceive it may
for all I know be an i. ; &, if so, the
world as it exists is a d.
demagogic &e. For pronunciation
see Greek g.
demean- There are two verbs.
One, which is always reflexive,
means to conduct oneself or behave,
& is connected with demeanour &
derived from old French demener
(He demeans himself like a king).
The other, which is usually but not
always reflexive (I would not d.
myself to speak to him ; A chair
which it would not d. his dignity^ to
fill), means to lower or debase. This
seems to be the product of a con-
fusion between the first verb & the
adjective mean, &, though it is occa¬
sionally found as a normal word in
good authors, it is commonest on
the lips of the uneducated or in
imitations of them, & is best avoided
except in such contexts.
dementi. See French words.
demesne 1. ‘ The prevailing pro¬
nunciation in the dictionaries & in
the modern poets is dime'n, but
dima'n is also in good legal & general
use, & is historically preferable.’—
OED.
2. Demesne, domain. The two
words are by origin the same, but
in technical use there are several
distinctions between them that can¬
not be set forth here. In the wide
general sense of sphere, region, pro¬
vince, the established form is domain,
& the use of demesne is due to
Novelty-hunting.
demi-monde, demi-mondaine. See
French words.
demise, not - ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
de-
The
For
demonetize. For -mbn- or -mun-
see Pronunciation.
demoniac(al). The adjectives are
not clearly differentiated ; but there
is a tendency to regard - acal as the
adjective of demon, so that it is the
form chosen when wickedness is
implied, & - ac as the adjective of
the noun demoniac, so that it is
chosen to convey the notion of the
intensity of action produced by
possession ( demoniacal cruelty, de¬
moniac energy). Pron. -o'ni&k, -i'akl.
demonstrate, de'monstrator,
mo nstrable, demo'nstrative. 1 .
accents are those shown. 2.
demonstrable see -able 1 .
demur. In pronunciation the
nouns are always demu'rrer, demur¬
rage, but the participle is either de¬
murring or demurring; see Pro¬
nunciation s.f.
dengue. Pronounce de'ngga. _
denier, the coin. Pronounce diner'.
Denmark. For ‘ something rotten
in the state of D.’ see Irrelevant
allusion.
denote. See connote.
denouement. See French words,
& Technical terms.
de nouveau. See French words.
dental. For the phonetic sense, see
Technical terms.
dentifrice is a shop word, occasion¬
ally heard also as a Genteelism.
denunciation. Pronounce -sia-, &
see -ciation.
deny. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6. ,
departed. For the d., the dear d.,
&c., see Stock pathos.
department. For synonymy see
FIELD.
depend. The slovenly construction
illustrated below, in which it depends
is followed by an indirect question
without upon, is growing common,
but is indefensible :— 4 Critics ottgia
to be artists who have failed'. Ought
they ? It all depends who is going to
read the criticism, & what he expects
to learn from it.
s
I
dependable. For such formations
dependant
109
DERIV(E)ABLE
(that can be depended upon), see
-ABLE 4*
dependant, -ent. The noun has
-ant, rarely -ent; the adj. -ent,
rarely -ant.
dependence, -ency. The first is
now usual, though not invariable, in
all the abstract senses (a life of -cc ;
no -ce can be put upon his word ;
the -ce of the harvest on weather ;
the gospel is our -ce ; during the -ce
of the negotiations), & -cy is almost
confined to the concrete sense of
a thing that depends upon or is
subordinate to another, esp. a de¬
pendent territory ( the cotton trade
& its -cies; India is a British -cy).
See -ce, -cy.
depicture, though in fact an old
verb, has never established itself
in general currency, & perhaps
always sets a reader wondering
whether it is a blunder due to hesi¬
tation between depict & picture ; it
might well be abandoned as a
Needless variant.
deponent (in grammar). Sec Tech¬
nical terms.
depopulate makes -table : see -able
1 .
depositary, -tory, are properly ap¬
plied, -tary to the person or authority
to whom something is entrusted, &
-tory to the place or receptacle in
which something is stored ; & the
distinction is worth preserving,
though in some contexts (a diary as
the d. of one's secrets ; the Church
as the d. of moral principles) either
may be used indifferently.
depot. Write without accents or
italics, & pronounce dg'po.
deprecate (do the reverse of pray
for) & its derivatives -cation, -catoru,
often appear in print, whether by
tne writer’s or the compositor’s
plunder, in place of depreciate (do
the reverse of praise) & its deriva¬
tives -nation, -ciatory:—Mr Birrell's
awim.ng deprecation of the capacity of
Mr Ginnell to produce a social revolu-
honin Ireland./The self-deprecatory
wood ini which the English people find
deprecate, depreciate, make -cable,
-ciable ; see -able 1.
depreciation. Pronounce -esl- ; see
-ciation.
depressedly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
deprival. See -al nouns.
deprivation. Pronounce either
deprl- or ddprl-, not dOprl- nor
depri-.
Derby(shire). Pronounce dar-.
de rdgle, de rigueur. See French
words.
derisory. The OED definitions
(dated 1894) make no distinction
between this & derisive, being almost
in the same words for both. About
the meaning of derisive (conveying
derision, deriding) there is no doubt”
& if derisory means precisely the
same it may well be regarded as a
Needless variant, so clearly is
derisive now in possession. But, by
the sort of differentiation seen in
masterful & masterly , a distinct
sense has lately been given to de¬
risory, & is now common in the
newspapers ; as derisive means con-
veying derision, so derisory means
inviting or worthy only of derision,
too insignificant or futile for serious
consideration ; it is applied to offers,
plans, suggestions, &c. As Larousse
illustrates the use of derisoire by
‘ proposition derisoire ’, the new
sense may be a Gallicism, but it
would be a natural enough develop¬
ment in English, the word being no
longer needed in the sense now
nearly monopolized by derisive , even
without French influence. If the
differentiation is to be satisfactory,
derisory should, like masterful , be no
longer recognized in its former sense,
bee also risible. The following
quotation gives the passive meaning
unambiguously : They will not cover
the absence of those supplies from the
Ukraine & Roumania which were
promised to the people db have only
been forthcoming in derisory quan¬
tities. *
deriv(e)able. Omit the -e-; see
Mute e.
DERNIER RESSORT
110
DETERMINATELY
dernier ressort. See French words.
derring-do. This curious word,
now established as an archaic noun
meaning desperate courage, is traced j
to a misinterpreted passage of
Chaucer, in which Troilus is de- i
scribed as second to none 11 In dor-
ryng don that longeth to a knyght ’,
i.e. * in daring (to) do what belongs
to a knight Spenser, a lover of i
old phrases, apparently taking it for 1
a noun, as if the line meant * in bold
achievement, which is a knightly j
duty % made derring doe in this sense
a part of his regular vocabulary.
The derivation is a surprise ; but,
if Spenser did make a mistake, it >
does not follow that modern poetical
writers should abstain from saying
‘ deeds of derring-do ’ ; the phrase
is part & parcel of an English that is
suited to some occasions.
I
derringer. Pronounce -je/'.
descant. Pronounce the noun de'-
skant, & the verb disk&'nt ; sec
Noun & verb accent.
descendable, -ible. Use the first;
see -able 2.
describ(e)ablo. Omit the -c- ; see
Mute e. j
describeless. Sec -less.
description. The less this is used ;
as a mere substitute for kind or sort
(no food of any d. ; crimes of this d. ;
every d. of head-covering), the better ; •
see Working & stvlisii words.
i
descry. For inflexions see Verbs
N -IE &C., (>.
desecrate makes -cruble: see
deservedly. Four syllabi
EDLY.
-ABLE 1.
es ; see
!
deshabille. See dishabille (the
anglicized form), & French words.
desiccate. See -atable. i
desiderate is a word that we should
be better without. Readers, outside
the small class that keeps up its
Latin, do not know the meaning of i
it, taking it for the scholar’s pedantic j
or facetious form of desire. Writers
are often in the same case (see the
sentence quoted below ; we do not
d. what we cannot be prevented
from preserving), &, if they are not, j
are ill-advised in using the word
unless they are writing for readers
as learned as themselves : — In this
she acts prudently, probably feeling
that there is nothing in the Bill that
could prevent her, & those like-minded,
acting as benevolently towards their
servants as before, & so preserving
the ‘ sense of family unity ’ she so
much desiderates.
desiderative. See Technic al terms.
desideratum. PI. -ta ; see -um. Pron.
disidera'tm.
designate, vb. See -atable.
designedly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
desist(anee). The OED pronounces
-zl-, not -si-, & prefers -ancc to -ence.
desolate, vb, makes -lable ; see
-able 1.
desolated, as polite exaggeration for
very sorry Sc c., is a Gallicism.
despatch. See dispatch.
desperado. Pronounce -ado. PI.
-ocs, see -o(e)s 1.
desperation never now means, as
formerly, mere despair or abandon¬
ment or loss of hope, but always the
reckless readiness to take the first
course that presents itself because
every course seems hopeless.
despicable. Pronounce de'splkabl,
not dlspi'kabl; see Recessive ac¬
cent.
despise, not -ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
destine. (Who was) destined to be
Sec., when it means no more than
who has since become or afterwards
became, is a Battered ornament.
detachedly. A bad form; scc-edly.
detail. Pronounce the noun de'tal,
the verb dlta/l ; see Noun & verb
accent.
detente. See French words.
deter. Pronounce the participle
dfter'ing, but the adj. dite'rent ; see
Pronunciation s.f.
determinately, determinedly. The
sense with determination, in a resolute
way, does not belong to the first
at all, though some writers use it
(Thurlow applied himself -ately to the
business of life) as an escape from
the second. A better escape is to
DETESTABLE
use resolutely, firmly, with determina¬
tion, or some other substitute. The
objection to determinedly, which is
very general, is perhaps based on
reluctance to give it the five syl¬
lables that are nevertheless felt to be
its due (see -edly). An example or
two will illustrate the ugliness of the
word :—In causes in which he was
heart & soul convinced no-one has
fought more -edly <£• courageously
(with greater determination & cour-
a ge)./Cobbett opposed -edly the pro¬
posed grant of £16,000./However, 1
-edly smothered all premonitions./He
is -edly opposed to limited enfranchise¬
ment.
Accent the second
DIAERESIS
The OED gives de-,
detestable.
syllable.
detestation.
not de-.
detour, de-. Write without accent
& italics, & pronounce ditoor'.
de trop. See French words.
deuteragonist. The pronunciation
recommended is duterago'nist • see
PROTAGONIST. *
Deuteronomy. The accentuation
dutero nomi is better than da'tcro-
nomi, which is impossible for the
ordinary speaker ; cf. contumely.
• - _i^ Se e -ATABLE.
device. For synonymy see sign.
uevu, n. Devil's advocate is verv
tuZ^ rOUS * those who like a Pic-
tr2 UG P hrase bu * dislike the
In the foil as . certainin g ^ sense.
a S w f u Upp0Slng that 14 means
Ms Tt
owns wiin
If possessing a bad c
fty* ** aukr Mm all
d.’s aonfhf Wnpamy. The real
when " the rVbtof^’ is one wh »>
canonization m a saint^h • ‘°
Tno?n°L him b y “Hooting
th * Slns that he has
; far from being the
whitewasher of the wicked, the d.’s
a. is the blackener of the good. And
in this other the writer referred to
is in fact devil’s advocate in ‘ the
rest of his book ’, & something quite
different ( God’s advocate ’, say) in
an early chapter ’ : He tries in an
early chapter to act as ‘ devil's advo¬
cate for the Soviet Government, and
succeeds in putting up a plausible
the P r / sent ^gime. But the
test of his book is devoted to showing
that this Bolshevist case is based on
htfpocmw, inaccuracy, and downright
lying. See Misapprehensions.
-lv V \ Vb ’ makcs ’lied, -lling ; see
svfl^M Sh '* /^ Thc ac, j ective has three
syllables (rf. cruelty &c.), but the
nou e „ r ce °d"te). (a * Me S ‘ rl ’ pro -
corrupUon. The f ° rm is ° mcrc
devise, not -ize : see -ise)(-ize.
wt V T’-- SOr ‘ Dcvisor is th e person
Who devises property, & is in Wal
sc only ; ~er is the agent-noun°ol'
devise in other senses ; see on.
devolute, though an old verb in
iact, has been dormant for three
centuries, & is to be regarded rather
r CK - FOR ^ TI °^ from dcvolu-
twn than as a Revival ; it is un¬
necessary by the side of devolve
which should have been used in
& tk on for to) :—The House will
devise means of drcoluting some of its
work to more leisured bodies. *
dexter. See sinister
dext(e)rous. The shorter form is
recommended.
d(h)ow is included by the OFD
among ; words erroneously sp£t
to^lSGO /l h° W common down
to 18G0, & should be restored
of ia * b °“ C i? l) - Roughly, -ic means
haoed with -ical cruelty. See -ic(al)
diaereste. Spell -ae-, not . see
ce. PI. -reses (-sez).
Diaeresis. SeeTFr-nv,..._
DIAGNOSIS
112
DIDACTICISM
The mark, when used, should be
placed over the second of the vowels
that are to be kept unmixed
(aerated). It should not be regarded,
however, as a permanent part of any
word’s spelling, but kept in reserve
for occasions on which special need
of it is felt ; cf. m, ce, & co-.
diadem makes diademed ; see -m-,
•MM*.
diagnosis. PI. -oscs (-oscz).
diagram makes diagrammatic ; see
-M-, -MM*.
dialect. For d., patois, vernacular,
&c., see Jargon.
dialectal, -ic, -ical. The natural
adjective for dialect would be -ic or
-ical, & both forms were formerly
used as such, besides serving as
adjectives to the noun dialectic ; but
to avoid confusion dialectal has
recently been formed & found ac¬
ceptance, so that we now speak of
dialectic(al) skill, but dialectal words
or forms.
dialogist. See Greek g.
dialogue is neither necessarily, nor
necessarily not, the talk of two
persons ; see Technical, terms ;
for the want of a word confined to
two, see duologue.
diapason. Pronounce dlapa'zn.
diarchy, dy-. Spell di~. D. is to
monarchy as dibasic, dicotyledon,
digraph, dimeter, dioecious, dioxide,
distich, & disyllabic, are to mono¬
cotyledon, monoxide, monosyllabic, &
the other mono- words. Monologue
& dialogue are not a relevant pair,
dialogue having nothing to do with
Gk di- two-.
diarrhoea, -cea. See te, ce.
diastole. Pronounce dia'stoli.
dictate. Accent the noun (usu. pi.)
dl'ktat(s), the verb dikta't ; see
Noun & verb accent.
dictatress, -trix. The -css form is
preferable in such words of the kind
as are for ordinary & not merely
legal use ; & the OED quotes Byron,
Scott, & Helps, for dictatress.
dictionary, encyclopaedia, lexicon.
A d., properly so called, is concerned
merely with words regarded as
materials for speech ; an e. is con¬
cerned with the things for which the
words are names. But since some
information about the tiling is
necessary to enable the words to be
used rightly, & opinions differ upon
the how much of this, most diction¬
aries contain some matter that is
strictly of the cyclopaedic kind ; &
in loose use d. comes to be applied
to any encyclopaedia that is alpha¬
betically arranged. Lexicon means
the same as d., but is usually kept to
the restricted sense, & is moreover
rarely used except of Greek, Hebrew,
Syriac, or Arabic dd.
dictum. PI. -ta ; see -um.
Didacticism. ‘ No mortal but is
narrow enough to delight in edu¬
cating others into counterparts of
himself * ; the statement is from
Wilhelm Meister. Men, especially,
are as much possessed by the didac¬
tic impulse as women by the mater¬
nal instinct. Some of them work it
off ex officio upon their children or
pupils or parishioners or legislative
colleagues, if they are blest with any
of these ; others are reduced to
seizing casual opportunities, & prac¬
tise upon their associates in speech
or upon the world in print. The
Anglo-Indian who has discovered
that the suttee he read of as a boy
is called sati by those who know it
best is not content to keep so im¬
portant a piece of knowledge to
himself; he must have the rest of
us cal! it sati, like the Hindoos (ah,
no—Hindus) & himself ; at any
rate, he will give us the chance of
mending our ignorant ways by
printing nothing but sati & forcing
us to guess what word known to us
it may stand for. The orientalist
whom histories have made familiar
with the Khalif is determined to
cure us of the delusion, implanted in
our childish minds by hours with
some bowdlerized Arabian Nights,
that there was ever such a being as
our old friend the Caliph. Literary
; critics saddened by our hazy notions-
<
DIDACTICISM 113
of French do their best to lead us by t
example from worn de plume & morale 1
to nom de guerre & moral. Diction- t
ary devotees whose devotion extends E
to the etymologies think it bad for c
the rest of us to be connecting amuck i
with mucky & come to our rescue
with amok. These & many more, in c
each of their teachings, teach us one (
truth that we could do as well with- C
out, & two falsehoods that are of n
some importance. The one truth is, g
for instance, that Khalif has a b
greater resemblance to Arabic than
Caliph ; is that of use to anyone f
who does not know it already ? >
The two falsehoods are, the first that ^
English is not entitled to give what u
form it chooses to foreign words that
it has occasion to use ; & the second, <
that it is better to have two or more w
forms coexistent than to talk of one S£
thing by one name that all can dl
understand. If the first is not false, f T
why do we say Germany & Athens & bi
Lyons & Constantinople instead of oI
Deutschland & the rest ? or allow P l
the French to insult us with Londres or
& Angleterre ? That the second is be
raise not even our teachers would m
n 7 L tbey would explain instead en
that their aim is to drive out the cu
old wrong form with the new right S P
one. That they are most unlikely d
_JSJ® *° produce confusion tern- St
forT* ° rpe 1 rmane nt; see Mahomet i n
for a typical case. JJJ:
enously, our learned persons & I (Y
information y C
for when they are writing hai
improve 8 t h a Ial public ’ P resum e to Is
when thA^ 6 ac j epted vocabulary ; ad
of their Ukes thev 6SSing audiences om
fo^a that a rA eartS . C ? ntent ’ th * oor
writer X 6 n ?. ost fam »liar to It
wise they should *J >ut otber " car
lish. AHthafi^ 11110 En g- der
ImportancA ®. of far greater ing
this duty ’we othA^^ d ° for S et strt
learned, 7 & naturally 0 Wh< \, are un *
DIFFERENT
should refuse to be either cowed by
the fear of seeming ignorant, or
tempted by the hope of passing for
I specialists, into following their bad
example without their real though
insufficient excuse.
Among articles bearing on the
question are addle, amuck, bar
(sinister), causeway, harem, Hindu,
Caliph, creese, Mahomet, moral(e),
moujik, mussulman, & nom de
guerre.
differ, in the sense be different,
exhibit a difference, is followed only
by from, not by with. In the sense
have a difference of opinion, express
dissent, dispute, it is followed usually
by with, but sometimes by from.
difference. There is all the d. in the
world between deceiving the public by
secret diplomacy db carrying on the
day-to-day business of negotiation
from the housetops. Why, certainly •
i • . de to tell us so
obvious a fact ? If the writer had
put in a not before either deceivin' »
or carrying, he would have told us
both something of value & what he
meant. See Illogicalities. Differ¬
ence so often tempts to this parti¬
cular illogicality as to deserve
special mention.
different. That d. can onlv be
followed by from & not bv to is a
Superstition. Not only is to ‘ found
in writers of all ages ’ (OED) ; the
principle on which it is rejected
(You do not say differ to ; therefore
you cannot say d. to) involves a
hasty & ill-defined generalization,
is it all derivatives, or derivative
adjectives, or adjectives that were
once participles, or actual partici-
pies, that must conform to the
construction of their parent verbs ?
It is true of the last only; we
cannot say differing to ; but that
leaves d. out in the cold. If it is all
derivatives, why do we say accord -
l ng, agreeably, & pursuant , to in -
sfrwcfions, when we have to say this
or Pursues,
instructions ? If derivative adjec¬
tives, why derogatory to, inconceivable
DIFFERENTIA
114
DIFFERENTIATION
to, in contrast with derogates from,
not to be conceived by ? If ex-parti¬
ciple adjectives, why do pleases,
suffices, defies, me go each its own
way, & yield pleasant to, sufficient
for, & defiant of, me ? The fact is
that the objections to d. to, like
those to AVERSE to, SYMPATHY for,
& compare to, are mere pedantries.
This does not imply that d. from is
wrong ; on the contrary, it is ‘ now
usual ’ (OED) ; but it is only so
owing to the dead set made against
d. to bv mistaken critics.
differentia. PI. -iae ; see -ae, -as.
For synonymy see sign.
differentiate makes -entiable ; see
-able 1.
differentiation. See -ciation.
actually misleading readers who
have not become aware of them
when writers are already assuming
their acceptance. Differentiations
become complete not by authorita¬
tive pronouncements or dictionary
fiats, but by being gradually adopted
in speaking & writing ; it is the
business of all who care for the
language to do their part towards
helping serviceable ones through the
dangerous incomplete stage to that
in which they are of real value.
There are many references through
the book to this article. The matter
is, however, simple in principle, the
difficulty being in the details ; & all
that need be done is to collect here,
■with some classification, a few
differentiated words, those about
Differentiation. In dealing
with words, the term is applied to
the process by which two words that
can be used indifferently in two
meanings become appropriated one
to one of the meanings & one to the
other. Among the OED’s 18 th-c.
quotations for spiritual & spirituous
are these two :— It may not here be
improper to take notice of a wise &
spiritual saying of this young prince./
The Greeks, zvho are a spirituous &
wise pco])lc. The association of
each with a use assures us rather
which information is given in their
places being printed in small capitals.
A. Words completely & securely
differentiated adulteration & adul¬
tery ; apologue & apology; can &
con ; catch & chase ; cloths &
clothes ; coffer & coffin ; coign &
coin ; conduct & conduit ; convey
& convoy ; costume & custom ;
courtesy & curtsy ; cud & quid ;
dam & dame ; defer & differ ; pro¬
nouncement & pronunciation; vice-
queen & vicereine.
B. Words fully differentiated, but
startlingly that a change has taken
place in the meaning of spirituous;
it & spiritual have now been appro¬
priated to different senses, & it
would be difficult to invent a sen¬
tence in which one would mean the
same as the other ; that is, differ¬
entiation is complete. In a living
language such differentiation is
perpetually acting upon thousands
of words ; to take a modern ex¬
ample, airship, when first used,
meant any locomotive aircraft,
4 ' "
whether lighter or heavier than air ;
now, by differentiation from aero¬
plane, it has been confined to the
former kind. Most differentiations
are, when fully established, savers
of confusion & aids to brevity &
lucidity, though in the incomplete
stage "there is a danger of their
sometimes confounded by ignorant
or too learned writers :—accep¬
tance & acceptation ; alternate &
alternative ; conjure' & con'jure ;
continuance & continuation ; de¬
finite & definitive ; distinct & dis¬
tinctive ; especial(ly) & special¬
ly) ; exceeding(Z//) & c xcessive(ly) ;
historic & historical ; immovable
& irremovable ; intense & intensive ;
legislation & legislature ; loose &
loosen (-en verbs) ; luxuriant &
luxurious ; masterful & masterly ;
Olympian & Olympic ; preciosity
& preciousness ; proposal & pro*
i position ; rough & roughen ; slack
| & slacken ; transcendent & trans¬
cendental ; triumphal & triumph¬
ant ; villain & villein.
C. Words in which an incipient or
neglected differentiation should be
DIFFICILE
115
diploma
encouraged :— assay & essay (vbs) ;
complacent & complaisant; de¬
fective & deficient; derisive &
derisory ; falsehood, falseness, &
falsity ; feverish & feverous ; obli¬
queness & obliquity; opacity &
opaqueness ; professorate & pro¬
fessoriate ; sprint & spurt; tricksy
& tricky.
D. Words In which a desirable but
little recognized differentiation is
here advocated :— apt & liable ;
consistence & consistency; ix-
clude & comprise ; indifference
& indifferency; infantile & in¬
fantine; pendant, pennant, & pen¬
non ; spirt & spurt; storey &
story ; that & which.
E. Words vainly asking for differ¬
entiation speciality & specially.
F. Differentiated forms needlessly
made spiritism for spiritualism ;
stye for sty ; tyre for tire.
difficDe. See French words.
diffusable, -ible. The first is re¬
commended ; see -able 2, 1
dig. Digged is archaic ; dug should
be used except when reference is
intended to some biblical or other
Known passage.
digest. Pronounce the noun di'jest,
tke „ VCrb dljS st ’* see Noun & verb
ACCENT.
digit has technical uses in anatomy
it rant 5 a substit ute for finger,
^225? Pedantic humour.
ik S'c., e? r inflexions see Vebb s
dll^dvfc.^ ee .£ ECBNICAI ' T,:KMS -
C' dyk Thc first is the right
-«*■*«, -lator,
*“”» dilation, dilator.
Analogy *nf on tbe false
which -at a j culahon > - lator , &c.,
Ist-coSi nt c f repres ? nts the La «n
calculate t&‘ ; ln dilaie ’ unIike
lotus fwidel .• rb ’ wblcb the adj.
the 8 ScoSSU e /JS 0rrect - lat <Mon &
«:_ -lator nrpvaii ij^e
(though not -lotion) being a legi¬
timate English formation. 8
dilate makes -table; sec Mutf e
dilatory. Pronounce dl'Jatori. ‘
dilemma. The use of d. as a mere
finer word for difficulty when the
question of alternatives does not
definitely arise is a Slipshod ex-
tension ; it should be used onlv
when there is a pair, or at least a
definite number, of lines that might
be taken in argument or action, &
each is unsatisfactory. See Porn-
larized technicalities.
ltd 7iL to kee P -Station,
' -«*»■ to -later, this
dilettante. PI. -ti (pron. -te).
dilute. Pronounce the adj. di'lut
the verb diloo't ; see Participles
5 A, & LIT.
dim. For ‘ dim religious light ’ see
Irrelevant alius ion.
dimeter. See Technical terms.
diminishment is a Needless va¬
riant beside diminution ; it was
dormant for two centuries, but is
now occasionally used ( Ireland is
perhaps the only other European
country that has shown a d. in its
inhabitants), perhaps inadvertently
See -ion & -ment.
diminuendo. PI. -os ; see -o(k)s ;j.
diminutive has a valuable technical
i ? Cn S e l n .,f ram ™ar ; in general use
' chl f d > pony, apple, house, nose )
t is preferred to the ordinarv words
tiny small, stunted, &e„ chiefly bv
the Polysyllabic nuMouRist/ *
dinghy, dingey. The first is Lest,
dingo. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
diocese, -cess. The right spelling is
-esc, but the pronunciation is usually
weakened to -&s or -Is. For d‘
bishopric, & see, see see.
diphth-. Diphtheria, diphthong, &
their derivatives, are sometimes mis-
spelt, & very often mispronounced,
the first -h- being neglected ; dlfth-
ism he r,ght sound » & dI Pth- a vulgar-
diploma. The pi. is alwavs -mas in
the orchnary senses (certificate of
degree &c.), though -mata lingers in
unusual senses (State paper &c.) as
an alternative.
DIPLOMAT(IST)
116
DISK
diplomat(ist). The longer English
formation is preferable to the un-
English -mat, the pronunciation of
which, though in fact simple (di'-
plom&t), seems doubtful to those
who are not familiar with the word.
diptych. Pronounce -lk.
direct(ly). 1. The right adverb in
some contexts (c.g. You should go d.
to Paris, to the fountain-head ) is
direct , not directly ; see Unidio-
iVIATIC -LY.
2. The conjunctional use of directly
(I came d. 1 knew) is quite defensible,
but is chiefly colloquial.
directress, -trix. See Feminine
designations. As fern, of director,
-tress is better, cf. dictatress ; but
-trix has a use in geometry (pi.
-trices, see -trix).
direful is a Needless variant for
dire in sense, & in formation is based
on a false analogy {dreadful).
dirigible, -geabie. Write -giklc ;
see -able 2.
dirty, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
disc. See disk.
discernable, -ible. The first is better;
-see -able 2.
disciplinary. The pronunciation
disipli'narl is recommended in prefe¬
rence to dfisiplmari, which is suited
only for academic articulation ; cf.
CONTUMELY.
discobolus. PI. -ll ; see -us.
discolo(u)ration. See Hybrid de¬
rivatives.
discomfit. There is a tendency to
use this in too weak or indefinite
a sense {Bell, conscious of past back-
slidings, seemed rather discomfited).
It is perhaps mistaken sometimes
for the verb belonging to the noun
discomfort . It has nothing to do
with that, & means overwhelm or
utterly defeat.
discomposedly. Five syllables; see
-EDLY.
disconnexion, -ction. Spell -xion ;
see -xion.
discontent. For ‘ the winter of our
■d.’ see Irrelevant allusion.
discord, discount, discourse. Accent
the nouns on the first, the verbs on
the second syllables ; see Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
discrete (separate, abstract, &c.)
should be accented di'skret, not
diskre't ; the first is both natural in
English accentuation (cf. the op¬
posed adj. concrete), & useful as
distinguishing the word from the
familiar discreet.
discriminate, v., makes -noble; see
-able 1.
discuss, used with wine, food, &c.,
as object, may be classed with
Worn-out humour.
discussable, -ible. The first is re¬
commended ; see -able 2.
disenthral(l), -alment. See en¬
thrall, & -LL-, -L-, 3.
disfranchise, not -ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
disgraceful. See Positive words.
disgruntlc(d). ‘Now chiefly U.S.’
(OED) ; resort to words of this kind
amounts usuallv to an admission
that one’s matter is dull & needs
enlivening.
disguise, not -ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
disguisedly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
disgustful was formerly common in
the sense disgusting, but has now
been so far displaced by that word
as to be a Needless variant in that
sense. In the sense inspired by
disgust {a d. curiosity) it is un¬
objectionable.
dishabille. Pronounce di'sabe'l.
disillusion(ize). It is a pity that
there should be two forms of the
verb. The first is recommended ;
disbud, discredit, discrown, disfigure,
dismast, give sufficient support for
the use of dis- before a noun in the
sense deprive or rid of; -ize is the
refuge of the destitute & should be
resorted to only in real destitution ;
& the verbal noun is undoubtedly
disillusionment.
disinterested &c. For the accent
see interest.
disjunctive. See Technical terms.
disk, disc. ‘ The earlier & better
spelling is disk ’ (OED).
dislocate. See -atable.
dislodg(e)ment. Keep the -e-; see
JUDGEMENT.
dismal. For 4 the d. science * see
Sobriquets. For comparison, see
-ER & -EST, 4.
dismission, the predecessor of dis¬
missal, has been completely dis¬
possessed by it, & must now be
regarded as a Needless variant.
dispatch, des-. The OED gives
good reasons for preferring dis-. See
also Formal words.
dispel means to drive away in
different directions, & must have for
object a word to which that sense is
applicable ( darkness , fear, cloud , sus¬
picions), & not, as in the following
sentence, a single indivisible thing •_
Lord Carrington effectualhj dispelled
yesterday the suggestion that he re¬
signed the Presidency because he
feared . . . He might dispel the
suspicion, or repel the suggestion,
suspicion being comparable to a
cloud, but suggestion to a missile.
dispensable. For the sense that can
be dispensed with, see -able 4.
dbpereaay. Four syllables; see
dispiteous. See Revivals.
-Sy! y> A bad form i see
, For the sens e that can
see -able 4.
textaRier^^° Sb i? n * * n som e eon-
nSdM-rl, “° < //is -»'«»» <s
is aditteuton. e ™P‘y bottles
,“ Sed “differently (The
L 0 ^ 0 ?" or -««») 1 & in
sense ^tog * Upon , the
for acUoiS h | e Wa y * hey are stationed
douht‘ “^™ ^ 8 t f r » work). When
'emember thkt ,v, ? worth whiIe t0
” arinSfSWs
* 0 / the books
__ DISSOLUBLE
was soon managed (they were soon
disposed of, i.e. either sold or cot
out of the way) ; The -ition of the
body is stiff (it is stiffly disposed, i e
arranged), but The -al of the body
proved impossible (it could not be
Sed? t'J1‘ , destro - vcd ot eon-
cealea). The testamentary -ition of
Property, *.e. the way it is disposed
- a / rangC , d ^ wiI1 > & The tesla-
mentori/ -al of property, i.e. the way
will ? Sp T d of or transferred by
used without much discrimination?
The same is true of at one’s -al or
-ition ; but in this formula -al is
now much commoner, just as You
may dispose of the money as you
please is now commoner than You
may dispose it.
disproved, -en. The first is recom-
mended ; see prove.
^putable. Accent di'sputabl, not
dispu tabl ; see Recessive accent
dissatisfledly. A bad form - see
-edly.
disseise, -ze, disseisin, -zin. Spell
* se , -sin ; see seize.
dissemble, dissimidate. There is no
clear line of distinction between the
two. Dissemble is the word in
ordinary use, & the other might have
perished as a Needless variant
but has perhaps been kept in being’
v d ed with a noun ( dissimulation ), &
a contrasted verb (simulate), & i s
more convenient for use in con¬
nexion with these.
disseminate makes -noble, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR. *
dissimilation. See Tech.mcai
terms. 1LA J
d ‘fi m, ^ t , e ’ dissipate, dissociate,
make -table, -pabfe, -ciable ;
dissociation. See -ciation.
dissoluble, dissolvable, i. p ro -
nounce dl'soldobl, dlzo'lvabl.
Wnrd a soluble , is the established
solve when it means make a solution
DISSOLUTE
118
DIVERS(E)
of in liquid (sugar is -vable or -uble
in water), & sometimes in other
senses (a Chamber -uble or -vable ai
the Minister's will) ; see -able 2.
dissolute, -ution. For pronuncia¬
tion see lu.
dissolve. Pronounce dizo'lv.
di(s)syllable. Omit one s; see
DISYLLABLE.
distendable, -dible, -sible. The first
is recommended ; see -able 2.
distich. Pronounce -Ik ; for mean¬
ing see -sxicn.
distil(l). The modern form is -il ;
see -LL-, -L-.
distinction, as a Literary critics’
word, is, like charm, one of those on
which they fall back when they w T ish
to convey that a style is meritorious,
but have not time to make up their
minds upon the precise nature of its
merit. They might perhaps defend
it as an elusive name for an elusive
thing ; but it is rather an ambiguous
name for any of several things, & it
is often doubtful whether it is the
noun representing distinctive (mark¬
edly individual), distinguished (nobly
impressive), distingue (noticeably
wellbred), or even distinct (concisely
lucid). A few quotations follow ;
but the vagueness of the word can¬
not be brought out without longer
extracts than are admissible, & the
reader of reviews must be left to
observe for himself :— His character
cb that of his wife are sketched with a
certain d /She avoids any common¬
place method of narration, but if she
achieves a certain d. of treatment in
the process, she detracts enormously
from the interest of her story./The
book is written with a d. (save in the
matter of split infinitives) unusual in
such works./Not only is distinctness
from others not in itself d., but dis¬
tinctness from others may of ten be the
very opposite of d., indeed a kind of
vulgarity./Despite its length, an in¬
clination to excessive generalization,
<£■ an occasional lack of stylistic d.
verging upon obscurity, this book is a
remarkable piece of literary criticism.
distinctive means serving or used to
discriminate, characteristic , so called
by way of distinction. But it is often
misused (cf. definitive, alterna¬
tive) for distinct (The refugees at
length ceased to exist as a d. people./
Distinctively able & valuable. On the
other hand distinctively would have
been the appropriate word in The
Swiss name of Edelweiss will be given
to the village, the houses having the
high-pitched roofs & other features of
distinctly Swiss architecture) ; _ &
| sometimes for distinguished (During
a long public life he served the interests
of his class well in many d. positions./
Mr Klitguard, Mr Richard Blondel,
Miss Jean Sterling Mackinlay,. . .&
a number of other d. people).
distinctly, in the sense really quite,
j is the badge of the superior person
indulgently recognizing unexpected
merit in something that we are to
j understand is not quite worthy of
his notice -.—The effect as the pro¬
cession careers through the streets of
Berlin is described as d. interesting./
Quite apart from its instructive endea¬
vours, the volume is d. absorbing in its
dealing zvith the romance of banking.
distingue. See French words.
distrait, -te. See French words.
Use -ait of males (-a), -aite of females
(-at) ; of things ( expression , air,
mood, answer, &c.), -ait always.
distributive (in grammar). See
Technical terms.
disyllable, diss-. The first is better ;
the double s is due to French, in
which it served the purpose of pre¬
serving the hard sound (s, not z) ; in
English the prefix is di-, not dis-.
ditto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
diurnal should not now be used in
the sense of daily, i.e. recurring every
day, though that was formerly one
of its possible meanings; in modern
use, (1) w hen opposed to nocturnal it
means by day, (2) w r hen opposed to
annual &c. it means occupying a day.
divers(e). The two words are the
same, but differentiated in spelling,
pronunciation, & sense, divers (di'-
j verz) implying number, & diverse
(diver's) difference ; cf. several &
various, each of which has both
senses without differentiation.
diversify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE «fec., 6 .
dizen. For dl-, dl-, see bedizen.
do. 1. Did subjunctive. 2. Do
have. 3. Do as substitute.
1. For did as in Did I believe it, it
would kill me see Subjunctives.
2. Do have. Protests are common
against the use of do as an auxiliary
to have. It is, however, often legi¬
timate, as in Did the Roman women
have votes ? ; Do you have coffee for
breakfast ?; Savages do not have
toothache ; We did not have to pay •
I did not have my hair cut. In most
of these the simple had or have is
disagreeably formal, & in the coffee
example Have you coffee? could
only mean Is there any to make the
dnnk with ?. The objection should
De limited to sentences in which the
reference is to a single occasion or
instance & also the sense of have is
possess or something near it; this
JJS® °J?, the exam ples given above
hni! esca P in S by one loop¬
hole, & the last two by the other),
j condemns the following :— In
^ZZnH^r' Z! h0Ugh 1 d0 n °‘
Zk S T d ■{*'*»* fining
c ‘lZ "fl ® i(s aiout him./
ufhZ‘h mi ,? e a PP dlmt took steps
didZt h TSelf arrested • therefore she
Thai diAn my rnolicious intent./
iS * «*» have the grace to
turbot * ^!, a \ watchin S’ or an y
bSwem th? J eS€ ^ blance owning
skin <Sc those ^Pl^ngs °f « turbot's
layi 0 ravel on which it
-tin ms^djimself the question
does X a h ™ er 4 e , coincidence, or
mtt* the Power of con -
8 - ^ M ""toitui. The use of do,
»
I
whether by itself or in conjunction
with as, so, it, which, &c., instead
ot a verb of which some part has
occurred previously, is a convenient
& established idiom; but it has
often bad results.
Wish to Sce the Act of
1903 break down, as break down it is
bound to do ; omit either break down
or do.
b. Great Britain is faithful to her
agreements when she finds an advan¬
tage in doing so./It 0ll ght to have been
satisfying to the young man, db so,
in a manner of speaking, it did. Do
Arc. must not be substituted for a
copulative be & its complement.
c. As to the question whether suffi¬
cient is known as to the food of birds,
the author feels bound to reply that we
do not./Although nothing is said as to
Cabinet rank being associated icith the
two offices, it may be assumed that
both do so./The title of ‘ Don ' is now
applied promiscuously throughout
Spain very much as we do the mean¬
ingless designation of ' Esquire'./It
may justly be said, as Mr Paul docs,
that . . ./Some of them wrote askin°
to be reinstated , which we did./Refer¬
ence to it was also made by Lord
Crewe ; in doing so he said . . ./The
Speaker said it ought to be withdrawn,
ct Mr A i ng did so at once. /It seems
reasonable that some kind of guarantee
should be given ; at all events it would
be politic to do so./A large number
had been grudgingly supported hi,
relatives who would now cease to do
so./why was it not pushed to a vic¬
torious conclusion in the House of
Lords, where the party had the power
to do so ? Lnless the subject & the
voice of do will be the same as those
ot the previous verb, it should not be
used ; but transgression of this rule
results sometimes in flagrant blun¬
ders, as in the first two or three
examples, & sometimes merely in
what, though it offends against
Kliom, is (since do so means strictly
oct thus) grammatically defensible.
. l tie dissolution which was forced
upon the country was deliberately done
so as to avoid giving an advantage to
120
DOUBLE
the Unionists./The ambassador gave
them all the assistance which the
Imperial nature of his office made it
obligatory upon him to do./We have
got to make a commission in the
Territorial Force fashionable, the
right thing for every gentleman to do./
To inflict upon themselves a disability
which one day they will find the
mistake <& folly of doing. In these
examples do is in grammatical rela¬
tion to a noun ( dissolution, assis¬
tance, commission, disability) that is
only a subordinate part of the im¬
plied whole (the forcing of a dissolu¬
tion, the giving of assistance, the
holding of a commission, the inflicting
of a disability) to which alone it is
in logical relation ; we do not do
a dissolution, a commission, &c.
These sentences, however, in which
do is a transitive verb meaning per¬
form, are not properly examples of
the substitute do ; but the mistakes
in them are due to the influence of
that idiom.
do (the musical note). PI. dos ; see
-o(e)s 3.
doat. Sec dote.
docile. The OE1) pronounces do'sil
or do'sil, with preference to the lirst.
doctor. See physician.
doct(o)ress. It is a serious incon¬
venience that neither form (-tress
would be the better) has been
brought into any but facetious use
as a prefixed title ; the device of
inserting a Christian name after
Doctor (Dr Mary Jones) is clumsy,
& sometimes (Dr Evelyn Jones) in-
effectual.
See Feminine designa
tions.
doctrinal. The accentuation db'k-
trlnrd is recommended ; see False
QUANTITY.
document. It is sometimes for¬
gotten that the word includes more
than the parchments or separate
papers to which it is usually applied ;
a coin, picture, monument, passage
in a book &c., that serves as evi¬
dence, may be a d., & the following
remark on k Dd. illustrative of the
Continental Reformation ’ is ab¬
surd :— It is a collection not only (as
the title implies) of dd., but also of
passages from books <Sc letters. The
phrase human d. is more than a mere
metaphor.
dodo. PI. - oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
doe. See hart.
do(e)st. In modem, though not in
older, use the auxiliary has dost only,
& the independent verb doest only,
dogged. See -er & -est, 4.
doggy, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
dogma. PI. -mas, formerly -mata ;
see Latin plurals.
doily, doiley, doyly. The first is the
OED spelling.
dolce far niente. See Battered
ORNAMENTS.
dole, grief. See Revivals.
dolichocephalic, -ous. See -ce¬
phalic.
domain. For synonymy see field.
See also demesne.
Domesday, dooms-. D. Book is spelt
Domes-but pronounced ddbmz-; else¬
where the spelling is dooms-.
domestic, n., though it survives in
legal & other formal use, in Pedan¬
tic humour, & as a Genteelism,
has been superseded for ordinary
purposes by servant taken in a
limited sense. Such losses of differ¬
entiation mav be regretted, but
may
usage is irresistible.
domesticate makes - cable
see
-ABLE 1.
domesticity. The OED pronounces
do- ; see F'alse quantity.
dominate makes -nable; see -able 1.
domino. PI. - oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
don, vb. See Formal words.
donate is ‘ chiefly U.S.’—OED. It
is a Back-formation from dona¬
tion :—lie recently donated a site for
the proposed Hindu University.
donation. See Formal words.
dossier. Pronounce do'syer. See
French words.
dost. See do(e)st.
dot (dowry). See French words.
dote, doat. Spell dote.
double. The common quotation
(Macbeth, rv. i. 83) is ‘ make assur¬
ance double sure ’ (not doubly).
DOUBLE CASE
121
DOUBT(FUL)
DOUBLE CASE. An ex-pupil of
Verrall's . . . cannot but recall the
successive states of mind that he
possessed — or, more truly,
him—in attending Vcrrall
most maltreated in this wav are
be f in * desire ' end ™vour,
nape, intend, propose, purpose, seek,
& threaten ; a few examples fol¬
low : Now that the whole is at-
wn/au-i-ng v let i UU ^ ICCluTCS •
Here that is first objective & then
subjective; see Cases 3 D 4, that
rel. pr., & which.
DOUBLE CONSTRUCTION. Then are
also entitled to prevent the smutting opened, though ti^s YontsTncc 1m
of alcohol into the States, & to reason- yielded to the glarc./No greater thrill
able assistance from other countries ' can bp h nnnrt 4r\ -_ • _■ , ^ ^
4r% 4hs*4 4 i
- lAjriui c; L5 III-
tempted to be systematized./The mus-
t C nLY aS as i siduous ly> though vainly,
endeavoured to be discovered. /The
darkness of the house (forgotten to be
OUP . YtP . fi .. fhniirth 4# i__
Entitled to p
o assistance fr
o -* — kind wovuoacu in
Swapping horses.
double entendre is the established
English form, & has been in common
use from the seventeenth century •
the modern attempt to correct it
into double entente suggests imior-
pace of English rather than know-
0f Frcnch ; Cf. 1 L’OUTRANCE.
See French words.
PASSIVES - The point is
S^- i0 A be ™? ded : monstrosities of
this kind, which are as repulsive to
me grammarian as to the stvlist
perhaps spring by false amdooy
sSn in rr PerfidalIy Similar fc ype
5? m The man was ordered to be
rihich S? the S j mpIe forms from
Si : rT^y ordered the man to
S^aStV* , the o
El* 11 ' but of evade ; therefore,
0 tZ™T n be made subject
fellow-mmh? ordered while its
not ” Referred, point can-
*Hgt neverteng f - the ? SSSive
sense the object of seek.
construction f cIui W * incorrect
telling the rp n a pri !\t umounts to
worth ^itin^^^ that he is not
S’ to it because° he
he haa"started ™ the “"fence
no ««* Seme Lbot w # rit * rs have
excuse. Some of the verbs
v ° v cuter in rill
can be hoped to be enjoyed./Consider-
able support was managed to be raised
jor Waldemar./The commissioners
proposed to be appointed will give
their whole time./Such questions as
Fraycrbook Revision & the Mass Vest¬
ments, now threatened to be authorita¬
tively revived, have to be decided.
doubt(ful). It is contrarv to idiom
to begin the clause that depends on
these with that instead of the usual
whether, except when the sentence is
negative (I do not doubt . . . ; There
is no doubt . . . ; It ic OS ncvcr d 0u bt-
J, • * •) or interrogative (Do uou
doubt . . ? ; Is there any doubt . . . ? •
Can it be doubtful . . /?). Even in
better whether is sometimes
better (1 do not doubt whether 1 have
ahead on my shoulders), but rules on
that point are needless ; the mistake
against which warning is roqS
me e nt U f in affi ^ative state!
believe, doubtful & false), but equally
wrong, when the clause is placed be^
fore instead of in the normal
order. Whether should have been
If? ,I n : ~~ U wa t s , generally doubted
that France would permit the use of
„ er . Port-/1 must be allowed to doubt
that there is any class who deliberately
omit . . ./That the movement is as
purely industrial as the leaders claim
may be doubted./So afraid of mens
mo/iues as to doubt that anyone can
be honest./That I have been so misled
Z?, Xtrem *y doubt ful./That Mr Bcn-
nett would, or even could, write an
sad stor y Kic are
inclined to doubt./It is very doubtful
DOUBTLESS
122
DRUNK(EN)
whether it was ever at Dunstaffnage,
& still more doubtful that it came
from Ireland./That his army, if it
retreats, will carry with it all its guns
we are inclined to doubt.
doubtless, no doubt, undoubtedly,
&c. Doubtless & no doubt have been
weakened in sense till they no longer
convey certainty, but either proba¬
bility (You have doubtless or no doubt
heard the news ) or concession (No
doubt he meant well enough ; It is
doubtless very unpleasant). When
real conviction or actual knowledge
on the speaker’s part is to be ex¬
pressed, it must be by undoubtedly,
without (a) doubt, or beyond a doubt
(He was undoubtedly guilty).
douceur. See French words.
dour. Pronounce door, not dowr.
douse, dowse. The OEI) gives
-tc.se for the verb concerned with the
divining-rod (so dowser, dowsing-rod,
&c.), & -use for the other verb or
verbs.
words,
dow. Sec dhow.
dower, dowry. The two
originally the same,are differentiated
in ordinary literal use, dower being
the widow’s life share of her hus¬
band’s property, & dowry the por¬
tion brought by a bride to her hus¬
band; but in poetic or other orna¬
mental use dower has often the sense
of dowry ; & either is applied figu¬
ratively to talents fee.
doyen. See dean.
cozen. See Collectives 8.
drachm, drachma, dram. Drachm
was the prevalent form in all senses :
but now the coin is almost always
drachma, the indefinite small quan¬
tity is always dram, & dram is not
uncommon even where drachm is
still usual, in apothecaries’ & avoir¬
dupois weight. Pron. drachm dram,
drachma dr&'kma.
draft, draught, &e. Draft is merely
a phonetic spelling of draught, but
some differentiation has taken place.
Draft has ousted draught in banking,
& to a great extent in the military
sense detach(ment) ; it is also usual
in the sense (make) rough copy or
plan (a good draftsman is one who
drafts Bills well, a good draughtsman
one who draws well). In all the
other common senses (game of dd.,
air-current, ship’s displacement, beer
on d., beast of d., haul of fish, dose,
liquor), draught is still the only re¬
cognized British form ; in U.S. draft
is much more widely used.
dragoman. The pi. is correctly
-mans, & usually -men ; for choice
between them see Didacticism.
draughtswoman. See Feminine
designations.
draw. See Formal words.
dreadful. See -er & -est, 4.
dream. The ordinary past & p.p.
is dreamt (-emt) ; dreamed (-emd) is
preferred in poetry & in impressive
contexts. See also -t & -ed.
drib(b)let. Driblet is both the usual
& (f. obs. vb drib 4- -let) the more
correct form.
drink has past tense drank, p.p.
drunk ; the reverse uses (they drunk,
have drank) were formerly not un¬
usual, but are now blunders or
conspicuous archaisms.
droll. For synonymy see jocose.
dromedary. Pronounce drom- ; the
abnormal drum-, though put first in
the OKI), is not likely to resist the
influence of the spelling.
drunk(cn). The difference, as now
established, is complex. Drunk is in
predicative use only, or at least
is unidiomatic as an attribute ;
| Trodden into the kennels as a drunk
mortal (Carlyle ; cf. the normal
I met a drunken man) is either
affectation or an emphasizing, which
| should have been otherwise effected,
! of the distinction between mortal
now the worse for drink (drunk) &
1 one often the worse for it (drunken).
Drunken is the attributive word,
whether the meaning is now in drink
or given to drink or symptomatic &c.
of drunkenness (1 saw a -en man ’,
A lazy -en lying ne'er-do-weel ; IHs
-en habits) ; it may be used pre-
, dicativclv also, but onlv in the sense
DRUNKEN
123
given to drink (ct He was -en <&
solute with He was drunk & incapa¬
ble) ; He was -en yesterday is con-
trary to modern idiom.
drunken. See -er & -est, 4.
dry &c. The spelling in some de¬
rivatives of dry & other adjectives &
verbs of similar form (monosyllables
with y as the only vowel) is disput¬
able. The prevalent forms for dry
are, from the adjective drier, driest,
duly dryness, dryish, & from the
verb dryer. 1. The other adjectives
are four only-sAy, sly, spry, & K ry.
Much the most usual spelling for
these is with y throughout —shyer,
l yeS h , shyly> sh y ne ss, shyish : tiiis
should be made invariable for them •
& it would be well if dryer, dry est, &
dryly, could be written also ; but
since dry is the commonest word &
its preference for the i is undoubted
the inconsistency will probably con-
- 2 ; With * he a 8 e nt-nouns°]n
S“ D w Cy might more easiJ y be
attained; dryer , prevalent in tech-
nical use (oil-painting, pottery, & c )
should be corrected to drier. The
other verbs are eleven— cry flu fry
$ “ se > Ply bend, pry, shu start*
£■3 *
horae)-!af n weH™s’ tho“ r i sl V'i n «
firrSs^v *4
nr -IE &cl, 6? PP d * See ako Veebs
DUL(L)N ess
■*15 rctiA the
agitahonfor electoral reasons , bu/ doe#
no< desire it to be too successful • Me
reason for this dualistic (IiaIf-&-hain
• • • See Popularize^
technicalities.
dubbin(g). Spell with -g. it fs
pa°mUeMo with grouse, &
dubiety. Pronounce dQbi'Hi • see
Tuca.° K 'i» ,NG & “«wo™
Pronounce du'kat.
d “ k - II 1 '°, r P 1 -*ec Collectives -i.
logy ,/,/] d r , lc ' r,nucnt 'C of A.na-
;in. e ^^Vo^ e H 'had pLcd C
r ITS e S“d
& n jr, * to a noun!
& not to a notion extracted from
l tenCe V IS ,m P° ssl ‘ble ; it is not
the horse the rooks, he, the articles
failure of the that are dUe ’ but th€>
trust ot the rooks, & so on •_ Th*
old trade union movement is a dead
nV%’ , aTg ?' ,J d ' 10 ,h ' «•»<• ompctencl,
respectable orgonist./Some^eles
have increased in price d to Z
TtakTlhe demmd / As an example
’ to Peasant memories, as I have
never been there.
iSSKfii 2°‘ h are of the
such oixlinanf & wnr!i ter avoided when
twin, douhbP^n^l!l T( ^ s 8,8 tw °, twofold,
k
vhs^SSfsss
mn 8 *bou* a deadlock./
duet(t), quartet(te), & c . The forms
nonet!* qmntet ’ sestet ’ se PM, octet ,
T be right accentuation
Quit: j‘r a (see verera in °°°
dullness, fal(l)ness. Use -It-, as in
Ml other words in which -ness follow?
nrs[ C “Jl, n oT' droUntl t, illness, null-
DUM(B)FOUND(ER)
124
EACH
dum(b)found(er). Write dumbfound ;
it is probably dumb-{-confound.
duodecimo. See folio. PI. - os ;
see -o(e)s 6.
duologue is a bad formation, but
there are difficulties in the way of
making a good one ; dyologue , which
is better only in one respect, is indis¬
tinguishable in sound from dialogue ;
dilogy conflicts with trilogy & tetra¬
logy ; dittologue suggests ditto ; bi-
loquy after soliloquy is less bad than
duologue after monologue. The best
course is to get along as well as may
be with dialogue, duet , & periphrasis ;
barbarous formation is peculiarly
bad in words that are designed only
for the use of the educated.
duplex. For plural see -ex, -ix, 2.
durance, duress(e). 1. Durance
now means only the state of being
in confinement, is a purely decora¬
tive word, & is rare except in the
phrases in durance, in durance vile —
the latter a Battered ornament.
Duress means the application of
constraint, which may or may not
take the form of confinement, to a
person ; it is chiefly in legal use,
with reference to acts done under
illegal compulsion, & is commonest
in the phrase under duress.
2. The OED prefers the spelling
duress & the accentuation dure's.
durst. See dare.
duteous, dutiful. The second is the
ordinary word ; duteous (a rare
formation, exactly paralleled only
in beauteous) is kept in being beside
it by its metrical convenience (six of
the seven OED quotations arc from
verse), & when used in prose has
consequently the air of a Poeticism ;
see also plenteous.
dutiable. For such forms see -able 4.
duty. For synonymy see tax.
duumvir. PI. -virs, rarely - viri .
dwarf. For pi. see -ve(d).
dwarfen. See -en verbs.
dwell, in the sense have one’s abode ,
has been ousted in ordinary use by
live, but survives in poetic, rhe¬
torical, & dignified use ; see Work¬
ing & STYLISH WORDS.
dyarchy. See diarchy.
dye makes dyeing as a precaution
against confusion with dying from
die ; cf. singeing){impinging. See
Verbs in -ie &c., 7.
dynamic(al). Both words date
from the 19th c. only, & -ic tends to
become more & -ical less common ;
the only use in which - ical seems
preferable is as the adjective of
dynamics {-ical principles ; an ab¬
stract -ical proposition). See -ic(al).
dynamiter, -tard. Use -er.
dynamo. PI. - os ; see -o(e)s 5. It
is a Curtailed word {dynamo-
electric machine).
dysentery. Pronounce di'sentrl.
dyspepsia, -sy. The word was for¬
merly anglicized, but - sia is now
usual.
E
each. 1. Number of, & with, e.
2. Each other. 3. Between e.
1. Number. E. as subject is in¬
variably singular, even when fol¬
lowed by of them &c. : E. of the
wheels has 12 spokes (not have).
When e. is not the subject, but in
apposition with a plural noun or
pronoun as subject, the verb (&
complement) is invariably plural :
The wheels have 12 spokes e. ; the
wheels e. have 12 spokes (this latter
order is better avoided) ; the wheels
are e. 12-spokers. But the number
of a later noun or pronoun, & the
corresponding choice of a possessive
adjective, depend upon whether e.
stands before or after the verb, &
this again depends on the distri¬
butive emphasis required. If the
distribution is not to be formally
emphasized, e. stands before the
verb (or its complement, or some
part of the phrase composing it), &
the plural number & corresponding
possessive are used : Wee. have our
own nostrums (not his own nostrum ,
nor our own nostrum) ; They are e. of
them masters in their own homes. If
the distribution is to be formally
insisted on, e. stands after the verb
125
(& complement) & is followed by
singular nouns & the corresponding
possessives : we are responsible e.
for his own vote (also sometimes, by
confusion, e. for our own votes , &
sometimes, by double confusion
e. for our own vote). The following
forms are incorrect in various de¬
grees Brown, Jones, <& Robinson
e. has a different plan./You will go
e. your own way./They have e. soine-
thing to say for himself./E. of these
verses have five feet./ They e. of them
contain a complete story./We arc
master e. in his own house./Guizot &
Gneist, e. in their generation, went to
school to the history of England to
discover . . ./The People's Idols
mount, e. his little tub, <&, brazen -
throated, advertises his nostrum, the
one infallible panacea. A corre¬
spondent informs me that in the
hymn-lines [a. & M. 289) ‘Soon
wiil you & I be lying E. within our
tuted W fnr e tL ° UT - ha , S been substi -
rector has been offended bv his of
obrereTS lf e 'l der ’ & f “ iled to
ooserve that he has restricted the
n ? arried couples.
6. hack other is now treated oc
atf . the verb or pro!
Promts ufjn ha t;S' ?;• ser “
ffst £ bSt
* 4 : nstt
when the ease of '“ n .° t J i . e . J us ? d
subjective :•
EAT
H« S1 i d fi C ‘ i°' & one mother, would
doubtless have survived if its special
meaning had been required. P
as * ‘ three ^itT* F° r t Uch ex Pressions
as three minutes b. e. scene ’ see
BETWEEN.
ear. Pronounce ef (not yer)
Public readers of the Litany* (we
note • tie m nf T
note , the modern loss of the r trill
in our makes our cars a difficulty for
restored it"' “° S° " 0t ?o
rcstoie it pro hoc vice .
is Ca stil 1 n, i ri earth , ly ’ earthy * Earthen
is still in ordinary use (see
adjectives) in the sole sense made
%n a f n h ( Clthcr soil or potting clay).
Earthly has two senses only ; _ /j \
belonging to this transitory world as
opposed to heaven or the future life
5 m negative context) prac-
ticaihj existent or discoverable by
mortal man. Earthy means of the
™!?, re / ?, r i avin S an admixture, of
earth (soil, dross, gross materialism).
Fnrfff hCH mOUUd ’ Ta nxpart, pot.
Earthly joys, grandeur ; the earthly
Varadme ; their earthly pilgrimage'-
is there any earthly use, reason, &c.? •
tor no earthly consideration r cf the’
slang he hasn't an earthly (i e
chance) An earthy precipitate form¬
ed in a few minutes ; the ore is very
earthy ; an upright man, but incur¬
ably earthy in his views dc desires.
w out e. other's fnntnth Ca ^\ read ^
alu * «■ O. (not
inters used onlv «riT‘ 0m ls by some
"o«
m now k 8 .°PP° se d to
■ * whlch tormeriy existed
earwig. A yearwig (see eab) is a
pronunciation sometimes heard
J 1 ^f ter / y, lf n f1 0rtherly > southerly, west-
erly. Chiefly used of wind, & then
Mhrt f g &C - or thereabouts,
gather from the eastern &c. than from
the other half of the horizon ; else only
of words implying either motion, or
position conceived as attained by
previous motion :—an easterly wind;
took a southerly course; the most
eaxterty outposte of western civiliza¬
tion. Not southerly (but south)
aspect; not the easterly (but e<Lt-
Position ; not the westerly (but
S Cnd 4 °* \ he church I n °t westerly
(but western) ways of thought. *
The P ast *s spelt ate (rarely
eat) & pronounced fit (wrongly at). *
EBULLITION
126
-EDLY
ebullition. Pronounce Sbwl-, not
ebu-.
echo. PI. echoes ; see -o(e)s 1.
eclaircissement, eclat. See French
words.
economic(al). The nouns economics
& economy having nearly parted com¬
pany (though Political Economy,
like the King’s Proctor, impedes full
divorce), it is convenient that each
should have its own adjective. Ac¬
cordingly, -ic is now associated only
with economics, & -ical only with
economy ; an economic rent is one
in the fixing of which the laws of
supply & demand have had free
play ; an economical rent is one that
is not extravagant ; in practice the
first generally means a rent not too
low (for the landlord), & the second
one not too high (for the tenant).
In ‘ the question of economical help
for Russia by sending her goods
from this country the wrong word
has been chosen.
ecumenical. See as, ce.
-ED & ’D. When occasion arises to
append the -ed that means having or
provided with so-&-so to words with
unEnglish vowel terminations (-a,
-i, -o, &c.), it is best to avoid the
bizarre appearance of -acd &c. & to
write 'd : one-idea'd, ennui'd, mus¬
tachioed ; a camera'd bystander ; the
wistaria'd walls ; a rich-fauna'd re¬
gion ; long-pedigree'd families ; the
campanile'd piazza ; a many-sea'd
empire ; uncinema'd villages ; full-
aroma'd coffee ; a shanghai'd sailor ;
ski'd mountaineers. Even with
familiar words in -o, as halo & dado,
the apostrophe is perhaps better ;
& ideaed, aromaed, ennuied, & such
words, are deliberately avoided be¬
cause they look absurd.
eddy, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., C.
edge. For e.-bone see aitch-bone ;
for edgeways, -wise, see - ways, -wise.
edifice. See Pomposities.
edify. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., C.
editress. See Feminine designa¬
tions.
-EDLY. An apology is perhaps due
for ‘ setting out a stramineous sub¬
ject ’ at the length this article must
run to ; but some writers certainly
need advice upon it (Women & girls
stayed their needles while the Liberal
leader's wife & daughter chatted in -
formedly with them), & few have time
for the inductive process required,
in default of perfect literary instinct,
to establish sound rules.
Experiments in unfamiliar adverbs
of this type (as embarrassedly, bored-
ly, mystifiedly, determinedly, biassed-
ly, painedly, awedly) lay the maker
open to a double suspicion : he may
be Novelty-hunting (conscious,
that is, of a dullness that must be
artificially relieved) or he may be
putting down the abnormal in the
belief that it is normal (betraying,
that is, that his literary ear is at
fault).
The following is offered as a fairly
complete list of the standard words ;
there are some hundreds of others to
which there is no objection, but
these will suffice to test doubtful
forms by. The list is in three parts,
first adverbs from adjectives in - ed ,
secondly adverbs from adjective-
noun compounds in -ed, & lastly
adverbs from true past'participles.
1. belatedly, benightedly, conceitedly ,
crabbedly *, crookedly*, dementedly,
dcuccdly*, doggedly*, jaggedly*, learn¬
edly*, nakedly, raggedly *, ruggedly*,
sacredly, sliltedly, wickedly, wretch¬
edly*. 2. -bloodedly (cold-b. &c.),
-fashioned!y** ( old-f . &c.), -handedly
( open-h. &c.), -headedly ( wrong-h.
&c.), -heartedly ( warm-h . &c.), -hum-
ouredly** ( good-h. &c.), -mindedly
( absent-m .), -naturedly** ( ill-n . &c.),
-sidedly ( lop-s. &c.), -sightedly (short-
s. &c.), -spiritedly ( low-s . &c.),
-temperedly** ( ill-t . &c.), -windedly
(long-w. &c.), -wittedly ( slow-w. &c.).
3 (including some with correspond¬
ing negative or positive forms in
equally or less common use, which
need not be mentioned), abstractedly ,
admittedly, advisedly*, assuredly*,
avowedly*, collectedly, confessedly*. -
confoundedly, connectedly, constrain-
I
:**%*•-., ;?•
127
edly*, consumed!#*, contentedly, curs¬
edly*, decidedly, dejectedly, delight¬
edly, deservedly*, designedly*, de¬
votedly, disappointedly, disinterest¬
edly, disjointedly, dispiritedly, dis¬
tractedly, excitedly, fixedly*, guard¬
edly, heatedly, hurriedly**, jadedly,
markedly*, misguidedly, perplexedly*,
pointedly, projessedlij*, repeatedly,
reputedly, resignedly*, restrainedly *’
rootedly, statedly, unabatedly, un¬
affectedly, unconcernedly*, undaunt¬
edly, undisguisedly*, undisputedlu
undoubtedly, unexpectedly, unfeign-
edly*, unfoundedly, uninterruptedly
unitedly, unreservedly*, unwontedly.’
It will probably be admitted bv
everyone that the list is made up
wholly of words known to be in the
language already & not having to
be manufactured, with doubts about
®J* . ngbt Jo exist, for some special
occasion. Most readers will admit
also that, while it is physically
? t ?i any of th °se starred
to the -erf- the only ones actually so
t y edacated Persons are
tflose with two stars :
demands its three syllables
further be observed that all but one
thaiTdmr? th^ ( tw °- star ^ed) words
bywords of the type gooXCZtr-
bmLTofJf t S Bt >. an >ong the
■“y t«L«t ^ . in - eil « that
valent nowlties n wh “ C ,° n '
Must sound A 1 ) th ?se that
EFFECTIVE
will write expenencedly, accomplish-
a distinct syllable ; they are there?
pest< 5 r fh C< f ° U V ^ hur riedly sug¬
5SS&V fr Variedly ; frcnz P icdly, dl l
V) are legitimate ; (4) words in
unaccented -urc, -our, or -cr seem
without t ? assable adverbs in -edly
without the extra syllable, as men-
suredly, injuredhy, pcrjurcdly, lahour-
queredly ; most two-starred ‘'words
,£. tbe secon d part of the standard
list answer to this description • ( 5 )
TL °7 T bS in •»’ or those
troublcdly, puzzlcdly, arc endurable^
lhese conclusions may be con-
com P arin g nia nv couples
of possible words. Take dementedhj
~ derangedly, dcgradcdly & deprav-
e A ly \ dc Jectcdly & dcprcsscdly, open-
& °P CT }-? r ™edly, admittedly
dchftcdly & charmedly, disgustedly
displeasedly. 1 he reason why the
first of each couple is possible & the
second (except to novelty-hunters)
impossible is that we instinctively
wh™ k f , r ° m the ed sydable (archaic
v hen phonetics allow the e to be
silent) except in established words •
charmedly as a disyllabic is felt to
flout analogy, & as a trisyllable is
a bizarre mixture of the archaic &
the newfangled.
umintedfy • °ff cnde <Uy,
4 below? are h t„T C aS K, eS in N " 3 &
,. user of com-
IIST T T oyiiohieseach,
Paa " the test j but no-one
educate makcseducable(scc -able 1 )
education(al)ist. See -ist.
educe. Educible is better than
eauceable ; see -able 2.
Edy, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
effpi? 6 * k F ° c the hy P hen * see -like.
e M ecl * vb * See AFFECT.
cient CtiV Th effect ^ al > efficacious, effi-
tinn Ct ’ ^- but Wlth differen t applica?
tions & certain often disregarded
annb? ° f i meanin g- Efficacious
now to medicines) usK for a pur¬
pose, & means sure to have , or
EFFERVESCENCE
128
EIRENICON
usually having, the desired effect.
Efficient applies to agents or their
action regarded as theirs or (with
more or less of personification) to
instruments &c., & means capable
of producing the desired effect, not
incompetent or unequal to a task.
Effectual applies to action apart
from the agent, & means not falling
short of the complete effect aimed
at. Effective applies to the thing
done or to its doer as such, & means
having a high degree of effect.
An efficacious remedy, (now rare)
cement ; a drug of known efficacy.
An efficient general, cook ; efficient
work, organization ; an efficient
bicycle ; efficient cause is a special
use preserving the original etymo¬
logical sense ‘ doing the work
Effectual measures ; an effectual
stopper on conversation ; effectual
demand in Political Economy is
demand that actually causes the
supply to be brought to market.
An effective speech, speaker, con¬
trast, cross-fire ; effective assistance,
cooperation. An effective blockade,
effective capital, effective membership,
preserve a now less common sense
4 not merely nominal but carried
into action ’.
effervescence, -cy. The -ce form
means the act or process, or the
product (bubbles &c.), of efferves¬
cing ; the -cy form (now rare) means
the tendency or capacity to effer¬
vesce (has lost its -cy), though in
this sense too -ce is now more
frequent. See -ce, -cy.
e. g. is short for exempli graiiA, &
means only 4 for instance ’. Non-
latinists are apt to think that it does
not matter whether e. g. or i. e. is
used ; so Mr - took as the theme
of his address the existence of what he I
called a psychic attribute, e. g., a kind \
of memory, in plants. Italics, & a
following comma, are unnecessary,
but not wrong.
ego(t)ism. The two words are
modem formations of about the
same date. Etymologically, there
is no difference between them to
affect the sense, but egoism is cor¬
rectly & egotism incorrectly formed
—a fact that is now, since both are
established, of no importance. Egot¬
ism is, or was till recently, the more
popular form, & is (perhaps con¬
sequently) restricted to the more
popular senses—excessive use of I
in speech or writing, & self-impor¬
tance or self-centredness in char¬
acter. Egoism shows signs of ousting
egotism even in these senses, but is
also used in metaphysics & ethics
as a name for the theory that a
person has no proof that anything
exists outside his own mind, & for
the theory that self-interest is the
foundation of morality. However
arbitrarv the differentiation mav be,
it serves a useful purpose if it can
yet be maintained.
egregious. The etymological sense
is simply eminent or of exceptional
degree (e gregc, out of the flock).
The use of the word has been nar¬
rowed in English till it is applied
only to nouns expressing contempt,
& especially to a few of these, as ass,
coxcomb, liar, impostor, folly, blunder,
waste. The e. Jones &c. is occa¬
sionally used in the sense that
notorious ass Jones ; & with neutral
words like example e. is the natural
antithesis to shining — a shining
example of fortitude, an e. example
of incapacity. Reversion to the
original sense, as in the following,
is mere pedantry : There is indeed
little aforethought in most of our daily
doings, whether gregarious or egregious.
eighteenmo. See folio. FI. -os ;
sec -o(e)s 0.
eighth. Spell thus, but pronounce
attn, not &th.
eighties, ’el-. See twenties.
eirenicon, lr-^ Usually spelt eir-, &
pronounced ire'nikfin. As it is
chiefly in learned use, it is odd that
the spelling should be anomalous.
Irenicum would be the latinized &
normally transliterated form ; ireni-
con the normally transliterated
Greek form ; eirenikon the Greek
written in English letters. All these
EKE OUT
129
.v
'll*
V V
been rejected for the now
mixture eirenicon.
either. 1. The pronunciation I-,
though not more correct, is dis¬
placing e- in educated speech, & will
probably prevail.
2. The sense each of the two, as in
(he room has a fireplace at e. end, is
archaic, & should be avoided except
in verse or in special contexts.
S. The sense any one of a number
(above two), as in e. of the angles of
a triangle, is loose ; any or any one
should be preferred.
4. The use of a plural verb after e.,
as in if e. of these methods are success -
/«/, is a very common grammatical
blunder.
5. Either ... or. In this alterna¬
tive formula e. is frequently mis¬
placed. The misplacement should
be avoided in careful writing, but is
often permissible colloquially. There
are two correct substitutes for You
are e. joking or have forgotten ; some
writers refuse one of these. You e.
are joking or have forgotten, on the
ground that it looks pedantic ; but
there is no such objection to the
other, E. you are joking or you have
forgotten ; in conversation, however,
the incorrect form is defensible
because a speaker who originally
meant (are) forgetting to answer to
are joking cannot, when he discovers
that he prefers have forgotten, go
back without being detected (as a
wnter can) & put things in order,
bee Unequal yokefellows ; some
examples follow of the slovenliness
that should not be allowed to sur¬
vive proof-correction.
' * • unless it sees its way to do
wtnemtng effective e. towards keeping
** ^ ace 0T limiting the area of
S?^ usually worn e. plaited
•mots or is festooned with cocks'
ot too much to say that trade
*• should, not exist , or that all
should join compulsorily,
before the nations will be
W finding a totally different db
far better method of regulating their
affairs, or of passing rapidly from
bad to worse.
Either ... or is sometimes not dis¬
junctive, but equivalent to both . . .
and or alike . . . and : The con¬
tinuance of atrocities , the sinking of
the Leinster, the destruction of French
db Belgian towns db villages, arc a
fatal obstacle either to the granting
of an armistice or to the discussion
of terms. In such cases, alike (or
both) . . . and should be preferred, or
else proper care should be taken with
either ; ‘ an obstacle to either grant¬
ing an armistice or discussing terms ’
would do it.
eke, adv. See Pedantic humour.
eke out. The meaning is to make
something, by adding to it, go
further or last longer or do more
than it would without such addition.
The proper object is accordingly
a word expressing not the result
attained, but the original supply.
You can eke out your income or
(whence the Slipshod extension)
a scanty subsistence with odd jobs
or by lisliing, but you cannot eke
out a living or a miserable existence.
You can e. o. your facts, but not
your article, with quotations. You
can e. o. ink with water or words
with gestures, but not a rabbit-
hutch with or out of wire-netting.
The first quotation below illustrates
the right use, &• the others the
wrong ones.
Mr Wcyrnan first took to writing in
order to e. o. an insufficient income
at the Bar./These disconsolate young
widows would perforce relapse into
conditions of life at once pitiful db
sordid, eking out in dismal boarding¬
houses or humble lodgings a life ivhich
may have known comfort./Dr Mitford
eked out a period of comparative free¬
dom from expense by assisting the
notorious quack. Dr Graham./A man
the very thought of whom has ruined
more men than any other influence
in the nineteenth century, db who is
trying to e. o. at last a spoonful of
tUonement for it all.
F
ELABORATE
130
ELEGANT VARIATION
elaborate, v., makes - Table ; see
-able 1.
elaborateness, elaboration. See -ion
& -NESS.
61an. See French words.
elapse. The noun corresponding
to the verb e. is not now e., but
lapse. 4 Hearing nothing about it
after the e. of a month Mr Cowen
wrote to Mr Redford ’ may be the
words of a writer who knows that e.
was formerly a noun, but there is
nothing in the context to call for
archaism.
cider, -est. These forms are now
almost confined to the indication of
mere seniority among the members
of a family ; for this purpose the
old- forms are not used except when
the age has other than a comparative
importance or when comparison is
not the obvious point. Thus we say
I have an elder (not older) brother in
the simple sense a brother older than
myself ; but 1 have an older brother
is possible in the sense a brother
older than the one you know of;
& Is there no older son ? means Is
there none more competent by age
than this one ? My elder (-est)
cousin would now be usually under¬
stood to mean the senior of a family
of two (more than two) who are my
cousins ; & my older cousin would
be preferred in either of the senses
my cousin who is older than I or
the senior of my two cousins of dif¬
ferent families. Outside this re¬
stricted use of family seniority, elder
& eldest linger in a few contexts, but
are giving place to older & oldest.
Thus Who is the eldest man here ?,
The elder men were less enthusiastic,
An elder contemporary of mine. There
teas more character in the elder man,
A tradition that has come down from
elder times, Elder statesman.
eleetric(al). See -ic(al). The longer
form, once much the commoner (the
OED quotes electrical shock, battery,
eel, & spark, never now heard), sur¬
vives only in the sense of or concerning
electricity, & is not necessarily pre¬
ferred even i n that sense except where
there is dangerthat electric might mis¬
lead ; e.g. had no electrical effect might
be resorted to as a warning that ‘did
not alter the state of the atmosphere
as regards electricity ’ is meant, &
not 4 failed to startle ’ ; on the other
hand the difference between the
4 electric book ’ that gives one shocks
& the 4 electrical book ’ that improves
one’s knowledge of science is obvious.
electrify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
electrocute, -cution. This Barbar¬
ism jars the unhappy latinist’s
nerves much more cruelly than the
operation denoted jars those of its
victim. He first realizes that the
words must be designed on the
pattern of execution. It then strikes
him that the design itself was ill-
advised, since the desideratum was
a parallel not to execution (which
includes electrocution) but to hang¬
ing) & behead(ing). He is next
horrified by the dawning suspicion
that the word-maker took - cut -
(from quatere) instead of the in¬
divisible secut - (from sequi) for the
stem of execution, & derived it from
excutere. The best that can be made
of a bad business is to pretend that
electrocute comes from electrocutere (to
strike electrically) & change electrocu¬
tion (impossible on that assumption)
into electrocussion. Though the recog¬
nized verbs of concussion, discussion ,
& percussion, are concuss , discuss, &
percuss, concute & discute are possible
& formerly existent forms of the first
two, so that electrocute & electrocussion
might pass, failing English parallels
(it is a pity that shock is not avail¬
able) for hang & behead.
electron. PI. -ns ; see -on 2.
eleemosynary. Seven syllables : £lie-
mo'zinari.
Elegant variation. It is the
second-rate writers, those intent
rather on expressing themselves
prettily than on conveying their
meaning clearly, & still more those
whose notions of style are based on
a few misleading rules of thumb,
that are chiefly open to the allure-
ELEGANT VARIATION
131
ELEGANT VARIATION
ments of elegant variation. Thack¬
eray may be seduced into an occa¬
sional lapse ( careering during the
season from one great dinner of twenty
covers to another of eighteen guests—
where however the variation in
words may be defended as setting off
the sameness of circumstance) ; but
the real victims, first terrorized by a
misunderstood taboo, next fascinated
by a newly discovered ingenuity, &
finally addicted to an incurable vice,
are the minor novelists & the re¬
porters. There are few literary faults
so widely prevalent, & this book will
not have been written in vain if the
present article should heal any suf¬
ferer of his infirmity.
The fatal influence (see Super¬
stitions) is the advice given to
young writers never to use the same
word twice in a sentence—or within
20 lines or other limit. The advice
has its uses ; it reminds any who
may be in danger of forgetting it
that there are such things as pro¬
nouns, the substitution of which
relieves monotony ; the reporter
would have done well to remember
it who writes : Unfortunately Lord
Dudley has never fully recovered from
the malady which necessitated an
operation in Dublin some four years
since, during Lord Dudley’s Lord-
Lieutenancy. It also gives a useful
warning that a noticeable word used
once should not be used again in the
neighbourhood with a different ap¬
plication. This point will be found
fully illustrated in Repetition ; but
it may be shortly set out here, a kind
providence having sent a neatly
fA? tr n? ed P a * r quotations :—
(A) Dr Labbi seriously maintains
that in the near future opium-smoking
will be as serous as the absinthe
scourge in France ; (B) The return
of the Nationalists to Parliament
means that they are prepared to treat
seriously any serious attempt to get
Home Rule into working order. Here
A would be much improved bv
changing serious to fatal, & B would
EL - 88 n i Uch weakened by changing
serious to real ; the reason is that
the application of seriously & serious
is in A different, the two being out
of all relation to each other, & in B
similar ; / am serious in calling it
serious suggests only a vapid play on
words ; we will be serious if you are
serious is good sense ; but the rule
of thumb, as usual, omits all quali¬
fications, & would forbid B as well
as A. Half a dozen examples are
added of the kind of repetition
against which warning is needed, to
bring out the vast difference between
the cases for which the rule is
intended & those to which it is mis¬
takenly applied :— Meetings at which
they passed their time passing resolu¬
tions pledging them to resist./A debate
which took wider ground than that
actually covered by the actual amend¬
ment itself ./The observations made
yesterday by the Recorder in charging
the Grand Jury in the case of the men
charged with inciting soldiers not to
do their duty./We much regret to say
that there were very regrettable inci¬
dents at both the mills./The figures
I have obtained put a very different
complexion on the subject than that
generally obt aining. /Dot/Zc drew the
original of the outer sheet of Punch
as we still know it; the original
intention was that there should be a
fresh illustrated cover every week.
These, however, are mere pieces of
gross carelessness, which would be
disavowed by their authors. Dia¬
metrically opposed to them are
sentences in which the writer, far
from carelessly repeating a word in
a different application, has carefully
not repeated it in a similar applica¬
tion ; the effect is to set readers
wondering what the significance of
the change is, only to conclude dis¬
appointedly that it has none :— The
Bohemian Diet will be the second
Parliament to elect women deputies,
for Sweden already has several lady
deputies./There are a not inconsider¬
able number of employers who appear
to hold the same opinion, but certain
owners— notably those of South Wales
—hold a contrary view to this./Mr
John Redmond has just now a path
ELEGANT VARIATION
132
ELEGANT VARIATION
taught
to tread even more thorny than that
which Mr Asquith has to walk. What
has Bohemia done that its females
should be mere women ? Are owners
subject to influences that do not
affect employers ? of course they
might be, & that is just the reason
why, as no such suggestion is meant,
the word should not be changed.
And can Mr Asquith really have
himself to walk without
treading ? All this is not to say that
women & employers & tread should
necessarily be repeated—only that
satisfactory variation is not to be so
cheaply secured as by the mechanical
replacing of a word by a synonym;
the true corrections are here simple,
(1) several alone instead of several
women (or lady) deputies, (2) some
alone instead of certain employers (or
owners), (3) Mr Asquith's instead of
that which Mr Asquith has to tread
(or walk) ; but the writers are con¬
firmed variationists—nail-biters, say,
who no longer have the power to
abstain from the unseemly trick.
Before making our attempt (the
main object of this article) to nau¬
seate by accumulation of instances,
as sweet-shop assistants are cured
of larceny by cloying, let us give
special warning against two tempta¬
tions. The first occurs when there
are successive phrases each contain¬
ing one constant & one variable ;
the variationist fails to see that the
varying of the variable is enough,
& the varying of the constant also
is a great deal too much ; he may
contrive to omit his constant if he
likes, but he must not vary it :—
There are 466 cases ; they consist of
366 matrimonial suits, 56 Admiralty
actions, <& 44 Probate cases (strike
out suits & actions ; but even to
write cases every time is better than
the variation)./TAe total number of
farming properties is 250,000 ; of
these only 800 have more than 600
acres ; 1,600 possess between 300 &
600 acres, while 116,600 own less than
eight acres apiece (if while is changed
to and, possess & own, which anyhow
require not properties but proprietors,
can be dropped ; or have can be
repeated). /At a higher rate or lower
figure, according to the special cir¬
cumstances of the district (omit rate)./
It was Tower's third victory, & Bux¬
ton's second win (drop either victory
or win).
The second temptation is to regard
that & which as two words that are
simply equivalent & (the variationist
would say & which) exist only to
relieve each other when either is
tired. This equivalence is a delu¬
sion, but one that need not be dis¬
cussed here, & the point to be
observed in the following quotations
is that, even if the words meant
exactly the same, it would be better
to keep the first selected on duty
than to change guard :— He provides
a philosophy which disparages the
intellect & that forms a handy back¬
ground for all kinds of irrational
beliefs (omit that)./A scheme for
unification that is definite & which
will serve as a firm basis for future
reform (omit which)./A pride that at
times seemed like a petty punctilio, a
self-discipline which seemed at times
almost inhuman in its severity (repeat
that).
And now the reader may at length
be turned loose among dainties of
every kind ; his gorge will surely
rise before the feast is finished, in
every case the fish copied on its back
the pattern on which it lay, though
not with equal success in every in-
stance./TViere are four cases in which
old screen-work is still to be found in
Middlesex churches, & not one of
these instances is so much as named./
In 32 cases there are Liberal candi¬
dates in the field, & in all instances
so-called Socialists supply the third
candidate./Dr Tulloch was for a time
Dr Boyd’s assistant, <& knew the
popular preacher very intimately, &
the picture he gives of the genial
essayist is a very engaging one./
Rarely does the ‘ Little Summer ’ linger
until November, but at times its stay
has been prolonged until quite late
in the year’s penultimate month./
Several who have never given formal
elegant variation
133
ELIMINATE
adherence to the Unionist Party,
although their votes have frequently
been given to that section./27ie ad¬
dressee of many epistles in the volumes
of 4 Letters of Charles Dickens ’./
GERMAN EMPEROR’S VISIT
TO AUSTRIAN MONARCH ./The
export trade of the U.S. with the
Philippines has increased by nearly
50%, while that of the U.K. has de¬
creased by one-half ./Curiously enough,
women played the male parts, whilst
men were entrusted with the female
characters. /France is now going
through a similar experience with
regard to Morocco to that which Eng¬
land had to undergo with reference to
Egypt./There was once a famous states¬
man of whom his great rival said that he
was inebriated with the exuberance of
his own verbosity ; Ruskin was never
thus intoxicated./// there is no mate¬
rial cause of quarrel between Russia &
Germany , still less is there any material
ground for quarrel between Britain <fe
Germany./While I feel quite equal to
the role of friendly & considerate em¬
ployer, I do not feel adequate to the
part of a special Providence./If I have
a complaint to proffer against Mr Red-
ford, it certainly is, except perhaps in
the case of ‘ Monna Vanna ’, not in
the matter of the plays to which he
has refused a licence, but in regard to
a few of the plays which he sanctioned./
Were I an artist, I could paint the
Golf Links at Gaya & call it 4 A
Yorkshire Moor * ; I could depict a
water-way in Eastern Bengal tfe call
it ‘ The Bure near Wroxham * ; 1
could portray a piece of the Punjab
call it 4 A Stretch of Essex ’./
/n the Punjab, in Calcutta, & in the
Hills the former school predominates ;
m the rest of India the latter school
prevails./JFe have a section which
cries out at all times that Germany is
the enemy, we have another section
which insists that Russia is the peril./
Not only should an agreement be come
to, but it has always been certain that
« will be arrived at ./Just as nothing
m sacred to the sapper, so nought is
romantic to the scientific explorer./
Ihey spend a few weeks longer in
their winter home than in their
summer habitat ./It is interesting <fc
satisfactory that a Wykehamist & an
Oxonian should be succeeded by an
Oxonian & Wykehamist. It will
also be interesting & satisfactory to
anyone who has lasted out to this
point to observe that this skilled
performer, who has brought off a
double variation (reversing the order
of the titles, & stripping the second
Wykehamist of his article), has been
trapped into implying by the latter
change that the successor is one man
& the predecessor(s) two.
elegiacs, elegy. See Technical
TERMS.
elemental, elementary. The two
words are now pretty clearly differ¬
entiated, the reference of -al being
to 4 the elements ’ either in the old
sense of earth, water, air, & fire, or
as representing the great forces of
nature conceived as their mani¬
festations (or metaphorically the
human instincts comparable in
power to those forces) ; & that of
-ary being to elements in the more
general sense of simplest component
parts or rudiments. Elemental fire,
strife, spirits, passion, power : ele¬
mentary substances, constituents, facts,
books, knowledge, schools. The -al form
is often wrongly chosen by those who
have not observedthe differentiation,
& think that an occasional out-of-
the-way word lends distinction to
their style; so: The evergrowing power
of the State, the constant extension of its
activities, threaten the most elemental
liberties of the individual. /Responsible
government in Canada was still in its
most elemental stage.
elevator, by the side of the estab¬
lished English lift, is a cumbrous &
needless Americanism ; it should at
least be restricted to its hardly
avoidable commercial sense of grain-
hoist. See Superfluous words.
elfish. See elvish.
elimhiate, -ation. 1. The essential
meaning (etymologically 4 turn out
of doors ’) is the expulsion, putting
ELLIPSIS
134
ELLIPSIS, 3
away, getting rid, or ignoring, of
elements that for some reason are
not wanted ; the verb does not
mean to extract or isolate for special
consideration or treatment the ele¬
ments that are wanted, as in He
would e. the main fact from all con¬
fusing circumstantials , & in hypo¬
theses of the utmost value in the elimi¬
nation of truth. See Popularized
TECHNICALITIES.
2. The verb makes eliminable (see
-able 1).
ELLIPSIS. 1. Be & have. 2. Second
part of compound verb. 3. With
change of voice. 4. That (conj.).
5. After than. 6. With inversion.
7. That (rel. pron.). That the reader
may at once realize the scope of the
inquiry, a few ellipses of miscella¬
neous types are first exhibited
The ringleader was hanged & his
folloxvers[\imprisoned./The evil con¬
sequences of excess of these beverages
is much greater than A alcohol./Mr
Balfour blurted out that his oxen view
xvas/\the House of Lords was not
strong enough./No State ever has A
or can adopt the non-cthical idea of
property./The House of Lords would
have really revised the Bill, as no
doubt it could befxoith advantage./
Xot only may such a love have
deepened & exalted, & A may A still
deepen & exalt, the life of any man,
but . . .
When a passage would, if fully set
out, contain two compound mem¬
bers corresponding to each other,
how far may the whole be shortened
by omitting in one of these members
(‘ understanding ’, in grammatical
phrase) a part that is either ex¬
pressed in the other or easily infer¬
able from what is there expressed ?
Possible varieties are so many that
it will be better not to hazard a
general rule, but to say that the
expressed can generally, & the in¬
ferable can in specially favourable
circumstances, be 4 understood ’, &
then proceed to some types in which
mistakes are common.
1. Ellipsis of parts of be & have.
Not only the expressed part can be
understood, but also the corre¬
sponding part with change of num¬
ber or person :— The ringleader was
hanged & his followers imprisoned;
He is dead, & 1 alive ; The years have
passed & the appointed time come.
These are permissible ; not all that
is lawful, however, is expedient, &
the licence is not to be recommended
outside sentences of this simple pat¬
tern ; with the intervening clause
in the following quotation it is
clearly ill-advised : A number of
stumbling-blocks have been removed,
cb the road along which the measure
xvill have to travel straightened out ;
it should be observed that it is the
distance of straightened from have
been, & not the change of number
in the verbs, that demands the in¬
sertion of has been.
2. Ellipsis of second part of com¬
pound verb. Only the expressed
part can be understood ; No State
can or will adopt would be regular,
but No State has or can adopt is
(however common) an elementary
blunder. The understanding of an
infinitive with to out of one without
to (A standard of public opinion which
ought cb we believe will strengthen
the sense of parental responsibility) is
equally common & equally wrong ;
insert after ought either to strengthen
or to.
3. Ellipsis with change of voice.
Even if the form required is identical
with that elsewhere expressed, it
cannot be understood if the voice is
different ; to omit revised is out of
the question in Though we do not
believe that the House of Lords would
have really revised the Bill, as no
doubt it could bet\with advantage.
Still less can the passive managed be
supplied from the active manage in
Mr Dennett foresees a bright future
for Benin if our officials will manage
matters conformably with its ‘ cus¬
toms \ as they ought to have beenf\.
And with these may be classed the
leaving us to get to be out of the
preceding to in Ij the two lines are to
cross, the rale of loss[\reduced to zero-.
135
ELLIPSIS, 6
ELLIPSIS,
<6 a definite increase in the world's
shipping to be brought about . . .
4. Omission of that (conjunction).
Though this is strictly speaking not
an ellipsis, but rather an exercise of
the ancient right to abstain from
subordinating a substantival clause
{And 1 seyde his opinioun was good —
Chaucer), it may conveniently be
mentioned here. Three examples
will suffice to show the unpleasant¬
ness of ill-advised omission, & to
suggest some cautions : — Sir, — I am
abashed to see Ain my notice of Mr
Bradley Birt's “ ‘ Sylhet ’ Thackeray ”
A 1 have credited the elder W . M.
Thackeray with sixteen children./
Mr Balfour blurted out that his own
view was A the House of Lords was
not strong enough. /I assert A the feel¬
ing in Canada today is such against
annexation that . . . The first illus¬
trates the principle that if there is
the least room for doubt where
the that would come, it should be
expressed & not understood. The
second leads us to the rule that when
the contents of a clause are attached
by. part of be to such words as
opinion , decision, view, or declaration
(a very common type), that must be
inserted ; it at the same time illus¬
trates the motive that most fre¬
quently causes wrong omissions—
the sensible reluctance to make one
tfuif-clause depend on another— ;
but this is always avoidable by
other, though often less simple,
means. The third involves a matter
of idiom, & reminds us that while
some verbs of saying & thinking can
take or drop that indifferently, many
haveastrong preference for one orthe
other use (see that conj.) ; assert is
amongthosethat habitually take that.
5. Ellipsis after than is extremely
common, & so various in detail as
to make the laying down of any
general rule impossible. The com¬
parative claims of brevity on the one
hand, & on the other of the comfort
™f* springs from feeling that all is
8 Pv* a P e » tnust in each case be
weighed with judgement. It will be
°®st to put together a few examples.
ranging from the more to the less
obvious, in which doubts whether
all is right with the sentence obtrude
themselves. The evil consequences of
excess of these beverages is much
greater thanAalcohol ; i.e., than the
evil consequences of excess of alcohol
are great ; shall we (a) omit arc
great ? yes, everyone does it ; (b)
omit the evil consequences of excess
of ? no, no-one could do it but one
who could also write, like this author,
consequences is ; (c) retain all this ?
no—waste of words ; (d) shorten to
those of excess of ? yes, unless the
knot is cut by writing than with
alcohol./This was due to the feeling
that the Bill went further than public
opinion warranted or was justified ;
i.e., than what opinion warranted
or what was justified ; either what
could be omitted if its clause stood
alone ; but since the two whats arc
in different cases, one being subject
& the other object, there is felt to
be a grammatical blunder lurking
under cover of than./That export
trade is advancing with greater rapid¬
ity than our trade has ever increased ;
i.e., than any rapidity with which
ours has increased ; shorten to than
our trade has ever increased with ; or,
better, substitute more rapidly for
with greater rapidity./The proceedings
were more humiliating to ourselves
than I can recollect in the course of
my political experience ; i.e., than
I can recollect any proceedings being
humiliating ; shorten to any that 1
can recollect./The interpretations arc
more uniformly admirable than could ,
perhaps, have been produced by any
other person ; i.e., than any would
have been admirable that . . . ;
shorten to than what could , though
the misplacing of perhaps , which
belongs to the main sentence, will
cry all the louder for correction.
6. Ellipsis complicated by inver¬
sion. In questions, & in sentences
beginning with nor & certain other
words, inversion is normal, the sub¬
ject standing after the verb or its
auxiliary instead of before it ( Never
heard I or Never did I hear , not
ELONGATE
136
Never 1 heard). When a sentence or
clause thus inverted has to be en¬
larged by a parallel member of the
kind in which ellipsis would natur¬
ally be resorted to, difficulties arise.
Why is a man in civil life perpetually
slandering & backbiting his fellow
men, & is unable to see good even in
his friends ? The repetition of is
without that of why & the subject
is impossible ; in this particular
sentence the removal of the second
is solves the problem as well as the
re-insertion of (at the least) why is
such a man ; but often full repeti¬
tion is the only course possible./
Not only may such a love have deep¬
ened & exalted, & may still deepen &
exalt, the life of any man of any age,
but . . . The inversion has to be
carried on ; that is, not only, & the
subject placed after may, must be
repeated if may is repeated ; &, may
being here indispensable, nothing
less will do than not only (with and
omitted) may it still deepen.
7. For ellipsis of that (rel. pron.),
& of prepositions governing that (rel.
pron.), see that rel. front.
elongate. See -atable.
else. The adverb e. has come so
near to being compounded with cer¬
tain indefinite pronouns & words of
similar character ( anybody , everyone,
little, all, &c.) that separation is
habitually avoided, & e.g. Nobody
is ignorant of it e. is unidiomatic ;
correspondingly, the usual posses¬
sive form is not everyone's &c. e.,
which is felt to be pedantic though
correct, but everyone else's. With
interrogative pronouns the process
has not gone so far ; though What
e. did he say ? is the normal form,
What did he say e. ? (with which
compare the very unusual Nothing
was said e.) is unobjectionable ;
correspondingly, who else's may be
used colloquially, but whose else (cf.
anybody's e .) has maintained its
ground ; & of the forms Who else's
should it be ?, Whose e. should it be ?,
Whose should it be e. ?, the last is
perhaps the best.
elucidate makes -dable ; see -able 1.
elusive, elusory. That is elusive
which we fail, in spite of efforts, to
grasp physically or mentally ; the
elusive ball, half-back, submarine ;
elusive rhythm, perfume, fame ; an
elusive image, echo, pleasure. That
is elusory which turns out when at¬
tained to be unsatisfying, or which
is designed to pass as of more solid
or permanent value than it is; elusory
fulfilment, success, victory, possession,
promises.
The elusive mocks its pursuer, the
elusory its possessor ; elusive is syno¬
nymous with evasive, elusory with
illusive.
elvish, elfish. ‘ The older form
elvish is still the more usual ’—OED.
See -ve(d).
Elysium. PI. ms , .
emaciation. Pronounce -Isl- ; see
-CIATION.
emancipate makes -pable; see
-ABLE 1.
EM- & IM-, EN- & IN-. The words in
which hesitation between e- & i- is
possible are given in the form recom¬
mended ; readers who wish for more
than an unsupported recommenda¬
tion will find notes below.
embed, empanel, encage, encase, en¬
close &c., encrust*, encrustment, en¬
dorse*, endorsement, endue, enfold,
engraft, enmesh, ensure (in general
senses), entrench, entrust, entwine,
entwist, enwrap ; incrustation, in¬
dorsation, ingrain, ingrained, inquire,
inquiry, insure (in financial sense),
insurance, inure, inweave. See IM-.
♦but cf. incrustation, indorsation.
Tenacious clinging to the right of
private judgement is an English
trait that a mere grammarian may
not presume to deprecate, & such
statements as the OED’s The half-
latinized enquire still subsists beside
inquire will no doubt long remain
true. Spelling, however, is not one
of the domains in which private
judgement shows to most advantage,
& the general acceptance of the
above forms on the authority of the
OED (from which the remarks in
EMB ARKATION _1;
Inverted commas below are taken,
& which recognizes as the criterion
not any pedantic canon, but the
usage of most writers) would be a
sensible & democratic concession to
uniformity.
embed : ‘ e. is now the more com¬
mon form ’.
empanel-, the OED gives e. pre¬
cedence.
encage s * i., the obs. var. of e. .
encase : ‘ i., var. of e.\
enclose : ‘ The preponderance of
usage (in England at least), as well
as etymological propriety,is infavour
of e.\
encrust: * The dictionaries mostly
favour i., but e. appears to be the
more frequent in actual use
endorse : ‘ E. is more frequent in
commercial & general literary use,
but i. is more usual in law books ’ ;
conformity on the part of the lawyers
would be a graceful proceeding.
endue : 4 The form e. is now the
more common in all the living
senses
enfold : ‘ i., obs. var. of e\
engraft : * £., obs. var. of c.\
enmesh : immesh & emmesh are less
used than enmesh,
ensure : 4 In general usage i. is now
limited to the financial sense, in
which the form e. is wholly obs.’.
entrench : ‘ The form i. is that
favoured by modern dictionaries,
but in recent use e. seems to be more
frequent ’.
entrust : 4 The form i., though pre¬
ferred in many recent dictionaries,
is now rare in actual use ’.
entwine , entwist , enwrap : 4 i., var.
of e.\
incrustation, indorsation : The i- of
these (cf. endorse, encrust) is due to
the preference for completely latin¬
izing words with a conspicuously
Latin ending.
ingrain(ed) : * In the participial
adjective used attributively, though
not in the verb, the form with in - is
inore common than that with en- * ;
the adjective being perhaps a hun-
drcd times as common as the verb,
® being often so accented (on the
137
&MEUTE
first) that there can be no doubt
about its beginning with i & not e,
the rare verb will surely conform
before long.
inquire, inquiry : The OED gives
i. the precedence, but says 4 The
half-latinized e.’ (the unlatinized
form being enquere) 4 still subsists
beside i.\
insure : See ensure above.
inure : 4 E., an earlier form of
by which it is now superseded except
in the legal sense ’ ; see inure.
inweave : The OED gives pre¬
cedence to i.
embarkation. The OED gives this
as the standard form ; &, where all
three forms are justifiable — embarca-
tion as the French original, imbarca-
tion as properly latinized. Sc em¬
barkation as agreeing with embark — -
it is well to accept the OED ruling.
embargo. PI. - os ; see -o(e)s 6.
embarrassedly. A bad form ; see
•EDLY.
embed, im-. See em- & im-.
emblem. For synonymy see sign.
embody. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
embonpoint. See French words.
embrasure. Pronunciation : OED
gmbra'zhyer; Nav. & Mil., also
gmbrazhoor'.
embryo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
emend(ation). The words are now
confined strictly to the conjectural
correction of errors in MS. or printed
matter, or to changes deliberately
compared to this by metaphor ;
they are not used, like amend(ment),
of improvement or correction in
general.
Emerald Isle. See Sobriquets.
emergence, emergency. The two
are now completely differentiated,
-ce meaning emerging or coming into
notice, & - cy meaning a juncture
that has arisen, esp. one that calls
for prompt measures, & also (more
recently) the presence of such a
juncture (in case of -cy). See -ck.
6meute. See French words.
EMMESH
138
ENDEAVOUR
emmesh. See em- & im-.
emolument. Sec Formal words.
emotion. The tendency to restrict
the word to the display of feeling as
opposed to the feeling itself, or at
least to manifested as opposed to
unmanifested feeling, is illustrated
in The total absence of e., combined
with an intensity of feeling <£ sim¬
plicity, left an impression upon all
attendants. The restriction is un¬
warranted ; e. includes 4 a mental
“ feeling ” or “ affection ” (e.g. of
pleasure or pain, desire or aversion,
surprise, hope or fear, &c.) OED.
emotive, by the side of emotional,
which means of the emotions as well
as given to emotion, is a Super¬
fluous word.
empanel, impanel. See em- & im-.
Either makes -lied &c. ; see -ll-, -l-.
Empire City. See Sobriquets.
employee, employe. The case for
the English form is stronger than
with most such pairs. One of them
is needed, not for literary but for
purely business purposes ; & a good
plain word with no questions of
spelling & pronunciation & accents
& italics & genders about it is there¬
fore best. Moreover the - ee ter¬
mination is becoming more & more
a living suffix in English. The OED
twenty-seven years ago labelled
employee ‘ rare exc. U.S.’ ; but it is
high time it was naturalized. The
native words men, hands, workmen,
staff, &c., are still, however, prefer¬
able where they give the meaning
equally well.
emporium. For this as a synonym
for shop, see Pomposities. PI. -ms,
-a ; see -um.
empressement. Sec French words.
empty, vb. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., C.
emulate makes -lable ; see -able 1.
-EN ADJECTIVES. The only adjec¬
tives of this type still in ordinary
natural use with the sense made of
so-&-so are earthen, flaxen, hempen,
wheaten, wooden, & woollen ; we
actually prefer earthen vessels, flaxen
thread, hempen rope, wheaten bread,
wooden ships, & woollen socks, to
earth vessels, flax thread, hemp rope,
wheat bread, wood ships, & wool
socks. Several others ( brazen, golden,
leaden, leathern, oaken, oaten, silken,
waxen) can still be used in the
original sense (made of brass &c.)
with a touch of archaism or for
poetic effect, but not in everyday
contexts :— the brazen hinges of Hell-
gate, but brass hinges do not rust ;
a golden crozvn in hymns & fairy -
stories, but a gold crown in .an
inventory of regalia ; a lead pipe,
but leaden limbs ; a leathern jerkin,
but a leather portmanteau ; silken
hose, but silk pyjamas ; an oaken
staff, but an oak umbrella-stand ; an
oaten pipe, but oat bread ; the
comb's waxen trellis, but wax candles.
Their chief use, however, is in
secondary & metaphorical senses—
brazen impudence, golden prospiccts,
leathern lungs, silken ease, waxen
skin, & the like. When well-meaning
persons, thinking to do the language
a service by restoring good old words
to their rights, thrust them upon us
in their literal sense where they are
out of keeping, such patrons merely
draw attention to their clients’ ap¬
parent decrepitude—apparent only,
for the words are hale & hearty, &
will last long enough if only they are
allowed to confine themselves to the
jobs that they have chosen.
There are other words of the same
formation {ashen, bricken, cedarn,
silvern, &c.) that are solely archaic
(or pseudo-archaic) & ornamental.
The exceptional olden will be found
in its place.
en- & in-. See em- & im-.
encage, incage. See em- & im-.
encase, incase. See em- & im-.
enclitic. See Technical terms.
enclose, inclose. See em- & im-.
encomium. PI. -ms, -a ; see -um.
encrust, incrustation. See em- & im-.
endeavour. A somewhat ponderous
jibe has been endeavoured to be levelled
at the First Lord of the Admiralty be¬
cause he ... For this use of endeavour,
endemic
139
ENHANCE
with which somewhat is in perfect
harmony, see Double passives.
also Formal words*
endemic, epidemic. An endemic
disease is one habitually prevalent
in a particular place ; an epidemic
disease is one that breaks out in a
place & lasts for a time only.
endorse, indorsation. See em- &
im-. The use of endorse in adver¬
tisements ( Paderewski endorses the
pianola) is an example of unsus¬
tained metaphor (Metaphor 2 A)
worth mention because advertise¬
ments play a considerable part in
forming the language of those who
read little else. You can endorse,
literally, a cheque or other paper,
&, metaphorically, a claim or argu¬
ment ; but to talk of endorsing
material things other than papers is
a solecism.
endue, indue. See em- & im-.
endways, -wise. See -ways, -wise.
enema. 4 The normal pronuncia¬
tion is S'nlma but the incorrect form
[Ine'ma] is in very general use ’
OED. See False quantity.
enervate. See -atable.
enfold, infold. See em- & im-.
enforce. They were prepared to take
action with a view to enforcing this
country into a premature & van¬
quished peace. This use of e. for
force or compel or drive, with a person
or agent as object, though common
two or three centuries ago, is ob¬
solete ; today we force a person into
peace, or enforce peace. See Novel¬
ty-hunting, Object-shuffling.
enforceable. So spelt ; see Mute e.
enfranchise, not -ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
England, English(man). The in¬
correct use of these words as equi¬
valents of Great Britain, United
Kingdom, British Empire, British,
Briton, is often resented by the
Scotch, Irish, & Welsh ; their sus¬
ceptibilities are natural, but are not
necessarily always to be deferred to.
It must be remembered that no
Englishman, & perhaps no Scot
even, calls himself a Briton without
a sneaking sense of the ludicrous.
How should an Englishman utter the
words Great Britain with the glow of
emotion that for him goes with
England ? he talks the English lan¬
guage ; he has been taught English
history as one tale from Alfred to
George V ; he has known in his
youth how many Frenchmen arc a
match for one Englishman ; he has
heard of the word of an Englishman
& of English fair play, scorns certain
things as unEnglish, & aspires to be
an English gentleman ; he knows
that England expects every man to
do his duty, & that to the foreigner
his nation is the Anglais & Englander
& Inglesi ; in the word England,
not in Britain, all these things are
implicit. The case is not so strong
against British, since we can speak
of the British Empire, the British
army or navy or constitution, &
British trade, without feeling the
word inadequate ; yet even it is
unfit for many contexts ; who
speaks of a British gentleman,
British home life, British tailoring,
or British writers, or condemns with
an 4 unBritish ’ ? on the other hand
the British matron, the British
parent, & the British public, have
an unenviable notoriety. The at¬
tempt to forbid thirty millions of
people the use of the only names
that for them are in tune with
patriotic emotion, or to compel them
to stop & think whether they mean
their country in a narrower or a w ider
sense each time they name it, is
doomed to failure. The most that
can be expected is that the provoca¬
tive words should be abstained from
on the more provocative occasions,
& that when Scots & others are
likely to be within earshot Britain &
British should be inserted as tokens,
but no more, of what is really meant.
english, vb. See Revivals, Saxon-
ISM.
engraft, in-. See em- & im-.
enhance. Spain felt that the war
could not touch her , but that, on the
contrary , while the rest of Europe was
ENJAMBMENT
140
ENTAIL
engaged in mutual destruction, she
would be materially enhanced. A
dangerous word for the unwary.
Her material prosperity may be
enhanced, but she cannot be enhanced
even in material prosperity, though
a book may be enhanced in value as
well as have its value enhanced. E.
(& be enhanced) with a personal
object (or subject) has long been
obsolete. See Cast-iron idiom.
enjambment. See Technical terms.
enjoin. The construction with a
personal object & an infinitive ( The
advocates of compulsory service e. us
to add a great army for home defence
to . . .) is not recommended. The
OED quotes Steele, They injoined
me to bring them something from
London , & Froude, The Pope advised
& erven enjoined him to return to his
duties ; but the archaic sound of the
first will be admitted, & in the other
‘ advised ’ takes most of the re¬
sponsibility. The ordinary modern
use is e. caution &c. upon one, not e.
one to do or be.
en masse. See French words.
enmesh. See em- & im-.
ennui. Pronounce onwe' ; see
French words.
ennuied, ennui’d. See -ed & ’d.
enormous, enormity. The two
words have drifted so far apart that
the use of either in connexion with
the limited sense of the other is
unadvisable. Enormous sin & The
impression of enormity produced by
the building are both etymologically
possible expressions ; but to use the
first lays one open to suspicion of
pedantry, & to use the second to
suspicion of ignorance.
enough & sufficient(ly). 1. In the
noun use ( = adequate amount), the
preference of s. to e. (have you had
s. ?, s. remains to fdl another) may
almost be dismissed as a Genteel-
ism ; besides being shorter, e. has
the grammatical advantage of being
a real noun.
2. In the adjective use {is there e.,
or s., butter ?) s. has the advantage
of being a true adjective, while e. is
only a quasi-adjective ; for e. evi¬
dence is an abbreviation (as with
a hundred men, much difficulty, &c.)
for e. of evidence ; the consequence
is that a s. supply is possible, & an
e. supply is not. In spite of the
fact, however, that s. is always & e.
only sometimes available, e. is to
be preferred as the more natural
& vigorous word wherever mere
amount can be regarded as the only
question : is there e. butter, or butter
e., for the week ? ; he has courage e.
for anything. But where considera¬
tions of quality or kind are essential,
s. is better ; compare for want of
s. investigation with there has been
investigation e. ; the first implies
that it has not been thorough or
skilful, the second that the time
given to it has been excessive.
3. In the adverbial use, neither
word suffers from a grammatical
handicap, e. being as true an adverb
as sufficiently. Choice is dictated
(often without the chooser’s know¬
ledge) in part by the feeling that
a plain homely word, or a formal
polysyllable, is appropriate {he does
not idle e. ; he does not indulge s. in
recreation), & in part by the limita¬
tion of e. pointed out above to mere
amount or degree {the meat is not
boiled e. ; he does not s. realize the
consequences) ; often, however, e. is
so undeniably more vigorous that
it is worth while to help it out with
clearly, fully, far, deeply, &c., rather
than accept the single word s. ;
compare he has proved his point
clearly e. with he has s. proved his
point.
en passant. See French words.
enquire, enquiry, in-. See em- &
IM-.
en rdgle. See French words.
enrol(l). Spell enrol, but -lling
&c. ; see -ll-, -l-.
en route, ensemble. See French
words.
ensure, insure, assure. For e. & i.,
see em- & im- ; for c. & a., see
ASSURE 2.
entail. In spite of the increasing
ENTWIST
ENTENTE
141
tendency to differentiate (see Noun
& verb accent) the noun keeps the
accent on the last syllable.
entente. See French words.
enteric (fever). Newspaper readers
who have noticed the disappearance
of typhoid & the increase of e. may
be glad to learn the relation between
them. * Typhoid fever : a specific
eruptive fever (formerly supposed to
be a variety of typhus), character¬
ized by intestinal inflammation &
ulceration : more distinctively, &
now more usually, called enteric
fever ’—OED.
enterprise, not -ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
entertain. A guest is entertained
at a meal, not to it. The OED
quotes for the right form, & gives no
example of the other ; that, how¬
ever, is because letter E was pub¬
lished in the 19th century ; since
then e. to has become stock re¬
porters* English; Dr Page was
entertained to a banquet, Mr Lloyd
George to a supper, & the members
of the French Free Trade League to
luncheon & to dinner. The question
is whether the complaint can be con¬
fined, like phossy jaw & such things,
to the trade; that the reporters them¬
selves are beyond cure is plain when
one of them states that The Chair¬
man suggested that the missing M.P.
had been trapped by suffragists, <fb
followed this up by entertaining the
waiting audience to a song.
enthral(l). Spell enthrall ; see
-LL-, -L-.
enthuse. See Back-formation.
> entire. There is not a single county
»n we e. of Ireland in which. . . This,
which sounds like a foolish modern
use comparable with that of various,
m in fact an one, become ‘ some¬
what rare ’ (OED). It may as well
become rarer, for all that.
entitled means having a right
2Lt 0n i ething) or a J ust claim
5 il does not m
bmmd (to do) or liable (to a penalt
bggtt is n ow being badly misused
Germany has suffered bitterly ,
suffering bitterly, & Germany is
entitled to suffer for what she has
done./ If these people choose to come
here [into court] <& will not learn our
heathen language, but prefer their
gibberish or jargon, I consider they
are entitled to pay for it.
entity. The word is one of those
regarded by plain people, whether
readers or writers, with some alarm
& distrust as smacking of philosophy.
Its meaning, however, is neither
more nor less recondite than that
of the corresponding native word,
which no one shies at ; e. is being ,
& an c. is a being. The first or
abstract sense is comparatively rare ;
e. is better than nonentity means the
same as it is better to be than not to be.
In the second or concrete sense, an e.
differs only so far from a being that
the latter as used by others than
philosophers has come to exclude,
while e. includes, any non-sentient
or impersonal but actually existing
thing ; a plant or a stone or a State
may be called an e., but is not,
outside of philosophy, called a being ;
e. therefore has a right to its place
even in the popular vocabulary.
entourage, entr'acte. See French
WORDS.
entrench, in-. See em- & im-.
entre nous, entrepdt. See French
words.
entresol. See floor.
entrust. Modern idiom allows only
two constructions : to e. (a task,
a charge, a secret) to someone ; to
e. (someone) with a task &c. The
verb no longer means to put trust in
simply (that is to trust, not e.), nor
to commission or employ or charge
to do (for which those verbs, or
again to trust , will serve). The
obsolete uses are seen in : King
Edward entrusted him implicitly, dk
invariably acted upon his advice./By
victory the fighting men have achieved
what their country has entrusted
them to do. See Cast-iron idiom.
entrust, entwine, entwist, in-.
EM- & IM-.
ENUMERATION FORMS
ENUMERATION FORMS. One of the
first requisites for the writing of
good clean sentences is to have
acquired the art of enumeration,
that is, of stringing together three or
four words or phrases of identical
grammatical value without going
wrong. This cannot be done by
blind observance of the rule of
thumb that and & or should be used
only once in a list. It will suffice
here to illustrate very shortly the
commonest type of error : 1 he
introductory paragraph is sure, firm,
& arouses expectancy at once./If he
raises fruit, vegetables, or keeps
a large number of fowls./A matter in
which the hopes & fears of so many
of My subjects are keenly concerned,
tfc which, unless handled with fore¬
sight, judgment, & in the spirit of
mutual concession, threatens to .. .
(Prime Minister’s English, presum¬
ably ; certainly not King’s English).
The matter will be found fully dis¬
cussed under and 2 ; or is liable to
corresponding ill treatment ; & a
particular form of bad enumeration
is set forth in the article Walled-up
OBJECT.
enunciate makes -ciablc ; sec -able
1 .
enunciation. See -ciation.
enure. See inure, & em- & im-.
envelop. See -P-, -rp-. The obso¬
lete spellings envelope, envelopes, in
the verb, are now to be regarded as
mere mistakes.
envelope. The French spelling
(-ppe) has long gone, & the French
pronunciation should no longer be
allowed to embarrass us, but give
way to S'nvclop ; all the more now
that the verb envelop, from its fre¬
quency in military bulletins, has
become popular instead of merely
literary.
-EN VERBS FROM ADJECTIVES. It
being no part of most people’s busi¬
ness to inquire into such matters,
the average writer would probably
say, if asked for an offhand opinion,
that from any adjective of one
syllable an -en verb could be formed
142 -EN VERBS FROM ADJECTIVES
meaning to make or become so-&-so.
That, at any rate, was roughly the
position taken up by one party to
a newspaper controversy some years
ago on the merits of quieten. A very
slight examination shows it to be
remote from the facts ; -en cannot
be called a living suffix. There are
on the one hand some 50 verbs
whose currency is beyond question ;
on the other hand as many adjec¬
tives mav be found that, though
they look as fit for turning into verbs
by addition of -en as the 50, no-one
would dream of treating in that
way ; some of them are allowed to
become verbs without the -en {lame,
wet, blind, foul ) ; others have to go
without a cognate verb {harsh,
grand, wise, sore ) ; others have their
beginning operated on instead of
their end {large & enlarge, fine &
refine, new & renew, plain & explain,
strange & estrange, dense & condense );
& the despotism of usage is still
clearer when it is noticed that we
can say moisten but not wetten,
quicken but not slowen, thicken &
fatten but not thinnen or leanen,
deafen but not blinden, sweeten but
not souren, sharpen but not blunten,
cheapen but not dearen, greaten but
not largen, freshen but not stalen,
coarsen but not frnen. Between the
two sets of adjectives whose mind is
made up, some taking & some re¬
fusing -en, there are a few about
which questions may arise ; with
some the right of the -en verb to
exist is disputable, & with others the
undoubted existence of two verbs
(e.g. loose & loosen ), one having -en,
& one identical with the adjective,
raises the question of differentiated
senses ; & some remarks may be
offered on each. The following is the
list, thought to be fairly complete, of
the ordinary -en verbs, not including
anomalous ones like strengthen, nor
any whose right to exist is dubious: •
blacken, brighten, broaden, cheapen,
coarsen, darken, deaden, deafen,deepen,
fasten, fatten, flatten, freshen, gladden ,
greaten, harden, lessen, liken, lighten,
loosen, louden, madden, moisten.
-EN VERBS FROM ADJECTIVES 143 -EN VERBS FROM ADJECTIVES
quicken, redden, ripen, roughen , sad¬
den, sharpen, shorten, sicken, slacken,
marten, soften, steepen, stiffen,
straighten, straiten, sweeten, tauten,
thicken, tighten, toughen, weaken,
whiten, widen, worsen.
The debatable words are :
black & blacken : the second is the
wider word used for most purposes,
black being confined to the sense put
black colour upon, besides being
only transitive; you black boots,
glass, or your face, & black out a
passage as censor; you blacken
a character ; stone blackens or is
blackened with age.
brisken : not in OED.
dampen : old in English, but ‘ now
chiefly U.S.’ (OED) & a Super¬
fluous word.
dwarfen : not in OED.
fat & fatten : the first is chiefly
archaic, kept alive by the fatted calf,
but also survives as a business word
in cattle-breeding circles ; fatten is
the ordinary word.
glad & gladden : gladden is now the
ordinary word, but to glad is still in
poetical use, & is familiar in Moore’s
dear gazelle lines.
greaten : * now archaic ’ (OED) ;
but a word formerly much used, &
not likely to perish.
loose & loosen : the broad distinc¬
tion is that loose means undo or set
free (opposite to bind), & loosen
means make looser (opposite to
tighten).
Iwen : a modem & merely col¬
loquial word, but useful as the
intransitive of enliven.
mad & madden : mad was formerly
much used, especially as intransitive
in the sense act madly ; this is now
obsolete, so that 4 far from the
madding crowd % which is an
example of it, is perhaps generally
taken to mean from the distracting
crowd ; & the only present function
°f to mad is to supply a poetical
synonym for madden , which has
suffered from wear & tear as a trivial
exaggeration for annoy.
oiaen s this had a vogue during the
in the sense make or
become older in looks or habits, &
was an especial favourite of Thack
eray’s ; but, with to age well estab
lished, it is a Superfluous word.
palen : in OED, with one quota
tion only ; to pale is the right word
plump & plumpen : plump is fairly
common in the sense make plump ;
plumpen is rare, & a Superfluous
word.
quiet & quieten : quiet as a verb
dates from 1440 at least, & appears
in the Prayer Book, Shakspere,
Burke, & Macaulay, besides many
good minor writers ; it is both tran¬
sitive & intransitive ; for quieten,
perhaps the only -en verb from an
adjective of more than one syllable,
the most authoritative name quoted
by the OED is Mrs Gaskell ; its
inflexions ( quietened, quietening, &c.)
are ugly, & it must be classed as a
Superfluous word.
right & lighten : to right is estab¬
lished, & Tighten (called ‘ rare ’ by
the OED, though used occasionally
from the 14th century on) is a
Superfluous word.
rough & roughen : both are in full
use, with some idiomatic differentia¬
tion, though often either will do ;
see rough(en).
ruden : in OED, with one quota¬
tion ; to be regarded as a freak.
slack & slacken : as rough(cn) ; see
slack(en).
smooth & smoothen : the OED gives
numerous examples of smoothen,
each of which, however, makes one
wonder afresh why on earth (except
sometimes metri gratid) the writer
did not content himself with smooth ;
smoothen had clearly a vogue in the
early 19th century, but is now a
Superfluous word.
steep & steepen : steep is rare, &
steepen the normal form.
stout & stouten : stout occurs only
in special senses, & is archaic;
stouten is fairly common.
white & whiten : to white is perhaps
only used in echoes of 4 whited
sepulchres ’ & of * as no fuller on
earth can white them ’.
worsen , though many writers per-
ENVIRONS
144
EQUAL
haps shy at it & reluctantly prefer
deteriorate in the intransitive sense,
is quoted from Milton, George Eliot,
& others.
environs. The OED recognizes the
two pronunciations enviVonz, e'nvlr-
onz, in that order,
envisage. A 19th-century word
only, & a surely undesirable Gal¬
licism. Face, confront, contemplate,
recognize, realize, vino, & regard,
seem equal between them to all
requirements. Sec Working &
STYLISH WORDS.
envoy (in prosody). Sec Tech¬
nical TERMS.
envy, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &C., 0.
enwrap, in-. See em- & im-.
epaulet(te). 4 The anglicized spell¬
ing epaulet is preferable, on the
ground that the word is fully
naturalized in use ; but the form in
-cite is at present more common ’—
O E D.
epergne. This odd word, which
seems to challenge one to show that
one can pronounce French, but will
be vainly sought in the French
dictionarv, is pronounced iper'n by
the OEI ).
epexegetic. See Technical terms.
epic, adj. An increasingly popular
use is e. laughter, combat, content,
struggle, siege, &c. ; being barely
recognized in the OED, it is probably
new ; as the meaning is mainly such
as zee read of in Homer, the word
Homeric is perhaps better.
epicene. For the grammatical
sense, see common. Having no real
function in English grammar, the
word is kept alive chiefly as a more
contemptuous synonym for effemin¬
ate, implying physical as well as
moral sexlessness ; for this purpose
it is better suited than common or
neuter owing to their familiarity in
other senses.
epid(e)ictic. See Greek g.
Epicurean. See hedonist.
epidemic. See endemic.
epidermis. See Polysyllabic
humour.
epigram. See Technical terms.
epigrammatic. So spelt; see -m-,
-mm-. Pron. epigram&'tik.
epigraphy. See Technical terms.
epistle. See Pronunciation, Si¬
lent t.
epoch, epoch-making. Under time,
the meaning of the word epoch is
explained. If an epoch were made
every time we are told that a dis¬
covery or other event is epoch-
making, our bewildered state of
ceaseless transition from the thou¬
sands of eras we were in yesterday
to the different thousands we were
in today would be pitiful indeed.
But luckily the word is blank
cartridge, meant only to startle, &
not to carry even so imponderable
a bullet as conviction. Cf. unique,
& unthinkable.
epode. See Technical terms.
epopee. The OED states that the
word is 4 now somewhat rare ’, sum¬
marizes its meaning as 4 = epic B ’,
i.e. the noun epic, & shows no reason
why it should still exist. That it
was formerly commoner than now
was due to the fact that the com¬
petition between the Greek epos, the
French epopee, & the naturalized
adjective epic, for the post of
English noun was not yet decided in
favour of the last. Today c.’s only
function is to enable learned writers
to puzzle unlearned readers who
know an epic but never heard of
epopee. A Superfluous word.
e pur si muove. See Hackneyed
phrases.
equable. The quality indicated is
complex—not merely freedom from
great changes, but that as well as
remoteness from either extreme, a
compound of uniformity & modera¬
tion. A continuously cold climate
or a consistently violent temper is
not e. ; nor on the other hand is
a moderate but changeable climate
or a pulse that varies frequently
though within narrow limits.
equal. 1. The verb makes equalling
&c. ; see -t,l-, -l-.
2. The navy is not e. in numbers oT
equally as
in strength to perform the task it will
be called upon to undertake ; perform
should be performing ; see Gerund
8, & Analogy.
3. This work is the e., if not better
than anything its author has yet
done ; e. lends itself particularly to
this blunder; see Unequal yoke¬
fellows, & read is e. to, if not better
than, anything . . .
4. For equaller, see -er & -est 2.
equally as. 1. The use of as instead
of with in correlation with equally
(Hermes is patron of poets equally as
Apollo) is a relic of the time when
equally with had not been estab¬
lished & writers were free (as with
many other correlative pairs) to
invent their own formulae.
2. The use of equally as instead of
either equally or as by itself is an
illiterate tautology, but one of which
it is necessary to demonstrate the
frequency, & therefore the danger,
by abundant quotation : 4 Stoke¬
hold ’ is equally as correct as 4 stoke¬
hole ’; our correspondent should con¬
sult a dictionary./The Opposition are
equally as guilty as the Government./
The round seeded sort is equally as
hardy & much pleasanter to handle./
The labour crisis has furnished evi¬
dence equally as striking./There was
certainly no tuft, but equally as surely
no wound./A practice in some respects
equally as inequitable as that which
existed in former years./He was out¬
played by a man with a game more
original in tactics db equally as severe
as his own./The forwards should be
fast, but then they will be meeting men
equally as speedy./Unless retail prices
are equally as satisfactory.
equate. See -atable.
equation. For personal e. see
personal.
equerry. The established pronun¬
ciation is 6'kweri, & the OED gives
it precedence, though it explains
? s against Ikwfi'rl, it probably
victory to e.’s being popu-
connected with equus horse,
&e.; see True & false
etymology. The Recessive ac¬
145
-ER & -EST
cent tendency, however, would per¬
haps in any case have prevailed.
equitation. Chiefly serviceable to
the Polysyllabic HUMOunist.
equivalence, -cy. There appears to
be no sort of differentiation ; the
four-syllabled word is now much
commoner, & the five-syllabled
might well be let die. See -ce, -cy.
equivocation (in logic). See Tech¬
nical terms.
era. For synonymy see time.
eradicate makes - cable ; see -able 1.
-ER &; -EST, MORE & MOST. Ne¬
glect or violation of established
usage with comparatives & super¬
latives sometimes betrays ignorance,
but more often reveals the repellent
assumption that the w r riter is super¬
ior to conventions binding on the
common herd. The remarks that
follow, how T ever, are not offered as
precise rules, but as advice that,
though generally sound, may on
occasion be set aside.
1. The normal -er & -est adjectives.
2. Other common -er & -est ad¬
jectives. 3. -er & -est in adverbs.
4. Adjectives tolerating -est but not
-er. 5. Stylistic extension of -er &
-est. 6. Emotional -est without the.
7. Comparatives misused. 8. Super¬
latives misused.
1. The adjectives regularly com¬
pared with -er & -est in preference to
more & most are (a) all monosyllables
(hard, sage, shy, &c.) ; (b) disyllables
in -y (holy, lazy, likely , &c.), in -le
(noble, subtle, &c.), in -er ( tender ,
clever, &c.), in -ow ( narrow, sallow,
&c.) ; (c) many disyllables with
accent on the last (polite, profound,
&c. ; but cf. antique, bizarre, burles¬
que, & the predicative adjectives
afraid, alive, alone, aware) ; (d) tri¬
syllabic negative forms of b & c
words (unholy, ignoble, insecure, &c.).
2. Some other disyllables in every¬
day use not classifiable under ter¬
minations, as common, cruel, plea¬
sant, & quiet (cf. constant, sudden,
&c.) prefer -er & -est ; these are
registered in their dictionary places.
And many others, e. e. awkward.
-ER & -EST, 3
145
-ER & -EST, 7
brazen, buxom, croolccd, equal, can
take -er & -est without disagreeably
challenging attention.
3. Adverbs not formed with -ly
from adjectives, but identical in
form with them, use -er & -est
naturally ( runs faster, sleeps sounder,
hits hardest, hold it tighter) ; some
independent adverbs, as soon, often,
seldom, do the same ; -ly adverbs,
though comparatives in -lier are
possible in archaic & poetic style
(iviselier said, softlier nurtured), now
prefer more wisely &c. ; but there is
some freedom in the way of treating
the comparative adjective, even
where the positive is not so used, as
an adverb ( easier said than done ;
he writes cleverer than he talks ; try to
state your case clearer) ; this, how¬
ever, is chiefly colloquial.
4. Many adjectives besides those
described in 1 & 2 are capable in
ordinary use, i.e. without the styl¬
istic taint illustrated in 5 & G, of
forming a superlative in -est, used
with the & serving as an emphatic
form simply, while no-one would
think of making a comparative in
-er from them : in the bndalcst,
civilest, limidest, winningest, cogentest,
chccrf idlest, cunningcst, doggedcst,
drunhenest, candidest, damnablcst,
manner. The terminations that
most invite this treatment are -fid,
-ing, -able, -ed, & -id ; on the other
hand the very common adjective
terminations -ive, -ic, & -ous, reject
it altogether ( curiouser cfc curiouscr
is a product of Wonderland).
Though it is hard to draw a clear
line between this use & the next, the
intent is different ; the words are
felt to be little less normal, & yet
appreciably more forcible, than the
forms with most ; they are super¬
latives only, & emphasis is their
object ; an attempt is made to
register them in their dictionary
places.
5. As a stylistic device, based on
Novelty-hunting, & developing
into disagreeable Mannerism, the
use of -er & -est is extended to many
adjectives normally taking more &
most, & the reader gets pulled up at
intervals by beautifuller, delicater,
ancientest, diligentest, delectablest,
dolcfuller, devotedest, admirablest , &
the like. The trick served Carlyle's
purpose, & has grown tiresome in his
imitators. The extreme form of it is
that which next follows.
6. The emotional -est without the.
Mile Nau, an actress of considerable
technical skill & a valuable power of
exhibiting deepest emotion ; this
sentence is so obviously critical &
unemotional that it shows fully the
Vulgarization of a use that is
appropriate only to high-poetic con¬
texts. In so analytic a mood the
critic should have been content with
deep emotion ; if he had been talking
descriptively, he might have gone
as far as ‘ she exhibited the deepest
emotion ’ ; not unless he had been
apostrophizing her in verse as
‘ deepest emotion’s Queen or by
whatever lyric phrase emotion (&
not analysis) might have inspired,
should he have dared to cut out his
the & degrade the idiom sacred to
the poets. Not that he is a solitary
or original sinner ; half the second-
rate writers on art & literature seem
to think they have found in this
now hackneyed device a facile way
of exhibiting intense but restrained
feeling.
7. Certain illogicalities to which the
comparative lends itself may be
touched upon. Don't do it more than
you can help, meaning not what it
says but the opposite ( than you
cannot help), is worth changing into
than you need or must or are obliged
to, unless it is to rank as a Sturdy
indefensible. Better known than
popular is cured by resolving better
into more well. It is more or less —
& certainly more than less-—a stan¬
dardized product is a case of Canni¬
balism, one of the necessary two
more s having swallowed the other.
Unwise striving after double em¬
phasis accounts for lie excelled as
a lecturer more than as a preacher ,
because he felt freer to bring more of
his personality into play, & for Were
147
ERUPT
-ER & -OR
ever finer lines perverted, to a meaner
use?. In the first (a mixture of
freer to bring his & free to bring more
of his ) the writer has done nothing
worse than give himself away as a
waster of words ; but in the second
(a confusion of were ever fine lines
more spoilt ? & were ever finer lines
spoilt ? —the former alone being the
sense meant) we have the force
actually diminished, if a reader
chooses to work it out, by the
addition designed to strengthen it.
8. In superlatives, the fairest of her
daughters Eve is still with us : Sir
E. Cassel’s Christmas gift to the
hospitals of £50,000 is only the latest
of many acts of splendid munificence
by which he has benefited his fellows
before now ; this gift is no more one
(latest or not) of those ‘ before now ’
than Eve is her own daughter.
And here is a well contrasted pair
of mistakes ; the first is of a notori¬
ous type (for examples see one), &
the second looks almost as if it was
due to avoidance of the misunder¬
stood danger ; read have for has in
the first, & has for have in the other:—
In which case one of the greatest &
most serious strikes which has occurred
in modern limes will take place./
Houdin was a wonderful conjuror , <&
often reckoned the greatest of his
craft who have ever lived.
-ER & -or. 1. The agent termina-
tion -er can be added to any existing
English verb ; but with many verbs
]j~ e ^regular agent-noun ends in -or
& that in -er is an occasional one
0 “y> ® with others both forms are
established with or without differ-
© mL on sense ; see also -or.
V 'r en _er i® added to verbs in -y
following a consonant, y is changed
to % (occupier, earner, flier) ; but y
thT UlQGd between a vowel & -er
(player, employer , buyer).
Erasttanism. See Jansenis
r a^- ^Incongruous v<
!rr$, * vulgarization. Before
E? following quotations
saow the fish out of water at its
unhappiest : The iniquitous anomaly
of the plural voter will be swept away
ere we are much older./There is reason
to suppose that he will have arrived at
the South Pole long ere this & at the
season best fitted for accurate observa¬
tion./As many people may be aware,
Christmas books are put in hand long
ere the season with which they are
associated comes round./In the opin¬
ion of high officials it is only a matter
of time ere the city is cleared of the
objectionable smoke pollution evil./
Ere the declaration of a general strike
is made by the Trade Unions sincere
efforts are being made by .. ./The firm
manufactured 14 *■ million shells ere the
Armistice.
ergo (Latin for therefore ) is archaic
or obsolete in serious use, but still
serves the purpose of drawing atten¬
tion facetiously to the fllogical
nature of a conclusion : He says it
is too hot for anything ; ergo, a bottle
of Bass. See Pedantic humour.
Erin. See Sobriquets.
Eros. We talk erotics more than
we did, & there is an Eros that most
Londoners have seen ; so the name
has a future before it, & its pronun¬
ciation matters. The Greek word,
in English mouths, is Uroz ; but
dictionaries that give it (the OED
does not) seem to call it er'os. As
these false quantities have not, like
e.g. that in Socrates, the sanction of
long familiarity, an effort might be
made to establish £'roz, or at the
least £'ros.
err. For erring see Pronunciation
s.f.
errand. Unconnected with err &
errant ; see True & false etymo¬
logy.
erratum. PI. -ta ; see -uji.
erst, erstwhile. See Pedantic
humour, & Vulgarization. Inci¬
dentally, it may be mentioned that
amongst Smithfield men * boneless
bag meat ’ has completely ousted the
sausage from its erstwhile monopoly
of jest db gibe.
erupt. There is a natural tendency
ESCHATOLOGY
148
ESSAY
to shrink from the word as if it were
a newfangled derivative of eruption
like the clipped words in Back-
formation ; it has in fact been in
good use for some centuries.
eschatology &c. Pronounce eska-.
eschscholtzia. So spelt ; pro¬
nounce isho'ltsia (not eskdl-).
escort, n. & v. See Noun & verb
accent.
Eskimo(s), Esquimaux. The former
seems to be now the established
English spelling ; the pronunciation
is the same either way.
especial(ly). 1 . (E)spccial(ly). 2. Es¬
pecially with inversion. 3. Especially
as. 1. (E)specially). The charac¬
teristic sense of the longer adjective
& adverb is pre-eminence or the
particular as opposed to the ordin¬
ary, that of the others being limita¬
tion or the particular as opposed to
the general. There is however a
marked tendency in the adjectives
for especial to disappear & for
special to take its place ; it may be
said that special is now possible in
all senses, though especial is still
also possible or preferable in the
senses (a) exceptional in degree, as
My especial friend is Junes, lie
handles the matter Kith especial
dexterity, Oxford architecture receives
especial attention, (b) of, for, a
particular person or thing specified
by possessive adjective or case, as
For my or Smith's especial benefit.
For the especial benefit of wounded
soldiers. In the adverbs the en¬
croachments of the shorter form arc
more limited ; a writer may some¬
times fall into saying The reinforce¬
ments arrived at a specially critical
moment, where an especially would
be better ; but it is as little allow¬
able to say The candidates, specially
those from Scotland, shotved ability as
Candidates must be especially pre¬
pared or An arbitrator was especially
appointed. Two examples follow of
especially used where specially is
clearly meant ; in both the sense is
not to an exceptional degree, but
for one purpose & no other : Only
Mohammedans were permitted to
work within the sacred zones, &
Turkish engineers were especially
trained by the Germans for this pur¬
pose./Agreeable features of the book
will be the illustrations, including a
number of reproductions of prints
especially lent by Lord Rosebery &
Mr Lewis liar court.
2. Especially with inversion. The
word is a favourite with victims of
this modern craze (see Inversion) :
Springs of mineralized water, famous
from Roman times onwards ; espe¬
cially did they come into renown
during the nineteenth century./Mr
Campbell does not recognize a change
of opinion, but frankly admits a
change of emphasis ; especially is he
anxious at the present time to advance
the cause of Liberal Evangelism.
3. Especially as. It is worth notice
that of the causal as-clauses dis¬
cussed in as 2 some types intolerable
in themselves are made possible by
the insertion of especially before
as : 1 shall have to ask for heavy
damages, as my client's circumstances
are not such as to alloiv of Quixotic
magnanimity ; as by itself is, as
usual, insufficient to give the re¬
mainder of the sentence the fresh
pusli-off that, introducing an unfore¬
seen consideration, it requires ; but
especially inserted before as, by
bespeaking attention, prevents the
tailing off into insignificance that
would otherwise ruin the balance.
espieglerie. See French words.
espionage. Pronounce 6'spyonlj.
espy. For inflexions see Verbs in
-IE &C., C.
essay. 1. For e. & assay, vv., see
ASSAY.
2. The verb is accented on the
last ; the noun, in its now com¬
monest sense of a kind of literary
piece, on the first. But in the wider
& now less usual sense of an attempt
the old accent on the last is still
often heard ; that it was formerly
so accented is evident from lines like
Whose first essay was in a tyrant's
praise./This is th' essay of my
149
ESSENTIAL
unpractised pen./And colls his finish d
poem an Essay. See Noun & verb
accent.
essence & substance, essentially) &
substantially). The words started in
life as Latin philosophical terms
translating the Greek ousia (lit.
being) & hupostasis (lit. underneath-
ness); the meaning of the Greek
words was practically the same,
‘ true inwardness ’ being perhaps the
nearest equivalent in native Eng¬
lish, but the second was substituted
by later Greek philosophers for
the first as used by earlier ones ;
similarly in Latin substantia was a
post-Augustan synonym for Cicero’s
essentia. It is therefore natural that
essence & substance, essential(ly) &
substantially), should on the one
hand be sometimes interchangeable,
& on the other hand develop, like
most synonyms, on diverging lines
with differentiations gradually be¬
coming fixed. It may be said
roughly that s. has moved in the
direction of material & quantity,
e. in that of spirit & quality. The
strictly philosophical or metaphy¬
sical uses are beyond the scope of
this book ; but some examples of
the words in popular contexts may
serve to show how they agree &
disagree.
1. Examples in which either is
possible, sometimes with & some¬
times without change of sense, or
with degrees of idiomatic appro¬
priateness :
God is an essence (or less often a s.),
i.e. a self-existent being.// can give
you the substance of what he said (or
less often the e., implying the cutting
out of all superfluous details). /But
he took care to retain the substance of
power (or less usually the essence, or
archaically the substantials, or quite
well the essentials) ./ The essence of
morality is right intention, the sub¬
stance of it is right action (the words
n . ot be exchanged in this
antithesis, but in either part by
itself either word would do ; the e.
18 I™ without which morality
would not be what it is, the s. is that
of which it is made up)./ Distinguish
between the mere words of Revelation
<& its substance (or e., indifferently)./
They give in substance the same
account (or in essence rarely, or
substantially or essentially)./The
treaty underwent substantial modi¬
fications (or e., but s. means merely
that they amounted to a good deal,
e. that they changed the whole
effect). /Desire of praise is an essential
part of human nature (or s. ; if e.,
human nature without it is incon¬
ceivable ; if s., human nature is
appreciably actuated by it). /There
is an essential difference (or s. ; the
latter much less emphatic). /lie
remains the same in essentials (or
archaically in substantials)./All par¬
ties received substantial justice (or
rarely e., which implies much less,
if any, ground for dissatisfaction).
2. Examples admitting of essen-
only :
The essence of a triangle is three
straight lines meeting at three angles./
What is the essence of snobbery ?/
Such talk is the essence of nonsense./
Time is of the essence of the contract./
Kubla Khan may be called essential
poetry./The qualities essential to
success./It is essential to knoiv all the
facts./Ihis point is essential to the
argument./An essentially vulgar per¬
son.
3. Examples admitting of substan-
only :
Butter is a substance./Parting with
the substance for the shadow./There
is no substance in his argument./
A man of substance./A cloth with
some substance in it./Ilis failure to
bring any substantial evidence./A sub¬
stantial meal./A substantially built
house.
essential, necessary, requisite. The
words so far agree in the sense in
which they are all commonest, i.e.
needed, that in perhaps most sen¬
tences containing one of them either
of the others could be substituted
without serious change of meaning.
It often matters nothing whether we
-EST
150
ESTIMATION
sny 4 the c. ! or 4 the n. , or the r.,
qualities are courage & intelligence
only ’. They have reached the
meeting-point, however, from differ¬
ent directions, bringing each its
native equipment, of varying suit¬
ability for various tasks. For in¬
stance, in We can hardly say that
capital is as r. to production as land
& labour the least suitable of the
three has been chosen, the word
wanted to class the relation of land
& labour to production being the
strongest of all, whereas r. is the
weakest.
If we call something e. we have in
mind a whole that would not be
what it is to be or is or was if the
part in question were wanting ; the
e. thing is such that the other thing
is inconceivable without it. E. is
the strongest word of the three.
When we call something n., we
have in mind the irresistible action
of causality or logic ; the n. thing is
such that the other cannot but owe
its existence to it or result in it.
X. doubles the parts of indispensable
& inevitable.
When we call something r., wc have
in mind merely an end for which
means are to be found ; the r. thing
is that demanded by the conditions,
but need not be the only thing that
could satisfy their demands, though
it is usually understood in that sense.
The fact that r. has no negative
form corresponding to une. & unn.
is significant of its less exclusive
meaning.
For a trivial illustration or two :—
Bails are r., but neither c. nor n.,
lor cricket ; not e., for it is cricket
without them ; not n., for their
want need not stop the game. In
the taking of an oath, religious
belief is e., but neither n. nor r. ;
the unbeliever’s oath is no oath, but
the want of belief need not prevent
him from swearing, nor will belief
help him to swear. Death is the n.,
but neither the e. nor the r. result
of breaking one’s neck ; that chain
of cause & effect is for the present *
established ; but the discovery of
a remedy is not inconceivable, & the
result that has never been e. may
some day not be even n. ; r. in this
connexion can speak for itself. The
alphabetical arrangement is un¬
essential, but not unnecessary, &
very requisite, in this book ; the
dictionary without it would be a
dictionary all the same, but the laws
of causality make the publishers
demand & the writer supply alpha¬
betical order, & without it the pur¬
pose would be very badly served.
-est in superlatives. See -er & -est.
estate. The three estates , i.e. the
Lords Spiritual, the Lords Tem¬
poral, & the Commons, is often
wrongly applied to Sovereign, Lords,
& Commons. The use of the phrase
being now purely decorative, & the
reader being often uncertain whether
the user of it may mean Sovereign &
Parliament, or Parliament, or all
bishops & all peers & all electors,
it is perhaps better left alone. The
third e. is a phrase often used for the
French bourgeoisie before the Revo¬
lution ; & the fourth c. is a jocular
description of the newspaper press
as one of the powers that have to be
reckoned with in politics.
esteem. For success of e., see
Gallicisms.
estimate, v. See -atable.
estimate, estimation. The sense a
judgement formed by calculation or
consideration belongs to estimate &
not to estimation, which means not
the judgement itself, but the forming
of it. The tendency described in
Long variants often leads writers
astray, as in : Nonvcgians can only
wish that the optimistic estimation of
Mr Pouting of the British minefields
at Spitzbergen will come true.
estimation. The use of in my &c.
c. as a mere substitute for in my &c.
opinion where there is no question of
calculating amounts or degrees, as
in The thing is absurd in my e., is
illiterate. Tories love discussion .
* i.e. ill 1913 : 1925 has disproved it, we read.
151
ETHIC(AL)
Iheu cannot have too much of it. But
that think it is going too far to trans¬
late words into action. That is not, in
their e., playing the Parliamentary
game.
estop is a useful word so long as it
is restricted to the special sense that
has secured its revival ; but to
revive its wider sense convicts one
of pedantry. The special legal sense
is (in the passive) ‘ to be precluded
by one’s own previous act or de¬
claration from alleging or doing
something Two quotations will
show the right & the wrong use :—
(a) No one defended more joyously the
silencing of Mr Asquith last July, &
Mr Maxse is estopped from complain¬
ing, now that his own method has been
applied to himself ; (b) The road
winds along the side of a barren
mountain till it appears to be estopped
by a high cliff.
esurient. See Polysyllabic hum¬
our.
etaclsm. See Technical terms.
etc. To resort to dbc. in sentences
of a literary character (His faults of
temper dec. are indeed easily ac¬
counted for) is amateurish, slovenly,
& incongruous :— A compliment of
this kind is calculated to increase
their enthusiasm, courage, dbc., to do
their utmost./The Covenanted Civil
Service with its old traditions & its
hereditary hatred of interlopers, be
they merchants , journalists, doctors,
etc. On the other hand, in the con¬
texts to which it is appropriate, it is
needless Purism to restrict its sense
to what the words could mean in
Latin, i.e. (a) & the rest as opposed to
& other things , (b) and the like as
opposed to or the like, (c) & other
things as opposed to persons ; the
first restriction would exclude His
pockets contained an apple, a piece of
string, tkc .; the second would ex¬
clude * Good \ * fair \ * excellent ’,
®c., is appended to each name ; the
third would exclude The Duke of A,
Lord B, Mr C, dec., are patrons.
ine reasonable punctuation with
Is tn nut n AAwimn _*A_i_
more than one term has preceded,
but not when one term only has
preceded : toads, frogs, dbc. ; but
toads dbc.
eternal. For ‘ the E. City ’ see
Sobriquets.
ethic(al), ethics. 1 . ethic)(ethical.
2. ethic dative. 3. ethic)(ethics. 4.
ethics, number. 5. ethics)(morals.
6. ethical)(moral.
1. ethic)(ethical. The short form
has now been almost displaced as an
adjective by the long ; it is occa¬
sionally still used, but is noticeably
archaic ; the only exception to this
is in
2. The ethic dative. This, in which
the word means emotional or ex¬
pressive, is the name for a common
Greek & Latin use in which a person
no more than indirectly interested
in the fact described in the sentence
is introduced into it, usually by
himself as the speaker, in the dative,
which is accordingly most often that
of the first personal pronoun. As
the construction was formerly Eng¬
lish also ( Come knock me at that door
= knock at the door, I tell you ;
Kills me some six or seven dozen of
Scots = Kills, they tell me, «fcc.), the
grammatical name for it is still
heard on occasion ; but its place has
been taken by various modern
colloquialisms, as Knock, can't you ?.
Kills, if you please. See also under
Technical terms.
3. ethic)(ethics. Of the two nouns
the second is the one for ordinary
use. It means the science of morals
or study of the principles defining
man’s duty to nis neighbours, a
treatise on this, or a prevailing code
of morality ( Ethics is, or are, not to
be treated as an exact science ; That
is surely from the Ethics, i.e. Aris¬
totle’s ; Our modem ethics are not
outraged by this type of mendacity).
Ethic in any of these senses has a
pedantic air; it is chiefly in tech¬
nical philosophic use, & its special
meaning is a scheme of moral science
(The attempt to construct an ethic
apart from theology).
ETHIC(AL), 4
152
EVASION
4. For the grammatical number of
ethics see -ics.
5. ethics)(morals. The two words,
once fully synonymous, & existing
together only because English schol¬
ars knew both Greek & Latin, have
so far divided functions that neither
is superfluous ; they are not rivals
for one job, but holders of comple¬
mentary jobs ; ethics is the science
of morals, & morals are the practice
of ethics ; Ilis ethics may be sound,
but his morals are abandoned. That
is the broad distinction ; the points
where confusion arises are three :
(a) sometimes those who are talking
about morals choose to call them
ethics because the less familiar word
strikes them as more imposing ;
(b) there is an unfounded impression
that ethics is somehow more defin¬
itely than morals disconnected from
religion ; (c) the distinction is rather
line between the sense of ethics last
given & illustrated in 3, i.e. prevail¬
ing code of morals, & morals them¬
selves ; but, though line, it is clear
enough.
8. ethical) (moral. It is in the
nature of things that the dividing
line between the adjectives should
be less clear than with the nouns.
For, if ethics is the science of morals,
whatever concerns morals evidently
concerns ethics too, & is as much
ethical as moral ; & vice versa.
Nevertheless, we talk of a moral,
but not an ethical, man, when prac¬
tice is in question, &, in the region
of theory, we perhaps tend more &
more to talk of the ethical rather
than the moral basis of society,
education, & so forth.
et hoc genus omne. A phrase on
which the literarv man who finds
c/
himself sorely tempted to ‘ end with
a lazy efcc.’, but knows he mustn’t,
sometimes rides off not very credit¬
ably.
ethos. Pronounce e'thos. It means
the characteristic spirit informing
a nation, an age, a literature, an
institution, or any similar unit. In
reference to a nation or State, it is
the sum of the intellectual & moral
tendencies of which what the Ger¬
mans call the nation’s Kultur is the
manifestation ; like Kultur, it is not
in itself a word of praise or blame,
any more than quality.
euchre, -er. See -re & -er.
eulogy. For a or an e., see a, an.
euphemism, -mistic, -mize. The
noun (cf. euphuism) means (the use
of a) mild or vague or periphrastic
expression as a substitute for blunt
precision or disagreeable truth :
Euphemism is more demoralizing
than coarseness./Mistress is a eu¬
phemism for concubine./Protection¬
ists have cuphcmized themselves into
tar iff-reformers.
euphuism. The word is often
ignorantly used for euphemism, with
which it is entirely unconnected.
It is named from Lyly’s Euphucs
(i.c.. The Man of Parts), fashionable
in & after the ICth century as a
literary model, & means affected
artificiality of style, indulgence in
antithesis & simile & conceits, subtly
refined choice of words, preciosity.
It is, unlike euphemism , a word with
which no-onc but the literary critic
has any concern. A single example
of the common misuse will suffice
While a fi nancial euphuism christened
railway construction a ‘ transforma¬
tion of capital ’, <£ not an expenditure.
See Popularized technicalities.
Eurasian. Sec mulatto 1, 4.
European. For a or an E., see a, an.
evacuate makes -enable', see -ableI.
evadable. So spelt ; see Mute e.
evaluate makes -uable ; see - able 1.
evanish. The word is effective in
poetry & poetic contexts ; for its
use in such phrases as the rapidly
evanishing phantom of a Home-Rule
majority, see Vulgarization.
evaporate makes -ruble', see - able 1.
evasion, evasiveness. The latter is
a quality only ; in places where
quality, & not practice or action, is
the clear meaning, evasion should
not be used instead of it : his evasion
of the issue is obvious ; he is guilty of
153
EVEN
veroetual evasion ; but the evasiveness
fnot evasion) of his answers is enough
to condemn him . See -ion & -ness.
eve. On Christmas E., on the E. of
gt Agnes, on the e » of the battle, on the
e. of departure , on the e. of great
developments. The strict sense of e.
being the evening or day before, the
first two phrases are literal, the last
is metaphorical, & the two others
may be either, i.e., they may mean
before either with an interval of days
or weeks, or with a night interven¬
ing, or actually on the same day.
Nevertheless, in spite even of the
chance of ambiguity, they are all
legitimate; what is not legitimate
is to use the word in its metaphorical
sense & yet remind the reader of the
literal sense by some turn of words
that involves it, as in The most
irreconcilable of Irish landlords are
beginning to recognize that we are on
the e. of the dawn of a new day in
Ireland. See Metaphor.
Eve. For daughter of Eve see Bat¬
tered ORNAMENTS, ELEGANT VARIA¬
TION, Hackneyed phrases. Peri¬
phrasis.
uncomfortable, & here would need
commas before & after e. to prevent
e. from gravitating to 1; so the
writer has been content with e. in the
wrong place. The true solution was
to write whose very names I do not
know (i.e. much less their looks &c.).
2. Even so. This is a phrase that
has its uses ; it often serves as a
conveniently short reminder to the
reader that the contention before
him is not the strongest that could
be advanced, that deductions have
been made, that the total is net &
not gross. But some writers become
so attached to this convenience that
they resort to it (a) when it is a con¬
venience to them & an inconvenience
to their readers, i.e. when it takes
a reader some time to discover what
exactly the writer meant by it, &
(b) when nothing, or one of the
everyday conjunctions, would do as
well. The following passages are
none of them indefensible, but all
exemplify the ill-judged c. so, used
(when it conveys too much) to save
the writer trouble, or (when it con¬
veys too little) to gratify his fond¬
ness for the phrase :—Quite the most
even. 1. Placing of e. 2. E. so.
1. Placing of e. It will be seen in
Position of adverbs that their
placing is a matter partly of idiom
& partly of sense ; e. is one of those
whose placing is important to the
sense. The time to see them is just
after breakfast, when they emerge
from every other door , Pugs , Poodles,
Pekinese , Dachshunds, Dandies, <Sc
ever so many more whose names I do
n °t e *. kn °w, all chattering at the top
of their voices as they walk , run, trot,
waddle or pitter-patter along according
to their kind. The effect of putting
e. there is to contrast know with
other verb ; what other verb ?
11 ^ run I cannot e. guess , it
would have been obvious to supply
much less know ; but know leaves no
room for a much less. The word that
° u 8“t to have been marked out for
contrast with another is not know,
rff f^mes. Whose e. names is not
possible ; whose names even is always
striking contrast between votes polled
& seats gained in the German elections
may be found in the following figures :
[figures show ing disproportion]. That
is on the first ballot, but e. so we can
imagine the Radicals & National
Liberals wondering whether the world
can be so ill-contrived that nearly
three million <k a quarter voters re¬
turned only four members, whereas
two millions return 81 (but, though
the second may mend matters,)./
Just at present the Act is the subject
of misconceptions & misrepresenta¬
tions, some of which can only be dis¬
sipated by actual experience of its
working. It may be that, e. so, the
people will dislike the Act (even after
experience )./We do not for a moment
expect that we shall be able to retain
in these islands all our population ;
we have Dominions over the seas in
which many of them will find new
homes still under the British flag .
But , even so, we have to make our
EVENNESS
154
EVERY ONE
own countryside more attractive
(though our population will be less ?
or though emigrants will still be
British ? Correct accordingly).//
hope it won't come to this ; but, e. so,
bridge-players will continue to take
their finesses db call it just the luck
when they go down (if it docs)./
Yesterday Mr Bonar Law actually
had the boldness to repeat in the
House of Commons a charge he made
at the Albert llall. E. so, in the
formula suggested by the single lady
xvho teas reputed to have had twins,
we shall do well never to believe more
than a half of what Mr Bonar Law
says (And yet). /It is natural that
France should be anxious not to lose
on the sidings what she gains on the
roundabouts, & she has some reason
for nervousness as to the interaction
of commerce & politics. E. so, she
will do well not to be over-nervous
(But)./// the absent are always wrong,
statesmen who have passed azvay are
alzvays gentlemen. But, e. so, Jee
were not prcpareil for this tribute to
those statesmen who fought for Home
Rule in 1SS0 tfc ISOS (omit e. so).
evenness. So spelt,
evensong &c. See morning.
eventuality, eventuate. See Anti-
Saxonism. The words are chieily
used in llabby journalese ; some
characteristic specimens are :— It is
therefore not as a substitute for local
veto that disinterested management is
advocated, but as a second string to
the bozv of temperance reformers, a
provision for the eventuality of the
people refusing to avail themselves of
the option of vcto./\Yc shall of course
be told before long that the Territorial
Force is on the eve of a complete
breakdown . . . ; that, as Lord
Haldane reminded us last week at
Tranent, is very far from the case,
however dear such an eventuality
might be to the enemies of the Volun¬
tary System./The Consular Body at
Shanghai have determined upon the
defence of the settlements in case of
eventuality./The bogeys that were
raised about the ruin did not eventuate.
yet employers still want the assistants
to work for long hours./May we be so
impertinent as to inquire what policy
Mr Lloyd George foreshadowed in his
letter to Sir Horace Plunkett ? And
why did not that policy eventuate ?
ever is often used in uneducated or
ultra-colloquial talk as an empha-
sizer of who, what, when, & other
interrogative words, corresponding
to such phrases in educated talk as
who in the world, what on earth,
where (can he) possibly (be ?). When
such talk is reproduced in print, ever
should be a separate word— what
ever See., not whatever &c. For e. in
letters see Letter forms.
ever so ( though it were ever so bad
See.). See never so.
every one. 1. Every one) ( everyone .
2. Number of pronoun alter e.
1. Every one) ( everyone. The . . .
drawings are academical in the worst
sense of the word; almost everyone
of them deserves a gold medal. In
this, the making of the two words
into one is undoubtedly wrong ; it
should only be done where everybody
might be substituted ; that is never
true w T hen, as here, things & not
persons are meant, nor yet when, as
here, a partitive of follows ; in cither
of those cases it is agreed that the
words should be kept separate.
Unfortunately there is not the same
agreement on the corresponding rule
that when everybody can be substi¬
tuted everyone should be used. The
question cannot be decided for every¬
one by itself; the parallel anyone, no
one, & someone must be taken into
account; of these no one alone is
fixed, & that is always two words¬
owing to the natural tendency to pro¬
nounce noone noon. On the side of
one word we have (a) the fact that
all the four words, when they mean
anybody &c., have only one accent
instead of the two that are heard
when they mean any single &c.,
(b) the general usage of printers,
based on this accentuation, with all
except no one. On the side of two
words we have (a) consistency, since
155
EVINCE
the others thus fall into line with
no one, Mahomet-&-the-mountain-
fashion, (b) escape from the mute e
before a vowel inside a single word
in someone, which is undesirable
though not unexampled, (c) the
authority of the OED, which gives
precedence in all four to the separa¬
tion. A very pretty quarrel. This
dictionary’s opinion is that the
accent is far the most important
point, that anyone & everyone &
someone should be established, &
that no-one is the right compromise
between the misleading noone & the
inconsistent no one ; no-one is as
consistent with everyone as co-ord¬
inate is with subordinate . The rules
would then be these :—(1) Anyone ,
everyone , no-one, & someone , in the
sense anybody, everybody, &c.; (2)
any one, every one , no one , some one ,
each with two accents, in other uses.
2. Number of pronoun after everyone
(E. had made up their minds ; E.
then looked about them silently) ; on
this question see Number, 11.
evidence) ( exhibit or show. To
evidence something is to be the
proof, or serve as evidence, of its
existence or truth or occurrence.
You do not e. care, i.e. that you are
careful, but your state of instruction
ma y care, i.e. that either you or
your instructors have been careful,
. y° u m ay by being obviously well
instructed e. your instructors' care,
it will be seen that show or exhibit
could take the place of e. in the
Pi®® 6 ® that have been said to allow
°t it, but also that they would stand
where it has been said that e. could
not. Writers with a preference for
me jras common or the more tech-
wor d are sometimes
intnPy Partial equivalence
Xl?* that they may indulge
of “““8 e ' inst ead
3l® ak i the >™ itation of meaning
other wrong sentence
exa** j the importance of the
words used in the definition
above of the meaning; it
must be borne in mind, however,
that that definition does not pretend
to cover all senses of e., but only
those in which it is in danger of
misuse.
Right use : This work of Mr
Phillipps, while it bears all the marks
of scholarship, bears also the far rarer
impress of original thought , db evi¬
dences the power of considering with
an unusual detachment a subject
which . . .
Wrong use : Mr Thayer evidences
a remarkable grasp of his material, d?
a real gift for the writing of history.
Negative use : We regret that his
work should be so unambitious in
scope, for it fails to include many of
the popular superstitions of today,
docs not roidcnce any great care or
research in its composition , <fc its
arrangement is amateurish. If the
definition above is correct, & to e.
means to be the proof of, or to serve
as the e. of, it is clear that it is one
of those words that are in place
only in affirmative sentences, & not
in negative or neutral ones. Just as
we say This brandy is excellent, but
not Bring me some excellent brandy,
or The brandy is not excellent (good
is the word), so we say that work
evidences care, but not that it does
not e. care (suggest or show is the
word); see Positive words.
evince has lost most of its meanings
by lapse of time ; the OED’s 1, 2, 3,
& 4, are marked obsolete, & only
5 & 6 remain. An example of each
surviving sense may be useful :—
The contrivances of nature decidedly
e. intention —Paley (i.e., are an
evidence of) ; The knees <fc upper
part of the leg evincing muscular
strength —Scott (i.e., giving tokens
of possessing, or revealing the
presence of).
But it may almost be said that its
Anti-Saxonism is the word’s only
claim to be used any longer ; those
who like a full-dress word better
than a plain one continue to use &
sometimes to misuse it. The writer
of one of the quotations below, in
EVOLUTION
156
EXCEPTING
putting it next-door to evident,
surely evinces a fondness for it that
borders on foolishness ; & the other
must have been unaware that,
though either a person or an atti-
tude°can e. an emotion, neither a
person nor an emotion can e. an
attitude ; an attitude is nothing if
not visible, & what is evinced is
inferable but not visible. Both the
Tories & the Labour Party evinced
an evident anxiety to stir up trouble
on the Labour unrest in the railway
world./The Opposition welcomed the
Bill on first reading, did not divide
against it on second reading, & have,
on the whole, only evinced a legiti¬
mately critical attitude in Committee.
evolution. See lu.
ex-. For such patent yet prevalent
absurdities as ex-Lord Mayor, ex-
Chief Whip, ex-Tory Solicitor-General
(except in another sense than its
writer means), see Hyphens ; & for
alternatives, late.
exactly, just. E. what has happened
or what is about to happen is not yet
clear ; Just how the rcords arc to be
divided. This now familiar idiom,
in which e. or j. is prefixed to an
indirect question, is a modern
development. The e. or j. some¬
times adds point, but is more often
otiose, & the use of it becomes with
many writers a disagreeable Man-
KERISM.
exaggerate. So spelt (L agger a
heap). E. makes exaggcrable ; see
-able 1.
exasperate makes -ruble ; see -able
1.
exceeding(ly) & excessive(ly). The
difference is the same as that be¬
tween very great or very much & too
great or too much. It is not inherent
in the words, nor very old, exces¬
sively) having formerly had both
meanings ; but it is now recognized
by most of those who use words
carefully, & is a useful Differ¬
entiation. It follows that 1 am
excessively obliged to you is not now
standard English, & that 1 was
excessively annoyed should be said
in repentant & not, as it usually is,
in self-satisfied tones. A passage in
which a good modern writer allows
himself to disregard the now usual
distinction may be worth giving:
I have said that in early life Henry
James was not ‘ impressive ’ ; as
time went on his appearance became,
on the contrary, excessively noticeable
& arresting. He removed the beard
which had long disguised his face, &
so revealed the strong lines of mouth
& chin, which responded to the
majesty of the skull.
excellence, -cy. See -ce, -cy.
excellent. See Positive words.
except, as a conjunction governing
a clause, i.e. as a substitute for the
unless or if . . . not of ordinary
educated speech, is either an Archa¬
ism resorted to for one or other of
the usual reasons, or else an illustra¬
tion of the fact that old construc¬
tions often survive in uneducated
talk when otherwise obsolete. In
the quotation, archaism for one of
the less defensible reasons is the
explanation :— But, e. the matter is
argued as a mere matter of amour
propre— &, for ourselves, we think it
woidd be unjust & unfair to Mr
Bonar Law to argue it in any such
way—how is it possible to use such
high-flown language about a mere
‘ change of method ’ ?.
excepting as a preposition has one
normal use. When a possible excep¬
tion is to be mentioned as not made,
the form used is, instead of not
except, either not excepting before
tlie noun or not excepted after it:
All men are fallible except the Pope ;
All men are fallible, not excepting the
Pope or the Pope not excepted. Other
prepositional uses of excepting are
unidiomatic ; but the word as a
true participle or a gerund does not
fall under this condemnation :— He
would treble the tax on brandy except¬
ing only, or without even excepting,
that destined for medicine. An ex¬
ample of the use deprecated is : The
cost of living throughout the world,
excepting in countries where special
157
causes operate , shows a tendency to
keep teoel.
exception. The e. proves the rule , &
phrases implying it, are so con¬
stantly introduced in argument, & so
much more often with obscuring
than with illuminating effect, that
it is necessary to set out its different
possible meanings, viz (1) the
original simple legal sense, (2) the
secondary rather complicated scien¬
tific sense, (3) the loose rhetorical
sense, (4) the jocular nonsense, (5)
the serious nonsense. The last of
these is the only one that need be
objected to directly, though 3 & 4
must bear the blame of bringing 5
into existence by popularizing an
easily misunderstood phrase ; un¬
fortunately 5 is much the common¬
est use. See Popularized tech¬
nicalities.
1. ‘ Special leave is given for men
to be out of barracks tonight till
11.0 p.m.’; ‘ The exception proves
the rule ’ means that this special
leave implies a rule requiring men,
except when an exception is made,
to be in earlier. The value of this in
interpreting statutes is plain.
2. We have concluded by induction
that Jones the critic, who never
writes a kindly notice, lacks the
faculty of appreciation; one day
a warm eulogy of an anonymous
novel appears over his signature ;
we see that this exception destroys
our induction; later it comes out
tnat the anonymous novelist is
Jones himself; our conviction that
SfonS the facult y of appreciation
avSL- st F on S er for the apparent
once have found
be * n 8 self- appreciation, it
whSf^? 6 the sc °P e of the rule—
however, we now modify to
“ymg that he lacks the
aeain i*°* a PP reciat ing others. Or
ofthp ilL— 8 out that the writer
VJL LOR TltfVri aa « n 1 1„ v
? another Jones ; then
°®r opinion o
strengthened
exeentinn 8haken ; These kinds of
ptlon are of great value in
EXCEPTIONABLE
scientific inquiry, but they prove the
rule not when they are seen to be
exceptions, but when they have been
shown to be either outside of or
reconcilable with the principle they
seem to contradict.
3. We may legitimately take satis¬
faction in the fact that peace prevails
under the Union Jack, the Abor
expedition being the exception that
goes to prove the rule. On the con¬
trary, it goes to disprove it ; but no
more is meant than that it calls our
attention to & heightens by contrast
what might otherwise pass un¬
noticed, the remarkable prevalence
of peace.
4. ‘ If there is one virtue I can
claim, it is punctuality.’ ‘ Were you
in time for breakfast this morning ? ’
‘ Well, well, the exception that
proves the rule.’ It is by the joint
effect of this use & 3 that the
proverb comes to oscillate between
the two senses Exceptions can al¬
ways be neglected, & A truth is all
the truer if it is sometimes false.
5. It rained on St Swithin, it will
rain for forty days ; July 31 is fine
& dry, but our certainty of a wet
August is not shaken, since today
is an exception that (instead of at
one blow destroying) proves the
rule. This frame of mind is en¬
couraged whenever a writer, aware
or unaware himself of the limita¬
tions, appeals to the 2 use without
clearly showing that his exception is
of the right kind :— That the inci¬
dence of import duties will be affected
by varying conditions, dc that in some
exceptional cases the exporter will
bear a large share of it, has never been
denied; but exceptions prove the
rules & do not destroy them./The
general principle of Disestablishing &
Disendowing the Church in Wales
will be supported by the full strength
of Liberalism , with the small excep¬
tions that may be taken as proving
the rule.
exceptionable, exceptional, unex-.
The -able & -al forms, especially the
negatives, are often confused by
tCSRPT
158
EX, -IX
writers or compositors. Exceptional
has to do with the ordinary sense of
exception, & means out of the com¬
mon ; exceptionable involves the
sense of exception rarely seen except
in take exception to & open to excep¬
tion ; it means the same as the latter
phrase, & its negative form means
offering no handle to criticism. The
usual mistake is that shown in:—
The picture is in unexceptional con¬
dition, & shows this master's qualities
to a marked degree.
excerpt. See Noun & verb accent.
excessive(ly). See exceedixg(ly).
exchangeable. So spelt; see Mute e.
excisable. So spelt ; see Mute e.
excise, not -ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
For synonymy of e., n., sec tax.
excitable. So spelt ; see Mute e.
Exclamation mark. See Stops.
excommunicate makes -cable ; sec
-able 1.
exculpate. Sec -atable.
excusable. So spelt ; see Mute e.
execrate makes -crable ; see -able 1.
executor. See -or. In the special
sense (testator’s posthumous agent)
pronounce Ikze'kutor, in other senses
6'kzikutor. The feminine is execu¬
trix (lkze'k-), pi. -trices (for pronun¬
ciation of which see -trix).
exercisable. So spelt ; sec Mute e.
exercise, not -ize ; see -ise)(-ize.
exhalation, exhale. The h is pro¬
nounced in the verb, but usually not
in the noun ; exhale makes -table,
see Mute e.
exigence, -cy. -cy is now the
commoner form ; -ce has no senses in
which -cy would be unsuitable, while
-ce sounds archaic in some ; it would
be well to make -cy universal ; see
-ce & -cy. The sense exactingness
belongs to the French word exigence,
which should be italicized & pro¬
nounced as French, at least until
exigence is no longer used as synony¬
mous with exigency.
exit, vb. Those who neither know
Latin nor read plays are apt to
forget or not know that this is a
singular verb with plural exeunt, &
to write exit the tariff-reformers as
complacently as exit tariff-reform.
All the following are actual news¬
paper headings :—EXIT THE DA¬
GOS./Exit the McKenna Duties./
EXIT BLACK LISTS./EXIT
HERTLING & VON HINTZE./
EXIT THE COAL AND DUMP¬
ING MEASURES./EXIT THE
MONITORS.
-ex, -ix. Naturalized Latin nouns
in -ex & -ix, genit. -ids, vary in the
form of the plural. The Latin
plural is -ices (-isez or -Jsez), the Eng¬
lish -exes (-eksiz) ; some words use
only one of these, & some both. See
Latin plurals.
1. Words in purely scientific or
technical use {codex, cortex, murex,
silex, &c.) are best allowed their
Latinity ; to talk of cortexes, codexes,
murexes, & silexes, is to take in¬
decent liberties with physiology,
palaeography, ichthyology, & geo¬
logy, the real professors of which,
moreover, usually prefer -ices.
2. Latin words borrowed as trade
names ( simplex, duplex, &c.) are for
the period of their lives English ; if
in talking of lamps you say you find
duplices better than central-draughts,
you are scarcely intelligible.
3. Words that have become the
established English for an object
{ilex) use -exes ; under the shade of
the ilices shows ignorance of English
more conspicuously than knowledge
of Latin ; cf. -us & -um. The ques¬
tion whether the ousting of the
native names (e.g. of holm-oak by
ilex) should have been or should be
prevented is a separate one, to be
decided for the individual word.
4. There are some words, howxver,
whose use is partly scientific &
partly popular, e.g. apex, appendix ,
index, matrix, vertex, vortex; of
these both plurals are used, with
some tendency, but no more, to
keep -xes for popular or colloquial &
-ices for scientific or formal con¬
texts :— The line just avoids the
apexes of the hills, but The shells have
their apices eroded. Six patients had
OFFICIO
159
EXPLETIVE
their appendixes removed, & I hate
books with appendixes, but The evi¬
dence is digested in five appendices.
A dial like a clock face with two
indexes , but Integral, fractional, &
negative indices. A heap of old
stereotype matrixes, but Some of the
species of whinstone are the common
matrices [for pronunciation see -trix]
of agate & chalcedony. Arrange the
trestles with their vertexes alternately
high db low, but In the vertices of
curves where they cut the abscissa at
right angles. Whirlpools or vortexes
or eddies, but The vortices of modern
atomists. There is thus considerable
liberty of choice ; but with most
words of this class the scientific use,
& consequently the Latin plural, is
much commoner than the other.
ex officio. When used as an adjec¬
tive, the words should be hyphened :
I was there ex officio, but the ex-
officio members of the committee. See
Hyphens.
exonerate makes -rable ; see - able 1.
exordium. PI. -ms or -ia ; see -um.
exoteric & exotic, of the same
ultimate derivation, have entirely
diverse applications. That is exo¬
teric which is communicable to the
outer circle of disciples (opp. eso¬
teric) ; that is exotic which comes
from outside the country (opp. in¬
digenous); exoteric doctrines', exotic
plants.
expandable, -ansible. See -able,
-IBLE, 2.
J x P ar Je, when used as an adj.,
SHA 6 h yp hen ed: speaking ex
parte, but an ex-parte statement; see
Hyphens (Group *sub judice).
^H ati0 °. See -ciation.
expect. Exception is often taken
sens ® suppose, be inclined to
tenri^S**^ ? roba l>le. This ex-
nX3 +w a ^ ng is ’ however, so
Purism • i** seeras needless
3* 8hort tor e. to find, e. that it
Z ^ that i® all :-/ e.
*»w time , I e. he was there z 1 e. \
you have all heard all this before ;
Mr -’s study is scholarly db
thorough, db has had a good deal of
expansion, we e., since it took the
- Essay Prize, i.e., if the facts
ever happen to come to our know¬
ledge, we shall be surprised if they
are not to that effect. The OED
remarks that the idiom is ‘ now rare
in literary use ’ ; that is owing to
the dead set that has been made at
it; but it is so firmly established in
colloquial use that if, as is suggested
above, there is no sound objection to
it, the period of exile is not likely to
be long.
expectorate, -ation, seem to be now
the established American for spil¬
ling) & spit(ting) out. In British
use they have as yet only the cur¬
rency of medical terms & Genteel-
isms. This difference of status,
which it is to be hoped will not be
diminished from our side at least,
is an object-lesson on the vanity of
genteelism. The mealy-mouthed
American must be by this time
harder put to it with expectorate
than the mealy-mouthed English¬
man with spit ; his genteelism has
outgrown its gentility & become
itself the plain rude w r ord for the rude
thing ; it must be discouraging to
have to begin the search for decent
obscurity all over again—with so
promising a failure behind one, too.
See Popularized technicalities.
expeiHency, -ce. The form first
given is now much commoner in all
surviving senses ; there is no inci¬
pient differentiation, & it is desirable
that the now rare - ce should be
abandoned. Sec -ce, -cy.
expedite. See Formal words.
experiment, n. & v. See Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
experimentalize. See Long vari¬
ants.
expert. See Noun & adj. accent.
expiate makes expiable, expiator ;
see -able 1, -or.
expiry. Pronounce -Irl.
expletive. The OED gives the pro-
EXPLICIT
160
EXTANT
nunciations 6'ksplitiv, £ksple'tlv, in
that order. The noun use (oath or
other interjection) being frequent &
popular, & the adjective use (serving
to fill out) literary & especially
grammatical, the two pronuncia¬
tions might well be made use of for
Differentiation ; cf. expert, & see
Noun & adjective accent ; the
noun would be e'kspiitiv.
explicit & express. With a certain
class of nouns (e.g. declaration, testi¬
mony, promise, contract, understand¬
ing, incitement, prohibition), cither
adjective can be used in the general
sense of definite as opposed to
virtual or tacit or vague or general
or inferable or implied or construc¬
tive. One mav nevertheless be
more appropriate than the other.
That is explicit which is set forth in
sufficient detail ; that is express
which is worded with intention.
What is meant by calling a promise
explicit is first that it lias been put
into words & secondly that its im¬
port is plain ; what is meant by
calling it express is first, as before,
that it has been put into words,
seeondlv that the maker meant it to
bind him in the case contemplated.
This second element in the meaning
of express is now generally present
in it where it is roughly synonymous
with explicit, but has come into it
by accident. An express promise
was by origin simply an expressed
promise, i.e. one put into words,
express being a Latin participle of
the kind seen in suspect = suspected,
subject — subjected, & many others.
When its participial sense ceased to
be appreciated, it was natural that
the familiar adjectival sense (for the
express purpose of ; express malice
is xehen one xvith a sedate deliberate
mind & formed design doth . . .)
should influence its meaning ; the
idea of special intention is now
almost invariably distinctive of ex¬
press when it is preferred to explicit.
exploit. See Noun & verb accent.
explosive (in phonetics). See Tech¬
nical terms.
export, n. & v. See Noun & verb
accent.
expose. See French words.
exposition in the sense public shrm
of goods &c. is a Gallicism (oi
Americanism) for exhibition.
ex post facto. This is the estab¬
lished spelling ; but the person who
knows the Latin words is worse ofl
with it in this disguise than one who
docs not ; it should be ex postfactc
(ex on the footing of postfacto latei
enactment). The ordinary rule of
Hyphens would then be applied, &
we should say It is undesirable to
legislate ex postfacto, but ex-postfacto
legislation is undesirable. E. legis¬
lation is, for instance, the making ol
an act illegal after it has been
committed ; but what is referred to
in facto is not the ‘ doing ’ of the
action but the ‘ enacting ’ of the law.
express, adj. See explicit.
express, vb. Mr Justice Sankey
expressed himself much troubled by
the viexes expressed in Lord Wren-
bury's letter./Both men afterxvards ex¬
pressed themselves perfectly satisfied.
Insert as after himself & themselves.
There is no authority for to express
oneself satisfied &e. ; at any rate
the OED has no acquaintance with
it ; & it certainly requires the sup¬
port of authority, whereas no such
support is needed for the use with
as. The fact is that Analogy is
being allowed to confuse express
with declare just as regard is wrongly
given the construction of consider.
expressive. For ‘ to use an e. word ’
i see Superiority.
expurgate. Sec -atable.
extant had formerly the same sense
as existent or existing, & was as
widely applicable. Its sense & its
application have been narrowed till
it means only ‘ still in existence or
not having perished at the present
or the given past or future time
& is applied almost exclusively to
documents, buildings or monuments,
& customs. E. memory, the e.
generation, the e. crisis, e. States, are
unlikely or impossible phrases, &
f .
I? 7/ V
EXTEMPORANEOUSLY)
the e. laws would be understood only
of such as were on record but not in
operation, of laws as documents &
not as forces. The pronunciation
recommended is 6 kstcznt, but ik-
Bt&'nt is not uncommon.
extemporaneous(ly) & extemporary,
-lly, are cumbersome words ; extem¬
pore (4 syll.) is seldom unequal to the
need. See Long variants.
extend. 1. For extendable, extendi¬
ble, extensible, see -able, 2.
2. E. for give or accord is, in its
present vogue, a piece of turgid
journalese. It might have been
natural English ; you e. your hand
literally, & from that through
extending the hand of welcome to
the metaphorical extending of a
welcome is a simple enough passage.
But native English did not go that
way, perhaps because give & accord
were already in constant use, one
for everyday & the other for more
formal contexts. E. in this sense
has done its development in America,
& come to us full-grown via the
newspapers—a bad record. To e. a
welcome is just tolerable because of
its obviousness as a metaphor ; but
the extending of a hearty reception,
sympathy, congratulations, a hear¬
ing, a magnificent send-off, & the
like, should if possible be barred (in
America a congregation ‘ extends
a call ’ to the reverend gentleman of
its choice) ; we have still give &
accord to choose between, with offer
& proffer to meet the demand for
other shades of meaning. The
following quotation shows an appli¬
cation in which even the notion of
friendliness inherent in the metaphor
has disappeared: Being promptly
deported by the German police, he
appealed to the Foreign Office for
redress, but Lord Salisbury informed
him in a characteristically pointed
official dispatch that he could see no
grounds whatever for taking exception
to the treatment which had been
extended to kirn.
Two points are to be observed in
regard to the above advice: (a)
mi
161 EXTERIOR
■
The condemnation does not touch
such sentences as You should e. to
me the same indulgence, where the
metaphor may be different, & the
meaning 4 widen it so as to include
me as well as someone else ’ ; (2) it
is not maintained that e. has never
had the sense of give or accord in
native English—it had in the lGth-
18th centuries—, but only that the
modernism does not descend direct
from the native use ; having been
reimported after export to America,
it is now ill at ease in the old country.
extent. In the phrase to . . . cxlcni,
e. should not be qualified by adjec¬
tives introducing any idea beyond
that of quantity ; to what, to any,
to some, to a great or vast or enormous
or unknown or surprising, e., but not
Some of the girls even go to the man¬
like e. of holding meetings in the
Park to discuss their grievances.
extenuate. 1. E. makes -uablc ; see
-able 1. 2. The root meaning being
to thin down or whittle away, the
proper object of the verb in its sense
of make excuses for is a word ex¬
pressing something bad in itself, as
guilt, cowardice, cruelty, & not a
neutral word such as conduct or
behaviour. But since these latter,
though neutral in themselves, are
often converted by context into
unmistakable words of blame, & are
then legitimate objects of e., the
misapprehension arises that it can
always govern them, & consequently
that the meaning of excuse belongs
to the verb, instead of to the com¬
bination between the verb & an
object expressing something blam-
able. From this comes the further
error of supposing that you can e.,
i.e. make excuses for, a person. In
such cases etymology is of value.
exterior, external, extraneous, ex¬
trinsic. Etymologically the four
differ only in the formative suffixes
used, & there is no reason why any
of them might not have acquired the
senses of all ; outside is the funda¬
mental meaning. It will be best to
take them in pairs.
G
EXTERIOR, 1 162 EX(TRA)TERRITORIAL(ITY)
1. exterior & external . That is without. A fly in amber, a bullet in
exterior which encloses or is outer- one’s chest, are extraneous bodies;
most, the enclosed or innermost extraneous aid , interference , lights
being interior. These opposites are sounds ; extraneous points are ques-
chiefly applied to things of which tions imported into a discussion
there is a pair, & with conscious from which they do not naturally
reference, when one is spoken of, to arise.
the other : the exterior court is one That is extrinsic which is not an
within which is an interior court ; essential & inherent part of some-
the exterior door has another inside thing but is attached to it as a
it; exterior & interior lines in separable belonging, essential pro-
strategy are concentric curves one perties being intrinsic. A florin’s
enclosing the other ; the exterior intrinsic value is what the metal in
car covers & leads to the interior it would have fetched before it was
ear ; & the exterior surface of a coined ; its extrinsic value is what
hollow ball, but not of a solid one, is added by the stamp. A person’s
is a legitimate phrase. extrinsic advantages are such things
That is external which is without as wealth & family interest, while
& apart or whose relations are with his courage & talent are intrinsic
what is without & apart, that which advantages. t , .
is within being internal. The ex- It is worth notice that extrinsic is
ternal world, external things, external now rare, being little used except
evidence, illustrate the first part of when a formal contrary is wanted
the definition ; external appearances, for the still common intrinsic. Ex¬
worship, & action (those that affect traneous on the other hand exists on
other persons or things somehow) its own account ; it has no formal
illustrate the second part ; external contrary, intrancous being for prac-
debt & relations are those a country tical purposes non-existent, & must
has to or with other countries. make shift with internal, intrinsic,
In many phrases either exterior or indigenous, domestic, native, or what-
external may be used, but usually ever else suits the particular context.
with some difference of underlying exterminate makes -nable ; see
meaning; e. g., the exterior ear is _ ABTE 2
thought of as the porch of the exterritorial. See EXTRATERRI-
interior ear, but the external ear is TOIUAL>
the ear as seen by the outsider. extract, n. & v. See Noun & verb
Again, a building’s exterior features ACCFNT
& external features are different ' extraneous. Sec exterior.
things, the former being those ot its extraordinary# Pronounce as five
outside only, & the latter all, syllables (-tror-) not six (-traor-) ;
whether of outside or inside, that ^ OE1) ^ives precedence to the
are visible as opposed to the struc- shortcr . f or the effect of spelling on
ture that can only be guessed at. SOU nd, see Pronunciation.
Similarly, with the nouns, exterior ... /.
has the definite narrow material ex(tra)territorial(ity). The forms
meaning of the outside, as opposed seem to be used quite indifferently,
to the inside of a building or the To the classical latmist, that is to
inner nature of a person, while say to 99% of those who are
externals includes all about a person acquainted with Latin at all, tne
that reveals him to us, his acts & longer seems the only reasonable
habits & manner of speech as well one, since extra, & not ex, is e
as his features & clothes. classical Latin for outside o ,
2. extraneous & extrinsic. this is perhaps a stronger considera-
That is extraneous which is brought tion than the saving of a syllable.
in, or comes or has come in, from It would certainly be better to av
EXTRICATE 163
one spelling only, & extra- is recom¬
mended.
extricate makes -cable ; see -able 1 .
extrinsic. See exterior.
-EY & -Y IN ADJECTIVES. The
adjectival suffix is -y, not -ey. Weak
spellers are often in doubt whether,
when -y is appended to nouns in
Mute e (as mite), the e is to be
dropped or kept. With the very
few exceptions given below, it
should be dropped ( mity, not mitey).
A selection of the commonest -y
adjectives from nouns in mute -e
will suffice to show the normal
formation, & another list follows
this, containing words of the kind
in which the bad speller goes wrong ;
he often does so because he con¬
ceives himself to be making a new,
or at least hitherto unprinted, word,
& is afraid of obscuring its con¬
nexion with the noun if he drops the
e —a needless fear. The safe -y
adjectives are : bony, breezy, briny,
crazy, easy, fleecy, fluky, gory, greasy,
grimy, hasty, icy, lacy, mazy, miry,
noisy, oozy, prosy, racy, rosy, scaly,
shady, shaky, slimy, smoky, snaky,
spicy, spiky, spongy, stony, wiry.
The shaky -y adjectives are : caky,
cany, chancy, fluty, gamy, homy,
horsy, liny, mity, mousy, nervy, nosy,
pursy, sidy, stagy, tuny, wavy, whity.
The exceptions referred to above
are:—
1. When an adjective in -y is made
from a noun in -y, e is inserted to
part y from -y : clayey & skyey, not
clayy or skyy.
2- ffofe makes holey, to prevent
confusion with holy = hallowed.
3. Adjectives from nouns in -ue
(oo) retain the e : gluey & bluey, not
gluy or bluy.
vb, makes eying ; see Verbs
& c., 7.
m DIMINUTIVES. The
1 type of all (baby.
-EY, -IE, -Y
uiust estabushe
daddy, granny) ]
names {Tommy,
0 v,nm y, rouy) Have -y ; it
he a 8 f m P lific ation if -y could
he made universal: but
are the only forms in some proper
names {Charlie or Charley, never
Charly ; Minnie ; Sukey) ; -ie is
preferred in Scotland, the native
land of some diminutives {laddie,
lassie, caddie) ; the retention of mute
- e , giving -ey {dovey , lovey, Nosey,
&e.) is more defensible than in the
adjectives made with -y (see -ey &
-y in adjectives) ; & generally
variety seems unavoidable.
In the list the recommended form
stands first or alone ; the principle
has been to recommend plain -y
wherever usage is not thought to
be overwhelmingly against it ; the
addition of another ending in
brackets means that that form is
perhaps commoner, but not so much
so as to make the recommended one
impossible. Some of the words in¬
cluded {booby, caddy, looby, Mary,
Marie, puppy, rooty, toddy, & per¬
haps others) are not in fact diminu¬
tive forms, but being mistakable
for such are liable to the same
doubts. There is some tendency
when a word is much used in the
plural {frillies, goodies, Johnnies,
kiddies, kilties, sweeties) to think
that - ie must be the singular ter¬
mination. Adjectives like comfy are
given here because the -y is the
diminutive ending, & not the adjec¬
tive suffix.
Amy ; Annie ; Arty = Arthur {-ie);
aunty {-ie); baby; Betty; Billy; billy
= cooking-pot; blacky; Bobby; bobby
= policeman ; Bony = Bonaparte
{-ey); booby ; bookie — bookmaker ;
bubby = brother or breast; bunny;
caddie = golf-attendant; caddy = tea-
box; Carry {-ie); Charlie {-ey); Cissy
= Cecilia {-ie); collie ; comfy ; cooky —
cook dear {-ie) ; cookie = cake; coolie
corbie = crow; daddy; darky {-ey)
deary {-ie); Dicky; doggy {-ie); Dolly
d. ; dovey; ducky ; Eddy = Edward
Edy^ Edith {-ie) ; Effle ; Emmy
Fanny ; fatty ; Florrie ; Freddy
frilly ; Froggy ; Georgy — George
Georgie = Georgina ; girly {-ie)
goody = goodwife or sweetmeat
goosy ; granny ; Hetty ; hoodie =
crow: hubby; Jacky; Jamy {-ie)
EYOT
164
FACT
Jeanie; Jemmy; Jenny ; Jerry',
Jessie ; Johnny’, Katy (-ie); kiddy;
kilty — Highlander (-ie); Kitty; lad¬
die ; lassie ; looby; lovey = my love ;
mammy ; Marie, French name ;
Mary , English name; maty = mate
(-ey) ; Milly (-ie) ; Minnie ; Missy ;
Molly; mummy — mother ; Neddy;
Nelly (-ie); nicy; nighty; Nosy =
big-nosed one (-ey) ; nunky = uncle ;
nursy (-ie) ; Paddy ; Patsy ; Patty ;
Peggy ; piggy (-ie) ; pinny ; Polly ;
puppy ; Peggy (-ie) ; Robby (-ie) ;
rooty bread; Sammy; Sandy;
Sawney ; shimmy ; sissy = sister ;
slavey ; sonny ; Sophy (-ie) ; spooky
(-ey) ; Sukey ; Susy (-ie) ; sweety ;
Teddy ; toddy ; Tommy ; tommy =
bread ; tummy ; Watty— Walter ;
wifie ; Willy (-ie) ; Winnie.
-ey nouns. PI. -eys, not -ies.
eyot. Pronounce at ; the OED
calls it ‘ a more usual variant of ait ’,
& ‘ an artificial spelling ’.
eyrie. See aery.
F
fabricate makes -cable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
facetiae, in booksellers’ catalogues,
is a euphemism for obscenities ; the
following extract from such a cata¬
logue is vouched for by the West¬
minster Gazette :—FACETIAE. 340
—Kingsley (C.) Phaethon ; or Loose
Thoughts for Loose Thinkers, 2nd
cd., 8vo, boards, Is., 1854.
facetious. For synonymy see
JOCOSE.
FACETIOUS FORMATIONS. A few
specimens may be collected in
groups illustrating more or less
distinct types.
Pun or parody : anecdotage (anec¬
dote, dotage) ; gigmanity (gigman,
humanity) ; correctitude (correct,
rectitude) ; judgematical (judge,
dogmatic); goloptious (voluptuous);
sacerdotage.
Mock mistakes : underconstumble,
mischevious, splendiferous, Eyetal-
ian.
Popular etymology, real or sup¬
posed : highstrikes (hysterics) ; jaw-
bation (jobation).
Mock Latin : bonus, bogus, hocus-
pocus, hi-cocalorum (hie, hoc, ho-
rum ?).
Portmanteau words : galumph
(gallop, triumph) ; chortle (snort,
chuckle).
Incongruity of Latin trimmings to
common English words : absquatu¬
late ; circumbendibus ; omnium
gatherum ; fistical ; babyolatry ;
disgruntled ; contraption ; squan-
dermania.
Irreverent familiarity : blimy (God
blind me) ; crikey (Christ).
Onomatopoeia , obvious or obscure :
bubblyjock ; collywobbles ; ram¬
shackle ; pernickety ; rumbustious.
Long & ludicrous : galligaskins ;
antigropelos ; cantankerous ; ske¬
daddle ; panjandrum; spillicate.
facile. Its value as a synonym
for easy or fluent or dextrous lies
chiefly in its depreciatory implica¬
tion. A f. speaker or writer is one
who needs to expend little pains
(& whose product is of correspond¬
ingly little import) ; a f. triumph or
victory is easily won (& comes to
little). Unless the implication in
brackets is intended, the use of /.
instead of its commoner synonyms
(a more economical db f. mode ; with
a f. turn of the wrist) is ill-judged &
usually due to Avoidance of the
obvious.
facile princeps. Pronounce f&'sili;
Latin adv. = easily (first),
facilitate. The officer was facili¬
tated in his search by the occupants.
We f. an operation, not the operator.
A Slipsiiod extension.
facsimile. Pronounce f&ksi'mili.
fact is well equipped with idiomatic
phrases. There are unquestionably
established in /., in point of as a
matter of the f. is, & the f. of the
matter is. It is a pity that the recent
invention as a f. (of which no
example is recorded in the OED)
should be thrust upon us in addition
to all these. It will be seen that in
each of the few quotations that
FACTIOUS
1G5
FAIL
must su
one or other of the familiar forms
would have been more at home
than this parvenu. He says that
a 4 considerable part * of the. 25 mil¬
lions is spent on new officials like
locusts devouring the land ; as a
barely one-thirtieth of that figure is
due to new officials (as a matter of
l.)./The Foreign Office has more than
once been severely criticized for similar
mistakes in the Reichstag & in the
Press; as a /., it is no more above
serious blunders than are many other
German institutions (the f. is). /It is
quite arguable that the time given
might have been better allocated, but
as a f. nearly all the important points
raised have been discussed (in point
off.)./The Pan-Germans db National¬
ists can afford to be more independent
than the Conservatives ; & as a f.
they are so (in f.).
That others besides journalists like
the sound of the phrase appears ,
from the following business letter:—
Dear Sirs ... I accept your statement
that the casks returned in March were
steel not wood barrels. As a f. [i.e.,
as a matter of f.] the ledger clerk who
was in our employ at the time is not
now with us & he is entirely to
blame . . . When your man returns
sacks , casks, or as a f. [i.e. in f.]
any other goods, a credit note is
handed to him at the time.
factlous,factitious,flctitious. Though
the words are not synonyms even
of the looser kind, there is a certain
danger of confusion between them
because there are nouns with which
two or all of them can be used, with
meanings sometimes more & some¬
times less wide apart. Thus factious
rancour is the rancour that lets
party spirit prevail over patriotism ;
factitious rancour is a rancour that
is not of natural growth, but has
been deliberately created to serve
someone’s ends j & fictitious rancour
w a rancour represented as existing
but imaginary. A party cry has
* f actious value, a silver coin a
factitious value (of. extrinsic), &
a bogus company’s shares a fictitious
value.
factitive. See Technical terms.
factotum. PI. -ms ; see -um.
fadeless. See -less.
faerie, faery. Pronounce fa'erl.
4 A variant of fairy. In present
usage, it is practically a distinct
word, adopted either to express
Spenser’s peculiar modification of
the sense, or to exclude various
unpoetical or undignified associa¬
tions connected with the current
form fairy ’—OED. The distinction
should be respected by all who care
for the interests of the language &
not only for their own momentary
requirements. To say Faerie when
one merely means Fairyland in
trivial contexts is Vulgarization.
fag(g)ot. Spell with two gs.
faience. The use in English of a
foreign ‘ general term comprising
all the various kinds of glazed
earthenware & porcelain ’—the whole
definition given in the OED—is hard
to divine. Most of those who read
the word are disappointed to find,
on appeal to a dictionary, that it
means nothing more specific. A
Superfluous word.
fail. 1. For a failed harvest, coup ,
stockbroker. See., see Intransitive
PAST PARTICIPLES.
2. Failings in default of is a par¬
ticiple developed through the abso¬
lute construction into a preposition ;
if or since so-db-so fails means the
same as in case of or on the failure
of so-db-so. Either the absolute or
the prepositional use is accordingly
legitimate, but not a mixture of the
two; the form whom failing familiar
in companies’ proxy notices is such a
mixture; it should be either 4 failing
whom ’ (preposition & objective) or
4 who failing ’ (absolute & subjective).
3. Fail is one of the words apt to
cause the sort of lapse noticed in
Negatives gone wrong : New
Year's Day is a milestone which the
least observant of us can hardly fail
to pass unnoticed.
FAINEANT
1GG
FALSE EMPHASIS
faineant. See Frkncii words.
faint. 1. For fainted girls &c. (cf.
fallen angels) see Intransitive r.p.
2. F. or feint lines, ruled f. or feint,
&c. Feint in these expressions
means neither more nor less than /.,
of which it is an older spelling (the
origin being F feindre feign) pre¬
served only by trade conservatism.
As it is a needless puzzle to the
uninformed customer, it should be
spelt in the intelligible way.
fair(ly). 1. For bid /., fight or hit
or plaij /•> /• between the eyes &e.,
speak one/., see Unidioiuatic -ly.
2. For the avoidance of ambiguity
it should be remembered that fairly
has the two oddly different senses of
utterly (Z was /. beside myself ) &
moderately (a f. good translation), &
that context does not always make
it clear which is meant.
fairy. 1. For Fairyland & Faerie,
see FAERIE.
2. F. & fay. The difference is not
in meaning, but merely in appro¬
priateness to different contexts ; /.
being now the everyday form, fay
should be reserved for occasions
demanding the unusual.
fait accompli. See French words.
faithfully. 1. For yours f. see
Letter forms.
2. In promise /., /. is an ultra-
colloquial or uneducated substitute
for definitely, explicitly, expressly,
emphatically, or solemnly.
3. Beal f. with is a phrase of
biblical sound & doubtless of puritan
origin, now used for the most part
jocularly in the sense not treat with
tenderness, punish or rebuke—one
of the idioms that should not be
spoilt by over-frequent use.
fakir, fakeer, faquir. The OED
treats the first as the established
form. Pronounce faker',
fall. 1. For is fallen, fallen angel,
&c., see Intransitive f.p.
2. The noun /. as a synonym for
the ordinary autumn is either an
Americanism, a provincialism, or an
Archaism ; as the last, it has its
right & its wrong uses ; as either of
the others, it is out of place except
in dialogue.
fallacy (in logic), false analogy. See
Technical terms.
FALSE EMPHASIS. 1 . That being
so, we say that it would be shameful if
domestic servants were the only class
of employed persons left outside the
scheme of State Insurance. What
the writer means is It would be
shameful for servants to be left out
when all other employees are in¬
cluded. What he says means It
would be shameful for nobody
except servants to be excluded—-
which is plainly neither true nor his
contention. The disaster is due to
his giving too emphatic a place to
a subordinate, though important,
point ; what is shameful is the
servants’ exclusion, not the inclusion
of anyone or everyone else. Care
must be taken that, an two men
ride of a horse, the groom & not the
master rides behind.
2. An especially common form of
false emphasis is the use of the
emphatic word both (which means
one as well as the other, or in one
case as well as in the other) in
places where that full sense is either
unnecessary or impossible, instead
of the two, they, or nothing at all.
The point is clear if the two sen¬
tences (a) Both fought well, & ( b) To
settle the matter both fought, are com¬
pared. In a, emphasis is wanted ;
not only one fought well, the other
did too ; but, in b, of course one did
not fight without the other’s fight¬
ing, since it takes two to make a
fight; the needless both makes the
reader wonder whom else they both
fought. Obvious as the mistake is,
it is surprising how often it occurs in
sentences little more abstruse than
b :—Both men had something in
common (with whom ? with each
other ; then why not the two, or
the men, or the two men, or simply
they ?)./At present there is a complete
divergence in the proposals of both
Governments {the two, or the)./Lorr
falsehood
167
QUANTITY
Milner had fixed these prices oecause
the Food Controller <& the Board of
Agriculture both disagreed as to what
they should be, & he had at least the
wisdom to fix a price that they both
disliked (the first both is needless &
misleading; the second is right).
An instance at once more excusable
& more fatal, both for the same
reason, that hard thinking is neces¬
sary to get the thing disentangled,
is: This company has found that
the men they employ in America can
be depended on to produce a minimum
of 40% more output than the men
they employ abroad, & yet these men
both in America & elsewhere may be
of the same race & nationality at
birth. The point is not that in
America, & just as much in (say)
Italy, these men may be (say)
Czechs, but that of any two men or
any two sets of which one is em¬
ployed in America & the other in
Italy both may be (say) Italians ;
it is not that America & Italy are in
some matter alike, but that the
difference between the employee in
one & the employee in the other is
constant; both, inserted where it is,
hopelessly disguises this ; read these
men of whom one is employed in
America & one elsewhere.
falsehood, falseness, falsity. Dif¬
ferentiation has been busy with the
three, but has perhaps not yet done
with them. At present A false¬
hood is a lie; falsehood is lying re¬
garded as an action, but it is also
a statement or statements contrary
to fact or the truth. Falseness is
contrariness to fact regarded as a
quality of a statement, but it is also
lying & deception regarded as an
element in character. Falsity is
interchangeable with falseness in its
first but not in its second sense.
In the following examples the word
used is, except where an alternative
is shown, the only one of the three
consistent with modern us a ere :—
Thai is a falsehood ; You told a
falsehood \ He was convicted of false¬
hood ; Truth would be suppressed
together with falsehood ; Truth exag¬
gerated may become falsehood ; The
falseness, or falsity , of this conclusion
is obvious ; A falseness that even his
plausibility could not quite conceal.
FALSE QUANTITY. The phrase
should be banished from the dis¬
cussion of how to pronounce English
words. The use of it betrays the
user’s ignorance that standard Eng¬
lish teems with what are in one sense
or another false quantities. Its
implication is that, with some limi¬
tations or other, the sound of vowels
in English words derived from Greek
& Latin is decided by the sound in
the words from which they come ;
but these limitations are so variously
conceived, when their existence is
not ignored, that mere mention of
false quantity is valueless. Take
a score of words about the pro¬
nunciation of which opinions differ,
& on which classical quantities
might be expected to throw light ;
the classical quantities are marked
where they matter, & accents are
added when acceptance of the class¬
ical quantity would naturally result
in a particular stress :—amenity,
apparent, c&ni'ne, clne'ma, com-
mu'nal, deficit, doctri'nal, gia'dldlus,
Idyl, inter'nScine, patriot, pro't&go'n-
ist, ration, sali'vary, Salonl'ca, sema¬
phore, simian, Socrates, tribunal,
vertl'go. It will be clear from this
list that the following of classical
quantity may operate singly or
doubly, i.e. on the sound of a vowel
only, or through it on the word’s
balance, & that the secondary is
much more noticeable than the
primary effect; the difference be¬
tween patriot & patriot, apparent &
apparent, is slight, but that between
doctri'nal & dfi'ctrinal, vertl'go &
ver'tigo, pro'tago'nist & prota'gon-
ist, is very great. How little weight
is to be attached to classical quan¬
tity as an argument merely for one
vowel sound against another will be
plain from another score of ex¬
amples, some of them actual Latin
words, in which the unquestioned
FALSE QUANTITY
168
FALSE SCENT
pronunciation is a false quantity :—
&gent, alien, bona fide, comic, cor¬
roborate, decent, echo, ethics, et
cetera, fastidious, Id6a, jocosity (&
all in -osity), military, minor, miti¬
gate, odour, pathetic (& most in
-etic), senile, solitary, variety (& all
in -iety). It is useless to call out
4 false quantity ’ to someone who
says ration or idyl or tribu'nal or
amenity when he can answer you
with agent, fastidious, minor, or
echo. The simple fact is that in
determining the quality of a vowel
sound in English classical quantity
is of no value whatever ; to ilout
usage & say Socrates is the merest
pedantry.
With regard to its secondary effect,
as an influence in selecting the
syllable in English words that shall
bear the stress, classical quantity is
not so negligible. A variation of
stress being a much more marked
thing than a vowel difference, the
non-latinist’s attention is arrested
when a neighbour whom he credits
with superior knowledge springs
doctrl'nal upon him, & doctrinal
gets its chance. Whether doctrl'nal
is right is another question ; the
superior-knowledged one knows that
doctrina has a long i ; but has he
satisfied himself that a long i, not in
doctrina but in doctrinalis, i.e. with
no stress on it, has any right to
affect the stress of doctrinal ? Or
again, has the Grecian who knows
klnema & objects to ci'nema re¬
flected that cinema does not repre¬
sent kinema itself, but is a shortening
of ci'nema'tograph, which again has
passed through French & indeed
been there ‘ assembled ’ on its way
from Greek to English ? if he had,
he would probably have held his
peace. In many words, such as
canine & saline, vertigo , the latinist’s
first thoughts (kani'n, sall'n, ver-
tl'go) do not need modification^ on
his own part as doctrl'nal & cine'ma
do ; but he has still to reckon with
the recessive-accent tendency, which
has as good a right to a voice in the
matter as his erudition, & will fight
hard & perhaps victoriously for
ka'nln, sa'lin, & ver'tigo.
After all deductions, however, a
small province is left in which the
false-quantity principle may fairly
reign ; if clematis is pronounced
klimAtis, enema ine'ma, & gladiolus
gl&dio'lws, what has been done is
this : in Greek & Latin words
adopted without modification, a
syllable that in the original is
neither long in quantity nor stressed
has been made the stressed syllable
in English; they should be kle'matis,
e'nima, & glAdyolws (with indul¬
gence to gladi'olws on the analogy
of variety). But on such disputes as
those between protAgonist & pro'-
tago'nist, co'mmunal & commu'nal,
i'nterne'cine & interfiledne, sAlivary
& sali'vary, mArital & mari'tal,
cer'vical & cervi'cal, Anthropoid &
anthro'poid, its decision is not final ;
it is not judge, but a mere party to
the suit. Let the scholar plead his
case ; but since the ailment that he
long insisted on our calling &ngi'na
pectoris was discovered to be Angina
after all, his pleadings are suspect.
FALSE SCENT. The laying of false
scent, i.e., the causing of a reader to
suppose that a sentence or part of
one is taking a certain course, which
he afterwards finds to his confusion
that it does not take, is an obviou3
folly—so obvious that no-one com¬
mits it wittingly except when sur¬
prise is designed to amuse. But
writers arc apt to forget that, if the
false scent is there, it is no excuse
to say they did not intend to lay it;
it is "their business to see that it is
not there, & this requires more care
than might be supposed. Ihe
reader comes to a sentence not
knowing w hat it is going to contain ;
the writer knows ; consequently
what seems to the latter, owing to
his private information, to bear
unquestionably one sense & no
other may present to the former,
with his open mind, either a choice
of meanings or even a different one
only. Nor has the writer even the
false scent
169
FAR
satisfaction of calling his reader a
fool for misunderstanding him, since
he seldom hears of it; it is the
reader who calls the writer a fool
for not being able to express him¬
self.
The possibilities of false scent are
too miscellaneous to be exhaustively
tabulated ; the image of the reader
with the open mind, ready to seize
every chance of going wrong, should
be always present to the inexperi¬
enced writer. A few examples, how¬
ever, may suggest certain construc¬
tions in which special care is neces-
sary :— It was only after Mr Buck-
master, Lord Wodehouse, & Mr
Freake, finding that they were unable
to go, that the England team, as now
constituted, but with Major Hunter
in the place of Captain Cheape, was
decided on. The writer knew that
after was to be a preposition govern¬
ing Mr B. &c. finding ; but the
reader takes it for a conjunction
with a verb yet to come, & is angry
at having to reconsider. Such
things happen with the Fused
participle./Foim* years, the years
that followed her marriage, suffice
Lady Younghusband for her some¬
what elaborate study, ‘ Marie An¬
toinette : Her Early Youth, 1770-
1774 ’ (Macmillan & Co., 15s. net).
The reader does not dream of jump¬
ing over Lady Y. to get at the owner
of her (marriage) till 1770-1774 at
the end throws a new light on the
four years. See Pronouns for more
such false scent ./The official an¬
nouncement at Borne that the Ottoman
Government, having failed to meet
Italy's demands, Italy & Turkey
were in a state of war from 2.30
yesterday afternoon , was promptly
followed by hostilities. The punctua¬
tion (see Absolute construction)
deludes us into expecting a verb for
the Ottoman Government, instead of
which comes a new subject./T/ie
influences of that age, his open, kind,
susceptible nature , to say nothing of
his highly untoward situation, made
» more than usually difficult for him
I® cast aside or rightly subordinate.
Only the end of the sentence reveals
that we were wrong in guessing the
influences & his nature to be parts
of a compound subject.
falsetto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
falsify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
fanatic. Pronounce fan&'tlk. The
word tends to lose its fully adjec¬
tival use. We say 1 call a man
fanatical (or a /., but not simply /.)
who . . . See -ic(al).
fancy, vb. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
fandango. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
fanfare. It is perhaps better to
pronounce the noun as a French
word, since neither noun nor verb
has become familiar English ; but
the verb, if used, can hardly be
treated as foreign, & should be
f&nfar'. fanfaronade, however, is
common enough to be fully angli¬
cized (f&nf&rona'd).
fantasia, fahntahze'ah, f&ntah'zia
—OED. The first is the Italian
pronunciation, advisable at least for
the technical musical term. In
transferred senses the second is no
doubt commoner, but perhaps due
to ignorance rather than to choice,
fantasy, phantasy. ‘ In modern
use /. & p., in spite of their identity
in sound & in ultimate etymology,
tend to be apprehended as separate
words, the predominant sense of the
former being “ caprice, whim, fanci¬
ful invention
while that of the
latter is “
notion ” ’
• •
imagination, visionary
OED.
fantoccini. Pronounce f&ntoche'nl.
faquir. See fakir.
far. 1. F arther)(further. 2. (So) f.
from. S. F.-flung. 4. ^4s & so f. as.
5. So f. as)(so f. that.
1. For farther)( further, see farther.
2. (So) f. from. So far from ‘ run¬
ning ’ the Conciliation Bill, the
Suffragettes only reluctantly consented
to it. This idiom is a curious, but
established, mixture between Far
from running it they consented to it
reluctantly & They were so far from
FAR, 3
170
FAROUCHE
running it that they consented to it
reluctantly. It is always open,
however to those who dislike illogi¬
cality to drop the so in the short
form—Far from running it they
consented to it reluctantly. But it
is waste labour to tilt against
Sturdy indefensibles.
3. Far-flung. The battle-line,
our f.-f. empire, &c. The present
emotional value of this as a Vogue-
word is reckoned so high as often
to outweigh such trifling matters as
appropriateness : — Set against all its
[the war’s] burden of sorrow &
suffering tfc waste that millions of men
from f.-f. lands have been taught to
know each other better. The lands are
distant ; they are not far-flung ;
but what matter? f.-f. is a signal
that our blood is to be stirred ; &
so it is, if we do not stop to think./
He is already popular, even in the
remotest parts of this f.-f. constituency.
4. ^4s & so f. as. As or so f. as x
cannot be used as short for as far
as x goes or so far as concerns x ;
in the following examples concerns,
regards, is concerned, goes, &c.,
should have been inserted where
omission is indicated : — As far as
vetting the money he asked forf\,
%lr Churchill had little difficulty./The
result was that the men practically
met with a defeat so far as/\ obtain¬
ing a definite pledge in regard to
their demands./There is no case for
the decision of the Law Lords, so far
as A ‘ Parliamentary representation
being a recognized method by which
unions could fulfil their legal function
of * regulating the relations betiveen
masters cfc workmen './They seem to
treat the Chancellor of the Exchequer's
Pud get proposals as something which
the moment they are made ought to be
considered as unalterable in any
respect, at all events so far asf\what
is proposed by way of taxation.
As or so far as, regarded as a com¬
pound preposition, is followed pri¬
marily by a word of place ( went as
far as York) ; secondarily it may
have a noun (which may be an
infinitive or gerund) that expresses
a limit of advance or progress (He
knows algebra as far as quadratics ;
1 have gone so far as to collect, or so far
as collecting, statistics). But when
the purpose is to say not how far
an action proceeds, but within what
limits a statement is to be applied,
as in all the examples at the begin¬
ning of this section, as & so far as
are not prepositions, but conjunc¬
tions requiring a verb. The genesis
of the misuse may be guessed at
thus :— I have gone as far as collecting
statistics (right). As far as collecting
statistics you have my leave to proceed
(correct, but unnatural order). As
far as collecting statistics he is com¬
petent enough (cf. knows algebra as
far as quadratics ; defensible, but
better insert goes ; the Churchill
sentence quoted is just below this
level). As far as collecting statistics ,
only industry is necessary (impos¬
sible).
5. So far as)(so far that. Ins
efforts were so far successful (a) as
they reduced, or (b) as to reduce, or
(c) that they reduced, the percentage of
deaths. The b & c forms mean the
same, & their interpretation is not
in doubt : he reduced the per¬
centage, & had that success. The
meaning of a is different : if you
want to know whether & how far he
succeeded, find out whether & how
far he reduced the percentage ; per¬
haps he did net reduce it, & there¬
fore failed. But the a form is not
infrequently used wrongly instead
of b or c :—The previous appeal made
by M. Delcasse was so far successful
as the Tsar himself sent orders to
comply (read that for as ; the sending
of orders clearly took place, & such
sending is not a variable by the
decree of which success could be
measured).
farce. See Technical terms, &
comedy.
farceur. See French words.
faro. Pronounce far'6.
farouche. The meaning, simply
sullen-mannered from shyness ( cne-
val f., cheval qui craint la presence ae
farrow _j
Vhomme —Littr6), is obscured by
association (‘ the connexion is un¬
tenable ’—OED) with ferocious ; see
TRUE & FALSE ETYMOLOGY.
farrow, litter. F. is used of swine
only, l. of any quadruped producing
several young at a birth.
farther, further. The history of
the two words appears to be that
further is a comparative of fore &
should, if it were to be held to its
etymology, mean more advanced, &
that farther is a newer variant of
further, no more connected with far
than further is, but affected in its
form by the fact that further, having
come to be used instead of the
obsolete comparative of far ( farrer ),
seemed to need a respelling that
should assimilate it to far. This is
intended for a popular but roughly
correct summary of the OED’s
etymological account. As to the
present use of the two forms, the
OED says :—* In standard English
the form farther is usually preferred
where the word is intended to be
the comparative of far, while further
is used where the notion of far is
altogether absent; there is a large
intermediate class of instances in
which the choice between the two
forms is arbitrary ’.
This seems to be too strong a state¬
ment, or a statement of what might
be a useful differentiation rather
than of one actually developed or
even developing. The fact is surely
that hardly anyone uses the two
words for different occasions ; most
people prefer one or the other for
all purposes, & the preference of the
majority is for further ; the most
that should be said is perhaps that
farther is not common except where
distance is in question. The three
P^ lrs of quotations following are
selected for comparison from the
"ED stores.
1. Comparative of far:—If you can
b ™\y° UT load father, say so.—
/* thought
171
FATALISM
afe for the
he aarknea
2. No notion of far :— Down he sat
without farther bidding. —Dickens. I
now proceed to some further instances.
—De Morgan.
3. Intermediate:— Punishment can¬
not act any farther than in as far
as the idea of it is present in the
mind. —Bentham. Men who pretend
to believe no further than they can
see. —Berkeley.
On the whole, though differentia¬
tions are good in themselves, it is
less likely that one will be estab¬
lished for farther & further than that
the latter will become universal. In
the verb, further is very much more
common.
fascinate makes -nablc, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
fascine. Pronounce fase'n.
fascist &c. The Italian words—
fascisla pi. -ti, fascismo —are pro¬
nounced (roughly) fahshe'stah -te,
-e'smo. In English they should be
fashi'sta,-te,-i'zmo, or else anglicized
to fascist pi. -s, -ism , pronounced
f&'sl-. Whether this full angliciza-
tion of the words is worth while
cannot be decided till we know
whether the things are to be tem¬
porary or permanent in England.
fasten. Pronounce fah'sn ; see
Pronunciation, Silent t.
fasti. Pronounce f&'sti.
fatalism)(determinism. The philo¬
sophical distinction between the
words cannot here be more than
roughly suggested, & is itself more
or less arbitrary. F. says : Every
event is pre-ordained ; you cannot
act as you will, but only in the pre¬
ordained way. D. says : You can
act (barring obstacles) as you will ;
but then you cannot will as you will ;
your will is determined by a complex
of antecedents the interaction of
which makes you unable to choose
any but the one course. That is,
/. assumes an external power decree¬
ing irresistibly every event from the
greatest to the least, while d.
assumes the dependence of all things,
including the wills of living beings,
upon sequences of cause & effect
FATEFUL
172
FAVO(U)R
that would be ascertainable if we
were omniscient. The difference
between the two views as practical
guides to life is not great ; one
assures us that what is to be will be,
the other that whatever is cannot
but be ; & either assurance relieves
us of responsibility ; but those are
called determinists who decline to
make assumptions (involving the
ancient notion of Fate) about an
external directing will.
Such, very roughly, is the difference
between the two theories ; but the
popular distinction today is not
between the names of two con¬
trasted theories, but between the
name of an abstract philosophy &
that of a practical rule of life. D. is
the merely intellectual opinion that
the determinist or fatalist account
of all that happens is true ; f. is the
frame of mind that disposes one at
once to abandon the hope of in¬
fluencing events & to repudiate
responsibility for one’s actions ; d.
is regarded as a philosophy, & /. as
a faith.
fateful. Will the Irish question,
which has been fateful to so many
Governments, prove one of the explo¬
sive forces which will drive the
Coalition asunder ? Correct to fatal.
Novelty-iiunting, the desire to
avoid so trite a word as fatal, is
responsible for many fatefuls ; cf.
forceful. There was a reason
good enough for inventing fateful,
in the restriction of the older fatal
to a bad sense ; fateful could mean
big with happy fate as well as with
unhappy. But to use fateful, as in
the quotation, where fatal would do
as well is to renounce the advantage
gained by its invention, & to sacri¬
fice the interests of the language to
one’s own momentary desire tor a
gewgaw 7 . See Pairs & snares.
father, n. For the f. of History, Lies,
see Sobriquets.
father, vb, in the sense fix the
paternity of, is followed only by on
or upon the father or author. He
was able also to say that the First Sea
Lord repudiated the idea, which the
advocates of compulsory service have
attempted to f. on to him, that . . .
Impossible English ; see Cast-iron
idiom.
fathom. Six &c. fathom , rather
than fathoms ; see Collectives 3.
fat(ten). See -en verbs.
fault. I am at f. = I am puzzled ;
1 am in f. = I am to blame. See
Cast-iron idiom. Mr [Publisher]
recently published a work entitled
‘ Fifty Years of Golf : My Memories,
by “ Andra ” Kirkaldy ’. Mr Horace
Hutchinson published in 1919, through
Messrs Newnes, a work entitled
‘ Fifty Years of Golf'. Mr [Pub¬
lisher], therefore, is at fault, & he
expresses his regret that the mistake
has been made.
faun, satyr, yahoo. The first two
are the Latin & the Greek name for
w r oodland creatures, half beast &
half man in form, half beast & half
god in nature. Horse’s tail & ears,
goat’s tail & horns, goat’s ears &
tail & legs, budding horns, are
various symbols marking not the
difference between the two, but that
between either of them & man.
The faun is now regarded rather as
the type of unsophisticated & the
satyr of unpurified man ; the first
is man still in intimate communion
with Nature, the second is man still
swayed by bestial passions. S. has
probably had its implications fixed
by association with yahoo, the type
of man at his most despicable, for
which see Gulliver Pt IV ; /. has not
been affected by this.
fauna, flora, are singular nouns
used as collectives, not plurals like
carnivora &c. Their plurals, rarely
needed, are faunas & floras, or
faunae & florae. They are Latin
goddess names made to stand for
the realm of animals, of flowers,
especially as represented in any
given district.
fauteuil, faux pas. See French
WORDS. , .
favo(u)r. Keep the -u- ; but see
-our & -OR.
FAY
173
FELDSPAR
fay. See fairy 2.
feasible. With those who feel that
the use of an ordinary word for an
ordinary notion does not do justice
to their vocabulary or sufficiently
exhibit their cultivation (see Work¬
ing & stylish words), /. is now a
prime favourite. Its proper sense is
‘ capable of being done, accom¬
plished, or carried out ’ (OED).
That is, it means the same as
possible in one of the latter s senses,
& its true function is to be used
instead of possible where that might
be ambiguous. A thunderstorm is
possible (but not /.). Irrigation is
possible (or, indifferently, /.). A
counter-revolution is possible ; i.e.
(a) one may for all we know happen,
or (6) we can if we choose bring one
about; but, if b is the meaning,
/. is better than possible because it
cannot properly bear sense a &
therefore obviates ambiguity.
The wrong use off. is that in which,
by Slipshod extension, it is al¬
lowed to have also the other sense
of possible , & that of probable. This
is described by the OED as 4 hardly
a justifiable sense etymologically,
& ... recognized by no dictionary ’.
It is however becoming very com¬
mon ; in all the quotations, it will
be seen that the natural word would
be either probable or possible, one of
which should have been chosen :—
Continuing, Mr Wood said: 4 1 think
it is very f. that the strike may be
brought to an end this week, <& it is
a significant coincidence that . . .’./
IPifwm said it was quite f. that if he
had had night binoculars he would
have seen the iceberg earlier./We
ourselves believe that this is the most
/. explanation of the tradition./This
would appear to offer a f. explanation
of the scaffold puzzle./The reason given
for the refusal was quite different &
f./It is f. that the airship was
struck by lightning & totally destroyed.
feast. For 4 f. of reason * see Hach-
neyed phrases.
featme, vb. The use of this in
cinema announcements instead of
represent or exhibit is perhaps from
America ; at any rate, while British
dictionaries give no meanings that
support it, the American 4 Standard ’
gives as normal 4 The newspapers
feature aviation Wherever it
comes from, it is to be feared that
from the cinema bills it will make
its way into popular use, which
would be a pity. (Yes! 1924: Boys ’
school & college outfits, men's foot¬
wear & under-garments, as well as
. . ., are also featured.)
fecund. The OED gives precedence
to f£'- over fe'-.
federate makes -rable, - tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
federation, confederation, confeder¬
acy. Writing in 1918, one may say
that the Entente Powers are now
a confederacy, that the proposed
League of Nations would be a con¬
federation, & that if that were
further developed into a United
States of Europe, that would be a
federation. The following extracts
from the OED bear this out:—
4 Confederacy now usually implies
a looser or more temporary associa¬
tion than confederation, which is
applied to a union of States organ¬
ized on an intentionally permanent
basis.’/ 4 In modern political use,
confederation is usually limited to
a permanent union of sovereign
States for common action in relation
to externals . .. The United States of
America are commonly described
as a Confederation (or confederacy)
from 1777 to 1789 ; but from 1789
their closer union has been con¬
sidered a 44 federation ” or federal
republic.’/[On federation ] 4 Now
chiefly spec, the formation of a
political unity out of a number of
separate States, so that each retains
the management of its internal
affairs ’.
fee, n. For synonymy see tax.
fee, vb. The past & p.p. are best
written fee'd ; see -ed & ’d.
feint, adj. See faint.
feldspar, not felspar. The first part
is German Feld field, not Fels rock.
FELICIDE
174
FEMALE
felicide. A Pedantic-humour word,
felicitate. See Formal words.
fellah. PI. fellaheen now more
usual than fellahs.
felloe, felly. ‘ In England the
forms seem to be equally in good
use ’ (OED, which pronounces each
as it is spelt). Perhaps the prevail¬
ing usage is to spell -oe, & say fS'li.
fellow & hyphens. See Hyphens
for the principles that should decide
between e. g. fellow man, fellow-man,
& fellowrnan. Usage, however, is
far from observing those principles
with /. ; they would require that
f. man, if man is to bear the accent,
as it does, should be written either
f. man or fellozvman, & that iff.-man
is written it should be accented on
fellow only ; but f.-man is almost
universal. All the combinations of
f. with a noun (except f.-feeling, for
which see below) would be best
written as two separate words
without hyphen, & they all are
sometimes so written ; but owing
to the mistaken notion that words
often used in juxtaposition must be
hyphened even though their accent
remains that which is proper to them
when unhyphened, the more familiar
combinations are so often seen with
the hyphen that they now look
queer & old-fashioned without it.
F.-feeling, which is more of a true
compound than the rest (/. not being
another name for feeling, as it is for
soldier in /. soldier), would be better
written fellowfeeling, but this also
has usually the hyphen.
A phrase or two may be given
parallel to the /. phrases ; sensible
people abstain from hyphening these,
because they cither realize or feel
instinctively that the effect of the
hyphen would be to throw all the
accent upon the first of the two
words Lord Mayor, lady help, Lady
Superior, deputy Speaker, soldier
statesman, mastiff puppy.
Those who are not afraid of seeming
old-fashioned can follow these ana¬
logies & write all the items of the
following list except fellowship &
f.-feeling as two separate words ;
& no-one need shrink from writing
so any of those in which a hyphen is
not here inserted or any still less
familiar combination ; but where
a hyphen is inserted, it is usual :—-
/. author, f. Christian, f.-citizen, /.-
commoner, f.-countryman, f. crafts¬
man, f.-creature, f. executor, f.-feel¬
ing or fellowfeeling, f. heir, f. lodger,
f.-man, f. passenger, fellowship, f.
sinner, f.-soldier, f. subject, f. sufferer,
f. traveller, /• worker.
felo(-)de(-)se. Pronounce felodise';
it is better written as three words
without hyphens except when used
attributively as in such felo-de-se
conduct; pi. (rare) felones de se or
(wrongly) felos de se or (colloq.)
felo-de-ses.
felspar. See feldspar.
female, feminine, womanly. The
fundamental difference between fe¬
male & feminine is that the first is
wider, referring things to the sex,
human or not, while the other is
limited to the human part of the sex.
This would leave it indifferent in
many contexts which word should
be used ; & yet we all know that,
even in such contexts, nearly always
one & not the other is idiomatic :
female ruler & cook, but feminine
rule & cookery ; female attire, child¬
ren, organs, but feminine gender,
curiosity, arguments ; & female &
feminine education mean different
things. It is clearly not true that
feminine is always to be preferred
when the reference is to human
females only, since female attire,
female servant, are better than femin¬
ine attire & servant.
A female is, shortly put, a she, or,
put more at length, a woman-or-
girl-or-cow-or-hen-or-the-like. the
noun use is the original ; but, like
all nouns, the word can be used
attributively, & through the attri-
butive use this noun has passed into
an adjective. The female sex is the
sex of which all members are shes ;
that is the attributive use ; passing
to, or rather towards, the full adjec-
FEMALE) (WOMAN 175 FEMININE DESIGNATIONS
tival use, we say so-&-so is female,
m eaning that it is of or for the
female sex. Beyond that point as
an adjective female has not gone ;
feminine, on the other hand, is not
a noun that has gone part way to
complete adjectivehood ; it has been
an adjective all its life, & means not
merely of or for women, but of the
kind that characterizes or may be
expected from or is associated with
women. That is, there are two
factors in choosing between female
& feminine, (a) that of the difference
between all sex & human sex, &
(b) that of the difference between the
noun-adjective & the true adjective.
The result is this : when the in¬
formation wanted is the answer to
the question Of (or for) which sex ?,
use female, provided that the con¬
text sufficiently indicates the limita¬
tion to humanland ; when the ques¬
tion is Of what sort ?, use feminine.
So we get female ruler, cook, com¬
panion, Paul Pry, but feminine rule,
cookery, companionship, curiosity;
female attire, organs, children, ser¬
vants, screws; the female ward of
a prison ; female education is the
education provided for (of course,
human) females, while feminine
education is that which tends to
cultivate the qualities characteristic
of women. Feminine is the epithet
for beauty, features, arguments,
pursuits, sympathy, weakness, spite,
& the like. The feminine gender is
the one that includes nouns resem¬
bling women’s names ; a man may
be called feminine, but not female,
z . I s women. For female or
feminine rhyme &c., see male 2.
Womanly is used only to describe
qualities peculiar to (a) good women
us opposed to men ( w. compassion,
sympathy, intuition, &c.) or (b)
developed women as opposed to girls
(to. beauty, figure, experience).
femaie)(woman. F. in its noun
Hf 6 j 1S 1 S0m ptitues convenient as a
word that includes girls as well as
women, & sometimes as including
non-human as well as human f.
creatures. Where such inclusion is
not specially desired, to call a woman
a female is exactly as impolite as to
call a lady a woman, without any
of the sentimental implications that
often make woman preferable to
lady ; it is reasonably resented. It
is not reasonable to extend this
resentment to the adjective use of
female ; but it is the mistaken
extension that probably accounts
for the apparent avoidance of the
natural phrase f. suffrage & the use
of the clumsy woman suffrage in¬
stead. As with /. education (for
which see the previous article), /.
suffrage is the short for the suffrage
of (of course, human) f. creatures,
i.e. women. It is to be hoped that
when the way the women are going
to vote comes, as it now will, to be
a common theme of discussion, it
will be called the female vote & not
the woman vote, just as its counter¬
part will certainly be the male vote
& not the man vote ; to turn woman
into an adjective with female ready
made is mere perversity.
Feminine designations. This
article is intended as a counter¬
protest. The authoress, poetess, &
paintress, & sometimes the patron¬
ess & the inspectress, take exception
to the indication of sex in these
designations. They regard the dis¬
tinction as derogatory to them & as
implying inequality between the
sexes ; an author is an author, that
is all that concerns any reader, & it
is impertinent curiosity to want to
know whether the author is male or
female.
These ladies neither are nor pretend
to be making their objection in the
interests of the language or of people
in general ; they object in their own
interests only ; this they are entitled
to do, but still it is lower ground, &
general convenience & the needs of
the King’s English, if these are
against them, must be reckoned of
more importance than their sec¬
tional claims. Are these against
them ? Undoubtedly. First, any
FEMININE DESIGNATIONS
176
FEMININE DESIGNATIONS
word that does the work of two or
more by packing several notions
into one is a gain (the more civilized
a language the more such words it
possesses), if certain conditions are
observed : it must not he cumber -
some ; it should for choice be cor¬
rectly formed ; & it must express
a compound notion that is familiar
enough to need a name.
Secondly, with the coming exten¬
sion of women’s vocations, feminines
for vocation-words are a special
need of the future ; everyone knows
the inconvenience of being uncertain
whether a doctor is a man or a
woman ; hesitation in establishing
the word doctress is amazing in
a people regarded as nothing if not
practical. Far from needing to re¬
duce the number of our sex-words,
we should do well to indulge in real
neologisms such as teacheress, singer-
ess, & dancercss, the want of which
drives us to cantatrice, danseuse, &
the like ; authoress & poetess &
paintress are not neologisms.
But are not the objectors, besides
putting their own interests above
those of the public, actually mis¬
judging their own? Their view is
that the female author is to raise
herself to the level of the male
author by asserting her right to his
name ; but if there is one profession
in which more than in others the
woman is the man s equal it is
acting ; & the actress is not known
to resent the indication of her sex 5
the proof of real equality will be not
the banishment of authoress as a
degrading title, but its establish¬
ment on a level with author. Nor,
after all, does an authoress, a doc¬
tress, a lioness, a votaress, a pro¬
phetess, or a Jewess, cease to be an
author, a doctor, a lion, a votary,
a prophet, or a Jew, because she
ends in -ess ; she should call herself,
& still more allow us without pro¬
test to call her, by the common or
the feminine title according to the
requirements of the occasion ; but
George Eliot the authoress would then
be as much more frequent than
G. E. the author as the prophetess
Deborah than the prophet D.
It may perhaps aid consideration
of the subject if short selections are
given, A, of established feminine
titles, B, of recent or impugned ones,
&, C, of words unfortunately not
provided with feminines.
A
Abbess, actress, administratrix,
adultress, adventuress, ambassadress,
deaconess, duchess, enchantress,
executrix, giantess, goddess, gover¬
ness, horsewoman, hostess, huntress,
Jewess, lioness, mother, murderess,
priestess, princess, procuress, prophe¬
tess, quakeress, queen, shepherdess,
songstress, sorceress, stewardess, vo¬
taress, waitress, wardress.
B
Authoress, chairwoman, conduc¬
tress, directress, doctress, draughts¬
woman, editress, inspectress, jury-
woman, manageress, paintress, pa¬
troness, poetess, policewoman, pro¬
tectress, tailoress.
C
Artist, aurist, clerk, cook, councillor,
cyclist, lecturer, legatee, martyr, mo¬
torist, oculist, palmist, president,
pupil, singer, teacher, typist.
Artist, in list C, illustrates well the
need of feminines, since ignorant
writers are often guilty of artists c&
artistes, meaning male & female
performers.
feminineness, feminism, &c. The
words on record in the OED are :
feminaey, feminality, femineity, fe-
minicity, feminility, _ feminineness,
femininism, femininity, feminism,
feminity. Of these feminaey, femin -
ality, feminicity, & feminility, may
be put out of court as mere failed
experiments. Femineity, -ineness,
-inity, & -ity, remain as competitors
for the sense of woman’s nature*
qualities, none of them perceptibly
differentiated in meaning. Fcmin-
ineness is a word that docs no
depend on usage or dictionary-
makers for its right to exist ; it can
FEMME-DE-CHAMBRE
177
FETISHES
of course be used ; -inity & -ity are
both as old as the 14th century &
have been in use ever since ; of the
two, - inity is the more correct form,
but - ity is more euphonious &
manageable, & is as justifiable as
e. g. virginity; -eity is a 19th-
century formation, needless beside
the others. It would be well if
feminity could be appointed to the
post, with feminineness as deputy,
& -inity & -eity dismissed as Super¬
fluous words.
Femininism & feminism should
have meanings different both from
the above & from each other.
Femininism should mean (a) an
expression or idiom peculiar to
women, & (b) the tendency in a man
to feminine habits. Feminism (with
feminist attached) should mean faith
in woman, advocacy of the rights of
women, the prevalence of female
influence ; it may be worth mention
that it, as compared with feminin¬
ism, is not open to the well-known
objections urged against pacifism
& pacifist as compared with pacific¬
ism ; but the proposed sense, now
pretty well established, is novel
enough not to be recorded in the
OED (1901).
femme-de-chambre. See French
words.
femoral. For /. habiliments see
Pedantic humour.
femur. PI. femurs or femora ; see
Latin plurals.
feoff, feoffee, feoff er or feoffor,
feoffment. Pronounce ffif-.
ferae naturae. The law applies
only to animals f. n. ; Rabbits are
/• n * * Rabbits are among the f. n.
The first two sentences show the
correct, & the third the wrong use
of the phrase, & the three together
reveal the genesis of the misuse.
n. is not a nominative plural, but
& means not
wild kinds \ but * of wild kind
® ^ reust be used only as equivalent
to a predicative adjective, & not as a
plural noun. See Foreign danger,
MODULARIZED technicalities.
Feringhee. Pronounce ferl'nggl.
ferment, n. & vb. See Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
ferret, vb, makes -eted &c; see
-T-, -TT-.
fer(r)ule. The cap or ring for a
stick has two rs, & is also spelt
ferrel ; the teacher’s implement
(now in allusive use only) has one r,
& is also spelt ferula. The two words
are of separate origins.
ferry, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
in -IE &c., C.
fertile. The OED gives precedence
to -11; but -II is now usual.
fervour. Keep the - u- ; but see
-our & -OR.
festal, festive. Both words point
to feast or festival, but the reference
in -al is more direct ; a person is in
festal mood if there is a festival &
he is in tune with it, but he mav be
in festive mood even if he is merely
feeling as he might if it were a
festival. A festal day ; in festal
costume ; a festive scene ; the festive
board. The distinction is not regu¬
larly observed, but, such as it is, it
accounts for the continued existence
of the two words. There is some¬
thing of the same difference between
festival & festivity or festivities.
fetid, foetid. The OED prefers
f6'tid as spelling & pronunciation.
The Latin original is, correctly spelt,
fetidus ; for £ see False quantity.
FETISHES, or current literary
rules misapplied or unduly revered.
Among the more notable or harmful
are: Split infinitive ; False
quantity ; avoidance of repetition
(see Elegant variation) ; the rule
of thumb for and which ; a craze
for native English words (see Saxon-
ism) ; pedantry on the foreign
spelling of foreign words (see
morale) ; the notion that reliable,
averse to, & different to, are
marks of the uneducated ; the rule
of thumb for and & or in Enumera¬
tion forms ; the dread of a Pre¬
position at end : the idea that
successive metaphors are mixed
Metaphor ; the belief that common
FETISH, FETICHE
178
FEW
words lack dignity (see Formal
words).
fetish, fetiche. The modern -ish
seems to have superseded the older
-iche. The OED gives fet- preced¬
ence over fet-. Though it has the
air of a mysterious barbarian word,
it is in reality the same as factitious,
& means (like an idol, the work of
men’s hands) a made thing.
fetus. Sec foetus.
feuilleton. See French words.
feverish, feverous. The differentia¬
tion is incomplete. What can be
done to help it on is to abstain from
feverish in the one sense apt to cause
fever (of places, conditions, &c.),
& from feverous both in the literal
senses suffering from fever, feeling
or showing symptoms of fever, & in
the metaphorical sense excited or
eager or restless. This would be in
conformity with the present ten¬
dency, which, though often dis¬
regarded, is plainly observable.
few. 1. Comparatively f. 2. Fewer
number. 1. As will be seen from the
newspaper extracts below, ugly com¬
binations of comparatively) with
a few & feiv arc now common. There
is no possible objection to putting
the adverb comparatively before the
adjective few, as in Comparatively
few people are in the secret ; that is
a normal construction not requiring
comment ; but a comparatively few
is quite another matter, & so is
the comparative few. The extracts
now follow :— The one beneficial
treatment for such men could not be
obtained excepting for a compara¬
tively few ./Its climate is such as to
limit the residence of officials to a
comparatively few months in the
year./The whole area has been drained ,
levelled, <& planned out in a com¬
paratively few weeks. /Those who do
not marry, you may conclude, are
used up by the work in a compara¬
tively few years./ Discussion in &
out of the House has reduced these : to
a comparatively few points./The
comparative few who take season
tickets seldom travel every day.
It is remarkable in the first place
that of an idiom now enjoying such
a vogue no trace whatever should
appear in the OED’s quotations
either for few or for comparatively) ;
the explanation is doubtless that
people of literary discernment, &
even the writers of books in general,
recoil from such a monstrosity, or
did twenty years ago. It is, indeed,
easier to call or feel it a monstrosity
than to prove it one, because a few
is itself an anomalous phrase, &
therefore analogies for its treatment
are not abundant ; we must make
the best of the few available ; the
main question is whether the few in
a few is a noun or an adjective, &
therefore to be qualified by an
adjective or an adverb. There is
first the familiar a good few, still
current though colloquial ; next,
there are a good many & a great
many, extant modifications of the
now dialectal a many ; thirdly, wc
know that quite a few & not a few
are English, while a quite few & a not
few are impossible. These show
sufficiently that while a few taken
together may be modified by an
adverb, a modifying word placed
between a & few can only be an
adjective ; in fact, the few of a few
is itself a noun meaning small
number. That it can be followed
by a plural noun without an inter¬
vening of ( there are a few exceptions)
is nothing against this ; it is parallel
to dozen, score, & hundred : a dozen
eggs, a score years, a hundred men,
where, whether of is inserted or not,
any modifying word is an adjective
after, or an adverb before, the a
(a round dozen eggs, a full score of
years, a good hundred men, but
roughly or fully or quite a dozen &c.).
Consequently, if comparative(ly) is
to be sandwiched it must be a com¬
parative fezv, but if it is to precede
the whole, or if it is to qualify few
without a, it must be comparatively.
On this showing all the above
examples are wrong, the last as well
as the others.
The objection will probably occur
FEW, 2
to some readers : What, then, about
a very few ? may we not say In a
very few years all will be changed ?
The answer is, first, that a very few
is no doubt the origin of the mistaken
constructions, & secondly that very
is here not an adverb, but an
adjective, as in She is a very woman
or devil, or in Living on a very
minimum of food; just as we can
say a poor or a wretched few, so we
can say a mere or a very few, with
very an adjective ; but because very
is now more familiar as an adverb,
it is wrongly concluded that words
that can only be adverbs will do.
It may be added that Very few
people were there is better than A very
few people were there , because few
means some & not many, while
a few means some & not none, so
that few is better fitted than a few
for combination with words express¬
ing degree like very.
2. Fewer number(s) is a solecism,
obvious as soon as one thinks, but
becoming common ; correct to
smaller in :— Fortunately the number
of persons on board was fewer than
usual./The fewer number of days or
hours we are ..., the better it will be./
The bird seems to have reached us in
fewer numbers this year.
fez. PI. fezzes, adj. fezzed.
flanc6, -6e. See French words, &
INTENDED.
fiasco. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
fibre, -ber. See -re & -er.
fibroma. PI. -omata (-o'-).
Kf* P1 * ~ lae or ~ las - Pron. fl'-.
fictitious. See factious.
fiddle. If the word is, as the OED
jays, now only in familiar or con¬
temptuous use it is matter for
& ^pse who defy this canon
al! learn the word fiddle as babies,
8e!vL a * ater * a ge when we find our-
*° oaderstand & use
KS??- word . it we explain
179
FIELD
the seductions of stylishness. Even
now. She fiddles divinely (as com¬
pared with playing the violin in that
manner) surely supplies a felt need ;
& as to the noun, a violin is a fiddle
& a fiddle a violin, &, when an
alternative is to hand, exotics like
violin with accents on their last
syllables should not be allowed to
upset the natural run of English
sentences.
fidget, vb, makes -eting &c. ; see
-T-, -TT-.
fiducial, fiduciary. The second is
the ordinary form, fiducial being
used only in some technical terms in
surveying, astronomy, &c.
fidus Achates.
aka'tez.
Pronounce fi'dws
-FIED. The spelling of the jocular
compounds in which a verb in -fy
hardly exists is unsettled ( countrified
or countryfied &c.). It seems best to
use -i- when the noun or adjective
does not provide a convenient con¬
necting syllable, but, when it does,
not to alter it ; so cockneyfied, coun-
tryfied, dandyfied, Frenchified, lady-
fied, townified, yankeefied.
field, in the sense of space proper to
something (/. of action, each in his
ownf.,& c.). The synonyms for this
are remarkably numerous ; the dis¬
tinctions & points of agreement be¬
tween these are fortunately obvious
enough not to need elaborate setting
forth ; but a list not pretending to
completeness, & a characteristic
phrase or so for each word, mav be
useful.
Area, branch, compass,department,
domain, field, gamut, last, limit,
line, locale, point, province, purview,
question, radius, range, realm, re¬
cord, reference, region, register,
scale, scene, scope, sphere, subject,
tether, theme.
A debate covering a wide area. Un¬
surpassed in his own branch. Ex¬
penses beyond my compass. In every
department of human activity. Be-
longs to the domain of philosophy.
Distinguished in many fields; is
FIELD OFFICER
180
FINICAL
beyond the Held of vision. In the
whole gamut of crime. Stick to your
last. Unconscious of his limits.
Casuistry is not in my line. A very
unsuitable locale. Talking beside the
point. It is not our province to
inquire. Comes within the purview
of the Act. Constantly straying from
the question. Outside the range of
practical politics. Operating within
a narrow radius. In the whole realm
of Medicine. Don't travel outside the
record. Such evidence is precluded
by our reference. In the region of
metaphysics. Any note in the lower
register. Whatever the scale of effort
required. A scene of confusion.
Find scope for one's powers ; limit
the scope of the inquiry. Useful in
his own sphere. Wanders from the
subject. Get to the end of one's
tether. Has chosen an ill defined
theme.
field officer. See officer.
fiery. Two syllables (fir'i).
fifteen. ‘ The T5 \ ‘ the ’45 ’. The
Jacobite risings of 1715 & 1745 are
so remote that there is now some
affectation in speaking of them by
these names except in historical
novels.
fifth(ly). Both the -f- & the -th
should be, but are often not, clearly
sounded ; cf. apophthegm, diphtheria,
diphthong, sixth.
fifties, Tif-. See twenties.
figure, figurant, figurative, &c.
While it is pedantic to pronounce
figure otherwise than as fi'g er, it is
slovenly to let the natural English
laxity go to this extreme with the
less familiar figuration, figurative,
figurant, figurine, &c. (figura'shn
&c.) ; see Pronunciation.
filial. The OED recognizes only
fil- ; fil- is however often heard, but
possibly only from latinists obsessed
by the fear of False quantity.
filigree, -agree. The OED gives
precedence to the first spelling.
fllle de chambre, de joie. See
French words.
fillip, vb, makes -iped &c. ; see
-p-, -pp-.
fils. See French words.
filthy lucre. See Hackneyed
phrases, & Irrelevant allusion.
filtrate, vb, by the side of filter, vb,
is a Superfluous word suggesting
Back-formation from filtration ;
see Long variants.
finable, not fineable ; see Mute e.
final (in syntax). See Technical
terms.
finale. Three syllables (flnah'li).
financier, n. & v. See Noun &
verb accent.
fine, adj. Not to put too f. a point
upon it is an apology for a down¬
right expression, & means ‘ to put
it bluntly ’.
fine, n. In fine, a phrase now
seldom used except in writing of a
rather formal kind, has entirely lost
the sense, which it once had, of at
last. It is still sometimes used for
finally or lastly, i.e. to introduce the
last of a series of parallel considera¬
tions ; but in the interests of clear¬
ness it is better that it should be
confined to its predominant modern
use, = in short or in fact or to sum up,
introducing a single general state¬
ment that wraps up in itself several
preceding particular ones.
Gnger. The fingers are now
usually numbered exclusively of the
thumb— first (or index), second (or
middle), third (or ring), & fourth (or
little) ; but in the marriage service
the third is called the fourth.
fingering, as a name for stocking-
wool, is not from finger, but repre¬
sents French yin grain fine grain ; see
True & false etymology.
finical, finicking, finikin. All that
can be said with certainty about the
derivation of the words & their
mutual relations seems to be that
-al is recorded 70 years earlier than
the others. As to choice between
them, the English termination - eking
is best calculated to express a hearty
British contempt for the tenuity
FINISH_181
naturally symbolized by the three
short is; cf. niggling & fiddling ;
-cal is now chiefly in literary & not
colloquial use.
finish, = rather fine, should be spelt
so, not fineish ; see Mute e.
fiord, fjord. The OED gives pre¬
cedence to fi-. The other spelling is
apparently used in English only to
help the ignorant to call it fyord ;
as, instead of helping, it only puzzles
them, it should be abandoned.
fire-arms. * The singular is late &
rare in use ’—OED (which, however,
quotes ‘ the report of a fire-arm ’
from Thackeray).
fire (out), in the sense expel or dis¬
miss (a person), is still an American¬
ism.
fir, pine. Most of us have wished
vaguely & vainly at times that they
knew a fir from a pine. As the
Scotch fir is not a fir, strictly speak¬
ing, but a pine, & as we shall con¬
tinue to ignore this fact, it is plain
that the matter concerns the botan¬
ist more than the man in the street.
The following from the Encyclo¬
paedia Britannica may, however, be
useful;—‘ The firs are distinguished
from the pines & larches by having
their needle-like leaves placed singly
on the shoots instead of growing in
clusters from a sheath on a dwarf
branch. Their cones are composed
of thin, rounded, closely imbricated
scales ’. Pines differ ‘ from the firs
in their hard woody cone-scales
being thickened at the apex, & in
their slender needle-shaped leaves
growing from a membranous sheath
either in pairs or from three to five
together .
F
first, l.
floor. 2.
form. 3.
For first &c. floor, see
For first &c. form , see
First thing is equally
the two first , though the older idiom,
wrong. Since many find themselves
unable to remember which is logical
without working it out, & disin¬
clined to do that afresh every time,
the simplest way is to suit the treat¬
ment of 2, 3, & 4 (beyond which the
doubt hardly arises) to that of larger
numbers ; no-one would say the
23 first instead of the first 23, &
neither should one say the two first
instead of the first two.
5. First(ly), secondly , lastly. The
preference for first over firstly in
formal enumerations is one of the
harmless pedantries in which those
who like oddities because they are
odd are free to indulge, provided
that they abstain from censuring
those who do not share the liking.
It is true that firstly is not in John¬
son ; it is true that De Quincey
labels it * your ridiculous & most
pedantic neologism of firstly ’ ; the
boot is on the other leg now ; it is
the pedant that begins his list with
first ; no-one does so by the light of
nature; it is an artificialism. Idioms
grow old like other things, & the
idiom-book of a century hence will
probably not even mention first,
secondly.
firth, frith. Firth is both the older
form & the prevailing one.
fisc, fisk. ‘ The current spelling in
Scots Law is fisk, in other uses fisc ’
—OED.
fish. For pi. see Collectives 4.
flsher(man). See angle(r).
flstic(al). See Hybrid deriva¬
tives, & Facetious formations.
fistula. PI. -as.
fit. For ‘ fit audience though few ’
see Hackneyed phrases.
flvepenny, flvepence. The pro¬
nunciations fTpenl, fi'pns, will no
doubt become universal if decimal
coinage is introduced.
fix. 1. Fixedly. Three syllables ;
see -edly. 2. Fixedness){fixity.
Fixedness is preferable in the sense
intentness, perhaps from the con¬
nexion with fixedly ; in other senses
the doubt about its pronunciation
FIX, 4
182
FLESHLY
(it should have three syllables) has
caused it to give place to fixity ;
compare hooking at her with mild
fixedness with The unbending fixity
of a law of nature. 3. Fix up
(arrange or organize), and fixings
(apparatus or trimmings), are both
Americanisms not yet naturalized in
England.
4. Fixation. Most literary men
know some Latin ; that Latin is
chiefly of the classical kind, & a
little of it is enough to make them
aware that figere, & not fiixare, is the
classical Latin for fix. Consequently
they feel an instinctive repugnance
to the word fixation , &, perhaps
unreasonably, prefer to say fixing
instead of it whenever they can ;
it is mostly left to those who need
it in technical contexts. If a com¬
parison could be made between
fixing & fixation on the one hand,
& (say) liberating & liberation on the
other, it would be found that avoid¬
ance of fixation was far the more
frequent.
fiz(z). See -z-, -zz-.
flaccid. Pronounce -ks-.
flageolet. Pronounce flajole't.
flail-like. For the hyphen see -like.
flair means keen scent, capacity
for getting on the scent of something
desired, a good nose for something.
The following quotations illustrate
the risks taken (see Foreign dan¬
ger) by writers who pick up their
French at second hand '.—And 1 was
eager to burst upon a civilian world
with all the flaire [sic] of a newly
discovered prima donna./Mrs -
has homely accomplishments ; a f.
for cooking goes with her f. for writing
(a taste & a scent are different meta¬
phorically as well as literally).
flambeau. PI. -s, or -x (i ron, -z) ;
see -x. , , ,
flamboyant is a word borrowed
from writers on architecture, who
apply it to the French style (con¬
temporary with English perpendi¬
cular) characterized by tracery
whose wavy lines suggest the shape
or motion of tongues of flame. It
is now fashionable in transferred
senses ; but whereas it should be
synonymous with flowing or flexible
or sinuous or free, it is more often
made to mean florid or showy or
vividly coloured or courting publi¬
city. A word of which the true & the
usual meanings are at odds is am¬
biguous, & could well be spared.
See Popularized technicalities.
flamingo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 1 .
flanerie, flaneur. See French
WORDS.
flannel. Spell flannelled, flannelly,
but flannelette. See -ll-, -l-.
flatulence, -cy. The prevailing
form is -ce ; -cy might well be dis¬
used, unless it were worth while to
assign it to the figurative sense of
verbosity, & that sense is hardly
common enough to need a special
form. See -ce, cy.
flatways, -wise. See -ways, -wise.
flautist, flutist. It is a comfort to
learn from the OED that flutist
(1603) is a much older-established
word than flautist (1860). With
three centuries behind us we can
face it out against Pride of know¬
ledge.
flavour makes fiavorous, but flavour¬
some ; see -our- & -or-.
flaxen. See -en adjectives.
fldche. See French words.
fledg(e)ling. Of the eight quota¬
tions in the OED, not one has the
-c- ; but see judgement.
flee. The verb is now little used
except in the form fled, fly & fllft n S
having taken the place of /•
fleeing. For is fled &e., see Intran¬
sitive p.p.
fleece makes flecccable (see -able 1 )
& fleecy (see -ey & -y). #
fleshly, fleshy. The distinction
much the same as between eartdiy &
earthy. Fleshy has the primary
senses consisting of flesh (fl J
tablets of the heart), having a large
proportion of flesh ( fleshy h »
fruit, &c.), & like flesh
ness, pink, &c.) ; while flesh y _.
the secondary senses of proper
fleur-de-lis
183
FLUTE
flesh or mortal body, sensual, un-
spiritual, worldly, {fleshly pleasures,
perception , inclinations , affairs , &c.).
fleur-de-lis. PI. fleurs-de-lis ; pro¬
nunciation, alike in sing. & pi.,
flerdele'. 4 The form flower de luce
survives as a poetical archaism & in
U.S.’—OED.
flier, flyer. The first is better ; see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
flippant. For synonymy see jocose.
flirtation, -atious, floatation. See
Hybrid derivatives.
flock, = tuft of wool &c. Flocks or
flock (see Collectives) is used as
the name for the material,
flock, flood, vbs. See Intransi¬
tive p.p.
sea & goods found on land after
being cast ashore. The original
sense of jetsam was what had been
jettisoned or thrown overboard.
flour, meal. Flour is bolted meal,
i.e. meal from which the husks have
been sifted out after grinding. Meal
is the ground product of any cereal
or pulse. Flour used by itself means
wheat-flour ; applied to other kinds
it is qualified ( rye-flour , corn-flour
i.e. flour of maize, &c.). Meal when
used of wheat has reheat prefixed.
flow. For 4 f. of soul ’ see Hack¬
neyed phrases.
flower-de-luce. See fleur-de-lis.
flown, in such phrases as flown with
insolence, is said by the OED to be an
floor, storey. The numbering of
floors & storeys is peculiar, the
second floor, e.g., being the third
storey. The ground floor & the
ground storey are the same, but the
first floor & first storey are different,
first storey being another name for
ground storey, but the first floor
being above it. In houses other
than the one-storeyed there are :
(1) Sometimes cellars (underground,
& not used for habitation) ; (2)
Sometimes a basement (partly or all
underground, & used for habitation);
(3) The first or ground storey, or
ground floor ; (4) Sometimes a mez¬
zanine or entresol (low, & not
reckoned in numbering) ; (5) The
second storey or first floor; (6)
Sometimes other storeys or floors
numbered onwards from the pre¬
ceding ; (7) Sometimes garrets or
attics or lofts (with part of the upper
room-space cut off by the roof).
flora. See fauna.
florilegium. Pi. -ia.
floruit (-or'dolt) is a Latin verl
meaning he flourished used with i
date to give the period to whicl
a person s activity may be assigned
t is a!so used as a noun —his f. &c.
. the date at which he was active
flotation. See Hybrid derivatives
& Jetsam. The distinctioi
18 betwee n goods found afloat in th<
obsolete past participle of flow, mean¬
ing flooded or swollen.
flu(e), for influenza. See Cur¬
tailed words ; flu is better than
flue.
fluid, gas, liquid. Fluid is the wide
term including the two others ; it
denotes a substance that on the
slightest pressure changes shape by
rearrangement of its particles ;
water, steam, oil, air, oxygen, elec¬
tricity, ether, are all fluids. Liquids
& gases differ in that the first are
incompressible, & the second elastic ;
water & oil are liquid & fluid, but
not gaseous ; steam & air & oxygen
are gases & fluids, but not liquids.
flunkey. PI. -eys.
fluorine. For pronunciation see
IODINE.
flurried, flustered, fluttered. There
is often a doubt which is the most
appropriate word ; the following
distinctions are tentative :—
A person is flurried who, with
several things to attend to, lets each
interfere with the others ; a person
is flustered in whom different im¬
pulses or emotions contend for ex¬
pression ; a person is fluttered who,
being of a timid or apprehensive
disposition, is confronted with a
sudden emergency.
flute. 1 . Fluty , not flutey ; see -ey
& -y. 2. For flutist see flautist.
FLUVIAL
184
FOLIO
fluvial, fiuviatile. There is no
difference in meaning, & no reason
why both should exist ; fluvial is
recommended, even if the longer
form is slightly commoner. See
Long variants.
fly. l. The noun is used as a Col¬
lective in the sense plant-disease
due to kinds of f. ( there is a good deal
of /.).
2. The verb makes is flown as well
as has flown ; see Intransitive p.p.
3. Fly a kite means (a) raise money
by bill, (b) m ake an announcement
or take a step with a view to finding
out whether a plan has a chance of
success.
4. Fly-leaf is a blank leaf forming
part of something printed, especially
one between the cover & the title-
page of a book, or at the end of a
circular or leallct ; it is not another
name for a leallct, which is, however,
sometimes called a fly-sheet.
5. A fly-ivheel is one whose sole
function is by its inertia & momen¬
tum to make the movement of the
shaft that works it continuous &
regular ; hence its metaphorical use.
6. For flyer see flier.
foal, colt, filly. Foal is of either sex,
c. male, & filly female.
foam, froth. The natural definition
of foam would be the froth of the
sea, & that of froth the foam of beer.
That is to say, foam suggests the sea,
froth suggests beer, & while one word
is appropriate to the grand or the
beautiful or the violent, the other
is appropriate to the homely or the
ordinary or the dirty. One demands
of foam that it be white; froth may
be of what colour it pleases. Froth
may be scum, but foam, though it
may become scum, ceases to be foam
in the process. It is perhaps also
true that froth is thought of mainly
as part of a liquid that has sent it
to the top, & foam as a separate
substance often detached in the act
of making from its source. But the
difference is much less in the mean¬
ings than in the suitable contexts.
focus. 1. The noun has pi. -cuses or
-ci (pron. -si) ; the verb makes
focused, -cusing (‘ in England com¬
monly, but irregularly, written fo¬
cussed, -ing ’ —OED) ; see -s-, -ss-.
2. The verb is liable to loose appli¬
cation, as in : At one moment it
seemed to be quite near, & at the next
far away ; for the ears, unaided by
the eyes , can bid imperfectly focus
sound or measure its distance. The f.
of a sound being ‘ the point or space
towards which the sound-waves con¬
verge ’ (OED), ears cannot f. sound
except by taking their owner to the
right point ; the eyes do measure
distance by focusing, having an ap¬
paratus for the purpose; the ears do
not.
foetid. See fetid.
foetus, fetus. ‘ The etymologically
preferable spelling with e in this
word & its cognates is adopted as
the standard form in some recent
dictionaries, but in actual use is
almost unknown.’—OED.
fogy, -gey. The OED gives pre¬
cedence to -gy.
fohn. See wind, n.
foist. The general public is much
too easily foisted off with the old cry
of the shopman that ‘ there's no de¬
mand for that kind of thing ’. The
public can be fobbed off with some¬
thing, or the something can be
fobbed off on the public ; but foist
has only the second construction ;
see Analogy & Object-shuffling.
folio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4. The
following account from a dictionary
may be useful :—Leaf of paper &c.
numbered only on front ; two oppo¬
site pages, or single page, of ledger
used for the two sides of account ;
number of w ords (72 or 90) as unit of
length in document ; (Bookbinding)
once-folded sheet of printing-paper
giving two leaves or four pages (inf.,
made of if.), (also /. volume &c.) a
book or volume in f., (similarly or
smaller sheets & books resulting
from various foldings & named after
the number of leaves to the sheet.
quarto or 4 to, folded twice into four
leaves ; sexto or Qto, thrice into o
FOLK 185
(rare) ; octavo or 8 vo, thrice into 8 ;
duodecimo or 12mo, 4 times into 12 ;
16 mo or sextodecimo or decimo sexto ;
18 mo or octodecimo ; 20 mo, 24/no,
32 mo, 64mo ; the last seven are or
may be spoken twelvemo &c.).
folk has passed out of the language
of the ordinary educated person, so
far as he talks unaffectedly. It is
still in provincial use, & is besides a
favourite Saxonism, whether in the
singular or in the plural form (folk,
a people, or people ; folks, people) ;
there is also its use, imitated from
German, in which the word is not
archaic as in English, in such learned
compounds as folklore, folksong, &
folk-etymology. Neither Saxonism
nor Germanism is a recommenda¬
tion.
follow. As follows. The main
regulations of Mr Gladstone's new
Order are as follow : — First . . ./
The ‘principal items of reductions
made since 1904-5 stand as follow:
In all such contexts, as follows
should be written. The OED ruling
is : ‘ The construction in as follows
is impersonal, & the verb should
always be used in the singular ’.
And among its quotations is one
from a Rhetoric of 1776 : ‘ A few
late writers have inconsiderately
adopted this last form * [as follow ]
* through a mistake of the construc¬
tion However, persons who are
pluming themselves on having de¬
tected a vulgar error that they can
amend are not likely to admit that
it is a mare’s-nest on the unreasoned
ipse dixit of an eighteenth-century
rhetorician, or even of a twentieth-
OED ; & some discussion
will be necessary. Unfortunately,
full demonstration is hardly possible;
several considerations raise
-{-ate presumptions in favour of
1. It is certain that we all say as
fi"? by the light of nature ; it is
ilJ the sophisticated intelligence
wra* as follow occurs (or would the
reformers prefer occur ?).
*• similar but mnrA nKtnAua wml
FOLLOW
but
treatment of other phrases suggests
that the correctors of this too may
be, though it does not prove that
they are, mistaken :—(id est or i.e.)
Section 15 (4), which deals with per¬
sons (ea sunt, all present & future
members of societies) entitled to re¬
ceive medical attendance ; the author
of this (why, by the way, does he
stop short of ii sunt or cae sunt ?)
would presumably like Byron to
have said Arcades ambo, ea sunt
blackguards both ; but id does not
mean that Arcadian or those Arca¬
dians, it means that phrase. (Con¬
cerns) Many of these stalks were
failures, so far as concern the objec¬
tive success ; what the writer means
is not so far as the stalks or the
failures concern success, but so far
as our discussion concerns it ; the
familiar as regards is liable to the
same mutilation.
3. The phrase as follows, which is
very old, no doubt originated in
sentences where there was no plural
in the neighbourhood to raise awk¬
ward questions. The OED quotes
(1426) Was done als her fast folowys
( = as here directly follows), & (1548)
He openly sayde as foloweth. He
spoke as follows may be taken as the
type ; that is obviously not a piece
of normal grammar ; what would
be the normal way of putting it ?
He spoke thus, which is, at full
length. He spoke so as I shall tell
you, or He spoke so as it shall be told,
or He spoke so as the tale follows,
whence, by ellipse, He spoke as
follows. This progress is surely
natural ; but it is equally natural in
His words were so as I shall tell you ,
or His words were so as it shall be
told, or His words were so as the tale
follows, whence His words were as
follows. It is true that, when the
idiom was being evolved, it was
open to its makers to say, instead of
were so as the tale follows, were so as
words follow ; but they chose other¬
wise, hundreds of years ago, & the
idiom is now fixed ; no-one would
want to change it except under the
impression that it was ungram-
FOOL'S-CAP
186
FORCEFUL
matical ; to show that it is no more
ungrammatical than the innovation
is enough to condemn the latter.
fool’s-cap, foolscap. The name of
the paper size is usually written
foolscap.
foot, n. For at the foot of the letter
see Gallicisms. Footgear & foot¬
wear are words little used except in
advertisements.
foot, vb. The bill , or the cost, foots
up to £50 means that £50 is the
amount at the foot of the paper on
which the addition is done. The
origin of Who will foot (i.e. pay) the
bill ? is not so clear ; perhaps pay
the sum to which it foots up. Both
phrases are good colloquial English.
footing. We have not the smallest
doubt that this is what will actually
happen, dc . . . we may discuss the
situation on the footing that the
respective fates of these two bills will
be as predicted. To give /. the sense
of assumption or hypothesis is a
Slipshod extension ; the writer,
in fact, on however intimate a f. he
may be with lobby prophets, is on
a slippery f. with the English
vocabulary.
for, conj. Two questions of punc¬
tuation arise. F. is a coordinating
conjunction, i.e. one that connects
two independent sentences ; it is
neither, like therefore & nevertheless,
strictly speaking an adverb though
serving the purpose of a connexion ;
nor, like since & because, a sub¬
ordinating conjunction that joins a
mere clause to a sentence ; hence
the two points.
1. Whereas, in Therefore A is Equal
to B, & in Nevertheless he did it, it is
a mere matter of rhetoric, depending
on the emphasis desired, whether
a comma shall or shall not follow
therefore & nevertheless, it is with for
a matter of grammatical correctness
that there should be no comma ;
For, within it is a house of refinement
& luxury is wrong ; this naturally
does not apply to places where a
comma is needed for independent
reasons, as in For, other things being
equal, success is a fair test.
2. Whereas since & because, con¬
necting a clause to a preceding
sentence, are rightly preceded by
a comma only, the presumption
with for, which connects two sen¬
tences, is that a semicolon should be
written ; this does not rule out the
comma, which will often pass when
the for sentence is a short one ; but
in such passages as the following
the comma is clearly inadequate, &
in general the semicolon should be
regarded as normal, & the comma
as the licence : — This is no party
question, for it touches us not as
Liberals or Conservatives, but as
citizens.
foramen. PI. -mina.
forasmuch as. Write thus.
forbears, n. See forebears.
forbid. 1. forbad(c). The pro¬
nunciation is -&d, not -ad, & the
spelling -ad is, to judge by the OED
quotations, nearly twice as common
as -ade.
2. To forbid one from doing (You
may f. him, if you like, from toiling
ten hours a day) is an unidiomatic
construction on the Analogy of
prohibit or prevent.
forcedly. Three syllables, if used ;
see -EDLY.
forceful, forcible. The main dis¬
tinction in sense is that, while
forcible conveys that force rather
than something else is present,
forceful conveys that much as op¬
posed to little force is used or shown;
compare forcible ejection with a force¬
ful personality. This leaves it often
indifferent, so far as sense goes,
which word is used ; a forcible style
is a style with force in it, a forceful
style one of great force. The sense
distinction, however, is the less
important part of the matter. By
usage, forcible is the ordinary word,
& forceful the word reserved for
poetical or other abnormal use,
where its special value depends
partly on its infrequency & partly
on the more picturesque suggestion
187
FORECAST
FORCE MAJEURE
of its suffix. Unluckily recent
writers have taken to exploiting, &
in the process destroying, this special
value, by making a Vogue-word of
forceful & always using it in place
of forcible. If this continues, we
shall shortly find ourselves with a
pair of exact synonyms either of
which could well be spared instead
of a pair serving different purposes.
Such writers injure the language,
which perhaps leaves them cool ;
but they also, as regards their own
interests, lose more in the opinion of
the educated than they gain in that
of the ignorant by avoiding the
obvious word. In the following
extracts there is, except in the first,
no need whatever to say forceful
instead of the natural forcible :—
Certainly he was a forceful & im¬
pressive personality at a time when
the stature of international statesmen
was not particularly great./M. Briand
had rightly calculated that he would
have the people of France behind him
in his forceful endeavour to restore
order./This may seem a trivial &
inconsiderable argument to Major
Morrison-Bell, but it seems to us that
it is as impressive & forceful today
as it was a quarter of a century ago./
It is his programme to urge upon the
Throne peaceful abdication as the
only alternative to forceful expul-
sion./The forceful ness of the utter¬
ances was in complete accord with the
gravity of the evil which these repre¬
sentatives of the civilized world had
met to grapple with.
force majeure. See French word;
forceps. PI. the same ; but s<
Singular -s.
fordo. See for-, fore-.
fore. To the fore appears to mea
property (see OED) at hand, avai
able, surviving, extant. In bein
borrowed by English from Scotch .
Irish writers as a picturesque phras<
has suffered a change of meaning
& is now established journalese fc
conspicuous. No great harm is dor
bet2? ambi 8 uit y may aris
between the true & the new senses.
for(e)bears. As to the form, the
prevalent but not sole modern spell¬
ing is without the e (the newspaper
extracts below are exact) ; but the
e seems better both as separating
the noun from the verb forbear & as
not disguising the derivation (fore¬
beers, those who have been before) ;
see FOR-, FORE-.
As to the use of the word by Eng¬
lish writers, its only recommenda¬
tion is that, being Scotch & not
English, it appeals to the usually
misguided instinct of Novelty¬
hunting. Ancestors, forefathers, &
progenitors, supplemented when the
tie is not of blood by forerunners &
predecessors, are the English words.
By his forebears Lord Tankerville is
connected with the ancien regime of
France. His great grandfather, the
Due de Grammont . . . (read ances¬
tors)./Birmingham is now being
afforded an opportunity for offering
some kind of posthumous reparation
for the great wrong its forbears in¬
flicted, close upon 120 years ago, on
the illustrious Dr Priestley (For its
forbears read it. Birmingham’s for¬
bears would be not an earlier genera¬
tion of Birmingham people, but any
villages that may have stood where
Biimingham now stands. If the
writer had been content with an
English word, he would hardly have
fallen into that trap).
forecast. So far as the operation of
the guillotine resolution on the Insur¬
ance Bill can be forecasted, it seems
probable that. . . Whether w T e are to
say forecast or forecasted in the past
tense & participle depends on
whether we regard the verb or the
noun as the original from which the
other is formed ; if the verb is
original ( = to guess beforehand) the
past & p.p. will of course be cast;
if the verb is derived (= to make
a forecast) they will as certainly
be forecasted. The verb is in fact
recorded 150 years earlier than the
noun, & we may therefore thank¬
fully rid ourselves of the ugly fore¬
casted \ it may be hoped that we
FORECASTLE
188
FOR-
should do so even if history were
against us, but this time it is kind.
forecastle. Usu. pron. fS'ksl.
foregather. See forgather.
forego. See for-, fore-.
foregone conclusion. The phrase
is used when an issue supposed to be
still open has really been settled
beforehand, e.g. when a judge has
made up liis mind before hearing
the evidence ; or again, when an
event is so little doubtful that the
doubt is negligible.
forehead. Pronounce fo'rSd ; see
Pronunciation.
Foreign danger. Those who use
words or phrases belonging to lan¬
guages with which they have little
or no acquaintance do so at their
peril. Even in eg., i.e., & et cetera,
there lurk unsuspected possibilities
of exhibiting ignorance ; with toto
caelo, bete noire, cui bono ?, bona fide,
qua, & pace, the risk is greater ;
i x such words as protagonist &
phantasmagoria , which one hesitates
whether to call English or foreign,
require equal caution. See all or
any of the words & phrases men¬
tioned, & flair. Two or three
specimens follow, for those who do
not like cross references :—/ suggest
that a Compulsory Loan be made pro
ratio upon all capital (pro rata)./
Ricasoli, another of his bates noirs
(noires).//l man who claimed to be
a Glasgow delegate, but whose bona
fides were disputed , rose to propose
the motion (was)./We are calmly told
that Cambridge was neither worse nor
better than the rest of the world ; in
fact, it was, we arc assured, in petto
the reflex of the corrupt world without
(in petto is not in little, but in one’s
heart, i.e. secretly). /TIIE TRAMP
AS CENSOR MORES (A headline ;
morum).
foremost. See -most.
forenoon. The Church Congress
sat in two sections this forenoon . . .
The afternoon programme was divided
into three sections. Even in contexts
that, by the occurrence as here of
afternoon in contrast, most suggest
the use of /., the natural English
(though perhaps not the natural
Scotch) is morning. Forenoon , hav¬
ing fallen out of use as the name for
the first half of daylight, is now
used by writers who dislike saying
a plain thing in the plain way. See
Formal words, & Working &
STYLISH WORDS.
foretaste, foretoken. See Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
foreword, preface. F. is a word
invented fifty years ago as a Saxon-
ism by anti-latinists, & caught up as
a Vogue-word by the people who
love a new name for an old thing.
P. has a 500-year history behind it
in English, &, far from being anti¬
quated, is still the name for the thing.
It is to be hoped that the vogue may
pass, & the taste of the general
public prevail again over that of
publishers & authors. A decent re¬
tirement might be found for /. if it
were confined to the particular kind
of preface that is supplied by some
distinguished person for a book
written by someone else who feels
the need of a sponsor.
But how one vogue-word drives out
another ! Here in 1924 comes a
book on whose title-page is mention
of neither preface nor foreword;
instead, it is ‘ With a Prefatory
Gesture bv -Poor old fore-
word ! your vogue is past, your
freshness faded ; you are antiquated,
vieux jeu, passd, demodd ; your nose
is out of joint. And, when gesture
shall have followed you to limbo, we
may hope to get back to preface.
FOR-, FORE-. The prefix of the
words forbear (vb), forbid, forby (Sc.
for besides &c.), fordo (exhaust),
forfend, forgather (assemble), forget,
forgive, forgo (relinquish), forlorn,
forpined, forsake, forspent, forswear,
forwearied, & forworn, is uncon¬
nected with the English words for &
fore, & means away, out, completely,
&c. All these should be spelt with
for-, not fore-, & the pronunciation
should be, as it invariably is in the
commoner ones such as forbid, fer- &
FORGATHER 189
not for-. On the other hand the
noun for(e)bears, & foregoing & fore -
gone in the foregoing list, a foregone
conclusion, contain the ordinary fore,
& should be spelt with the e, & pro¬
nounced for- or for-, not fer-. Fore¬
close & forfeit contain another prefix
again (L foris outside), though fore¬
close has had its spelling affected by
natural confusion with English fore.
All the words, whether established
or made for the occasion, com¬
pounded with fore, as forebode, fore¬
warn, foreman, fore-ordained, are
spelt with the e & should have the
f5r or for sound distinct,
forgather. 1. For the spelling see
foe-, fore-. 2. The word is a
Scotticism not quite at home in
English, as appears in Many inter¬
esting people he met at Lady St
Helicr's, where Mr Chamberlain,
among others, foregathered. It may
perhaps be said that whenever the
verb is not, as it usually is, in the
plural, it is followed by with.
forge makes -geable ; see Mute e.
forget makes -ttable ; see -t-, -tt-.
forgive makes -table ; see Mute e.
forgo. See for-, fore-.
forgot, as a past participle for the
current forgotten, is now, except in
uneducated speech, a deliberate
archaism.
forlorn hope is not an abstract
phrase transferred by metaphor to
a storming party, but has that con-
Crete sense in its own right, & only
gets the abstract sense of desperate
chance &c. by misunderstanding.
Hope is not the English word, but is
a mis-spelling of the Dutch hoop =
English heap ; the forlorn hope is
s^rffW 0t + l d ° r ! ? St band ’ those who
»J he - ! P f llin S of hope 8 once
but it is well to keep the original
meamng m mind; see True &
false etymology,
mSred 8 ^^ 01 ? 18 ’ are usualI y
from the first or
froJHht * formallt y- It is only
om the more abstract sense of
FORMAL WORDS
formality, from formality as the name
of a quality & not of an action, that
formalism requires to be distin¬
guished ; & there, while formality
means the observance of forms,
formalism is the disposition to use
them & belief in their importance ;
formality is the outward sign of
formalism ; see -ism & -ity.
FORMAL words. There are large
numbers of words differing from
each other in almost all respects, but
having this point in common, that
they are not the plain English for
what is meant, not the form that the
mind uses in its private debates to
convey to itself what it is talking
about, but translations of these into
language that is held more suitable
for public exhibition. We tell our
thoughts, like our children, to put
on their hats & coats before they go
out ; we want the window shut, but
we ask if our fellow r passenger would
mind its being closed ; we think of
our soldiers as plucky fel ows, but
call them in the bulletins valiant
troops. These outdoor costumes are
often needed ; not only may decency
be outraged sometimes by over-plain
speech ; dignity may be compro¬
mised if the person who thinks in
slang writes also in slang ; to the
airman it comes natural to think &
talk of his bus, but he does well to
call it in print by another name.
What is intended in this article is
not to protest against all change of
the indoor into the outdoor word,
but to point out that the less of such
change there is the better. A short
haphazard selection of what are to
be taken as formal words will put
the reader in possession of the point ;
but a full list would run into thou¬
sands ; it must be observed that no
general attack is being made on
these words as words v it is only on
the prevalent notion that the com¬
moner synonyms given after each
in brackets ought to be translated
into these :— accommodation (room) ;
announce (give out) ; bear (carry) ;
cast (throw) ; cease (stop) ; close
(shut) ; collation (meal); comestibles
FORMAL WORDS
190
FORTH
(food) ; commence (begin) ; com¬
plete (finish) ; conceal (hide) ; con¬
veyance (carriage) ; dispatch (send
off) ; don (put on) ; donation (gift) ;
draw (pull) ; emoluments (pay) ;
endeavour (try) ; evince (show) ;
expedite (hasten) ; extend (give) ;
felicitate (wish joy) ; forenoon (morn¬
ing) ; imbibe (drink) ; inquire (ask) ;
luncheon (lunch) ; mucilage (gum) ;
obtain (get) ; peruse (read) ; physic
(medicine) ; preserve (jam) ; pro¬
ceed (go) ; purchase (buy) ; remark
(say) ; remove (take away) ; seek
(try, look for) ; suborn (bribe) ;
summon (send for) ; sustain (suffer) ;
valiant (brave) ; veritable (real or
positive) ; vessel (ship).
There are very few of our notions
that cannot be called by different
names ; but among these names
there is usually one that may be
regarded as the thing’s proper name,
its kurion onoma or dominant name
as the Greeks called it, for which
another nay be substituted to add
precision or for many other reasons,
but which is present to the mind
even behind the substitute. A
destroyer is a ship, &, though we
never forget its shiphood, the reader
is often helped if we call it a destroy¬
er ; a vessel also is a ship, but the
reader is not helped by our calling it
a vessel, for the most part ; &,
though to evince is to show, it docs
not help him to call showing evin¬
cing ; what happens is first the
translation of show into evince by the
writer, & then the rctranslation of
evince into show by the reader ; mind
communicates with mind through
a veil, & the result is at best dullness,
& at worst misunderstanding. The
proper name for a notion should not
be rejected for another unless the
rejector can give some better account
to himself of his preference for the
other than that he thinks it will look
better in print. If his mental name
for a thing is not the proper name,
or if, being the proper name, it is
also improper, or essentially un¬
dignified, let him translate it ; but
there is nothing to be ashamed of in
buy or jam or say that they should
need translating into purchase &
preserve & remark ; w r here they give
the sense equally well, they are fit
for any company & need not be shut
up at home. Few things contribute
more to vigour of style than a prac¬
tical realization that the kuria
onomata, the sovereign or dominant
or proper or vernacular or current
names, are better than the formal
words.
format. See French words.
former. For the f. as a pronoun,
see latter. When the reference is
to one of three or more individuals,
the first, not the /., should be used :
Among the three representatives of
neutral States, Dr Castberg & Dr
Nansen stand for Norway <& M.
Ileringa for Holland ; the former
is so convinced of . . .
formula. The plurals -lae, -las,
are equally common ; see Latin
PLURALS.
formulate makes -table, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
fornicate. Fornication, as distin¬
guished from adultery, implies that
the woman is not a wife ; it is
sometimes but not always under¬
stood to imply further that neither
party is married. Agent-noun,
fornicator, see -or.
forrader, owing its existence en¬
tirely to the well-known anecdote,
should not be corrected into for¬
warder, which hardly has an inde¬
pendent existence ; see also Hack¬
neyed r ii rases.
forswear. For a forsworn lover ,
witness, &c., see Intransitive p.p.
forte, person’s strong point. For
the spelling, which should have been
(but should not be) fort, cf. morale.
forte (mus.). Two syllables,
forth. 1. And so forth is (cf. & the
like) a convenience to the writer
who does not wish to rehearse his
list at length, but shrinks from the
suggestion, now so firmly attached
to &c. as to disqualify it for literary
use, that he breaks off because it is
too much trouble to proceed ; the
slightly antique turn of the phrase
acquits him of unceremoniousness ;
& so on is in this respect midway
between <6 so forth & &c.
2. So far forth has occasionally the
advantage over so far of limiting
the sense to extent & excluding the
literal idea of distance ; more often
its only claim to preference is what
is always the only claim of so far
forth as against so far as —its superior
pomposity.
forties, ’for-. See twenties.
fortieth. So spelt,
fortify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
fortuitous means accidental, un¬
designed, &c. That it is sometimes
confused with fortunate , perhaps
through mere sound, perhaps by the
help of lucky, is plain from :— All's
well that ends well, dc his divorced
wives, whom the autobiographer naive¬
ly calls Divorcees Nos 1, 2, & 3,
seem to have borne no kind of ill-will
to their more fortunate successor.
Reviewing my own Algerian experi¬
ences, 1 must say that I should not
have expected so fortuitous a ter¬
mination of a somewhat daring ex¬
periment./When first produced, its
popularity was limited. Nevertheless
it may now sail into a more fortuitous
harbour on the strength of its author's
later reputation. For such mistakes
see Malaprops.
fortune... For the question be-
ween -tun & -choon, see Pronun¬
ciation.
2. The verb (it fortuned that, 1
fortuned upon) is an Archaism.
forty. For ‘ the Forty-five ’ see
fifteen. j
4 frjwardCs), adv. The OED says
pre * ent distinction in usage
f oncard & forwards is that
tion ^ tCr ® x F esse s » definite direc-
directTnT d t n CODtrast ™ th other
difference of meaning ; the
Sfc* examples in®which
y one of them can now be used :
“The ratchet-wheel can move only
forwards ” ; “ the right side of the
paper has the maker’s name reading
forwards “if you move at all it
must be forwards ” ; “ my com¬
panion has gone forward ” ; “ to
bring a matter forward ” ; “ from
this time forward ”.’ To this it
must be added that there is a ten¬
dency, not yet exhausted, for for¬
ward to displace forwards, & that
even in the less than twenty years
since the publication of that state¬
ment there has been change. The
reader will notice that, while he can
heartily accept the banishment of
forwards from the last three ex¬
amples, it is quite doubtful whether
forward is not possible in some or
all of the first three.
fossil. Pronounce fo'sl ; see Pro¬
nunciation.
fostress. So spelt,
foul, adv. See Unidiomatic -ly.
foulard. _The OED gives preced¬
ence to foolahr over foolar'd.
foully. Pronounce both Is. See
Unidiomatic -ly,
foundress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
fount(ain). Fount (apart from the
sense in typography, which is an¬
other word, connected with found)
is the poetical & rhetorical form of
fountain ; to use it in ordinary
contexts (e. g. in fount-pen for foun¬
tain-pen) is Vulgarization.
four. On or upon all fours, apart
from its literal application to a per¬
son crawling, has now for its chief
use the meaning of correspondence
at all & not merely some points
between two things (The cases are
not o. a. f. ; The analogy suggested
ts no/ o. a. f. with the actual facts).
This seems due to a misunderstand¬
ing . of the earlier but now less
familiar metaphorical use by which
a theory, tale, plan, &c., was said to
run or be o. a. f. when it was con¬
sistent with itself or proof against
objections or without weak points—
in fact did not limp like a dog on
three legs or rock like a table with
FOWL
192
FRANTIC
one leg too short. The step is easy,
though illegitimate,, from The com¬
parison is o. a. f. (i.e. complete at
all points) to The things compared
are o. a. f. (i.e. alike at all points),
& thence to o. a. f. with. Whether
this is or is not its origin, o. a.f. with
is now an established idiom.
fowl. The collective use of the
singular (see Collectives 4 ; all the
fish & f. in the world) still exists, but
is not common.
fox. Fern, vixen, bitch-fox, shc-fox.
foyer. See French words.
fracas. Pronounce friVkah ; pi.
spelt fracas, & pronounced fra'kahz.
fraenum, frenum. The second is
recommended ; see je , ce. PI. -na.
fragile. 1. Only -il is recognized
by the OED, but -il is perhaps as
common, & the choice rests entirely
(see False quantity) with usage.
2. fragilc)(frail. Frail is wider
both in application & in sense.
Whatever is fragile is also frail, but
a woman may be frail (i.e. weaker
than others in moral strength) who
cannot be called fragile (i.e. weaker
in physical strength). Where, as in
most cases, either word is applicable,
there is a certain difference of sense
between ( fragile ) liable to snap or
break or be broken & so perish &
(frail) not to be reckoned on to resist
breakage or pressure or to last long ;
that is to say, the root idea of break
is more consciously present in fragile
owing to its unobscured connexion
with fragment & fracture.
fragmentary. Accent on the first,
framboesia. For spelling see m, ce.
frame, vb, makes -viable ; see
Mute e.
franc-tireur. See French words.
Frankenstein. / tell you this coun¬
try may have to pay a long price for
Carsonism, & if Toryism returned to
power tomorrow the Frankenstein of
its own creating will dog its steps
from the first hour of its existence as
a Government. A sentence written
by the creatrix of the creator of the
creature may save some of those
whose acquaintance with all three is
indirect from betraying the fact:_
‘ Sometimes I endeavoured to gain
from Frankenstein the particulars
of his creature’s formation; but
on this point he was impenetrable \
Frankenstein is the creator-victim *
the creature-despot & fatal creation
is Frankenstein’s monster. The
blunder is very common indeed—
almost, but surely not quite, sanc¬
tioned by custom :—If they went on
strengthening this power they would
create a F. they could not resist./ln
his belief they were in the miserable
position of having created a F. which
they could not control./Thus the
Prime Minister has created a F. in
his new forces in Ireland, which may
in the end destroy the Government.
frantic. 1. Frantically)(franticly.
The first is recommended ; -ically is
almost universal as the adverbial
form of adjectives in -ic, & there is
no gain (as with politicly & politically,
where two meanings have to be dis¬
tinguished) in keeping up two forms.
2. Synonyms are frenzied, furious,
mad, passionate, rabid, raging, raving,
wild. Of these : frantic & frenzied
both mean beside oneself or driven
into temporary madness by a cause
specified or apparent from context
(frantic with pain, excitement, &c.;
the frenzied populace refused him a
hearing) ; in mere exaggerations,
e. g. when joy is the cause, frantic
is the word. Furious implies no
more than anger that has got out of
hand—or, of inanimate things, a
degree of force comparable to this.
Passionate applies primarily to per¬
sons capable of strong emotions,
especially if they are also incapable
of controlling them, & secondarily
to the sort of action that results.
llabid now usually implies the carry¬
ing to great excess of some particular
belief or doctrine, religious, political,
social, medical, or the like (a rabid
dissenter, lory, teetotaller, faddist ;
rabid virulence). Raging chiefly
describes the violence in inanimate
things that seems to correspond to
madness in man (cf. furious; a
193
FRENCH WORDS
raging storm, pestilence, tootnacne).
Raving is an intensifying epithet for
madness or a madman. The uses of
mad & wild hardly need setting forth.
frappant. See French words.
No doubt the old British belief arose
from the peculiar white glare of the
sunlight reflected from the hawthorn
blossoms, which must have been far
more frappant when South Britain
was one vast forest. 4 Clear, please *
says John Bull when invited to
choose between creme or puree de
something & consomm^ de some¬
thing else ; &, if he must decide
whether he will take his contrasts
frappant or otherwise, he can but
say ‘ striking, please
frate. Pronounce -ah'ta; pi. f rati
pron. -ah'te.
Frau, Fraulein. Pronounce frow,
froi'lln.
free. 1. Freeman)(Jree man. The
single word has two senses, (a) per¬
son who has the 4 freedom ’ of a city
&c., & (b) person who is not a slave
or serf, citizen of a free State ; in
other senses (at last I am a free man,
i.e. have retired from business, lost
my wife, &c.) the words should be
separate.
2. Free will, free-will, freewill. The
hyphened form should be restricted
to the attributive use as in a free-will
offering, the free-will theory. In non-
philosophical use free will should be
written, & the OED prefers it even
for the philosophical term ; many
writers hyphen it in that sense, but
this transgresses the general prin¬
ciple of connexion between hyphen
& accent (for which see Hyphens),
since the accent remains on will;
&, if a separate form for the philo¬
sophical term is required, it should
be freewill.
Frenchify. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
French words, i. Use. 2. Pro¬
nunciation. Display of superior
knowledge is as great a vulgarity as
display of superior wealth—greater,
1351
indeed, inasmuch as knowledge
should tend more definitely than
wealth towards discretion & good
manners. That is the guiding prin¬
ciple alike in the using & in the
pronouncing of French words in
English writing & talk. To use
French words that your reader or
hearer does not know or does not
fully understand, to pronounce them
as if you were one of the select few
to whom French is second nature
when he is not of those few (& it is
ten thousand to one that neither
you nor he will be so), is incon¬
siderate & rude.
1. Use of French words. It
would be a satisfaction to have a
table divided into permissible words,
forbidden words, & words needing
caution ; but anyone who starts
sanguinely on the making of it is
likely to come, after much shifting
of words from class to class, to the
same conclusion as the writer of this
article—that of the thousand or so
French words having some sort of
currency in English none can be
prohibited, & almost none can be
given unconditional licences ; it is
all a matter of the audience & the
occasion. Only faddists will engage
in alien-hunting & insist on finding
native substitutes for tete-a-tete,
agent provocateur, esprit de corps,
cadre, chaperon, chdssis, chose jugie,
dibris, force majeure, grand seigneur,
habitui, laissez-faire, & a hundred
other words that save circumlocu¬
tion. Only fools will think it com¬
mends them to the English reader
to decorate incongruously with such
bower-birds’ treasures as au pied de
la lettre, d merveille, bien entendu, les
convenances, codte que codte, quand
mime, dernier ressort, impayable, jeu
de mots, par exemple, robe de cham-
bre, sans doute, tracasseries, & sauter
aux yeux ; yet even these, even the
abominations beginning & ending
that list, are in place as supplying
local colour or for other special
reasons on perhaps five per cent, of
the occasions on which they actually
appear. It would be easy to make
H
FRENCH WORDS, 2
194
PRONUNCIATION
a set of pigeon-holes to contain the
French words ; let us say :
A. The standard word for the thing
( aide-de-camp, ballet, chauffeur).
B. Words accepted as practically
English, though not indispensable
(beau, billet-doux, char-a-bancs).
C. Circumlocution-savers (blase, au
revoir, fait accompli).
D. Diplomacy & politics (pourpar¬
lers, communique, bloc).
E. Dress & cookery (moire antique,
entree, hors-d'oeuvre).
F. Local colour & travel (concierge,
trottoir, lycce).
G. Sport & theatre (savate, couloir,
entr'acte).
H. Art ( atelier , tache, genre).
I. Literature (causerie, cliche, jeu
d’esprit).
K. Euphemism (abattoir, accouche¬
ment, souteneur).
L. Pretentious decoration (agre-
ments, coulc que couie, frappant).
M. Needless substitutes for English
words (cul-de-sac, en route, brochure).
N. Puzzles for the plain man
(acharnement, flaneur, unpayable).
But to distribute into such pigeon¬
holes when made is a less simple
affair, owing to the disturbing effects
of audience & occasion. Every
writer, however, who suspects him¬
self of the bower-bird instinct should
make & use some such classification
system, & remember that acquisi¬
tiveness & indiscriminate display
are pleasing to contemplate only in
birds & savages & children. The
list below, given primarily for pro¬
nunciation, will afford also material
for practice in selection &, above all,
abstention.
2. Pronunciation. To say a
French word in the middle of an
English sentence exactly as it would
be said by a Frenchman in a French
sentence is a feat demanding an
acrobatic mouth ; the muscles have
to be suddenly adjusted to a per¬
formance of a different nature, &
after it as suddenly recalled to the
normal state ; it is a feat that
should not lie attempted ; the
greater its success as a tour de force,
the greater its failure as a step in
the conversational progress ; for
your collocutor, aware that he could
not have done it himself, has his
attention distracted whether he ad¬
mires or is humiliated. All that is
necessary is a polite acknowledge¬
ment of indebtedness to the French
language indicated by some ap¬
proach in some part of the word to
the foreign sound, & even this only
when the difference between the
foreign & the corresponding natural
English sound is too marked to
escape a dull ear. For instance, in
tete-a-tete no attempt need or should
be made to distinguish French e
from English a, but the calling it
ta'tahta't instead of the natural
! English tatata't rightly stamps it
as foreign ; again, tour de force is
better with no unEnglish sound at
all ; neither r need be trilled, & tour
& force should both be exactly like
the English words so spelt. On the
other hand, there are some French
sounds so obviously alien to the
English mouth that words contain¬
ing them (except such as are, like
coupon, in daily use by all sorts &
conditions of men) should either be
eschewed by English speakers or
have these sounds adumbrated; they
are especially the nasalized vowels
! (an, en, in, on, un, am, &c.), the
j diphthong eu, the unaccented e, &
1 u ; to say bong for bon is as insulting
’ to the French language as to pro-
I nounce bulletin in correct French is
; insulting to the man in the English
i street ; & kdoldes&'k for cul-de-sac
is nearly as bad. In consulting the
pronunciations given below, the
reader w r ill bear in mind that it is
; no business of this dictionary to tell
i him how French words are pro¬
nounced in French ; it has only to
advise him how to pronounce them
in English if he would neither ex¬
hibit a conscious superiority of edu¬
cation nor be suspected of boorish
ignorance. The list is intended,
then, to mitigate the precision of
those who know French at least as
much as to enlighten those who do
PRONUNCIATION
FRENCH WORDS, 2
195
not; but, for the latter, a slight
attempt must be made to indicate
intelligibly the nature of the un-
English sounds. They are all repre¬
sented in the second or phonetic
column of the list below by capital
letters ; words in which no capitals
are used need have no terrors for
non-French-speakers ; & the values
of all phonetics other than capital
letters are the same as in other parts
of the dictionary.
UnEnglish sounds
A, a sound that is neither & nor
ah nor u, but approximates to all of
these.
0, a sound between English aw & 6.
U, a sound between oo, u, & e, the
same as German ii, & as the u & eu
& ui (fule for fool, neuk for nook,
buik for book) used by reproducers
of Scotch vernacular.
R, a roll or trill produced farther
back in the mouth than the English
r, & never (like that) allowed to go
unsounded; this R is, however,
chiefly inserted after the usual
symbols containing r (ar, er, ar, or,
&c.), as a reminder that the trill is
to be given.
Y, an elusive sound occurring
chiefly in final syllables & suggesting
that the speaker starts saying an
additional syllable -ye but stops
short before the vowel e is reached.
AN, a sound (strictly, several
sounds between which the distinc¬
tions are too fine for representation
here) that is neither dn, dng, dm,
awn, awm, aw, nor ah, but partakes
or them all, & approximates to one
or other of them according to its
position in a word.
a sound (or sounds, as with
AN) that is neither ftn, ahn, &ng,
n ? r ahn 8» but bears to
them the relation described under
A^l a rx? U ? d of the same nature as
AN & IN, but with the vowel part
er or fl resembllng English untrilled
EnJL? 8 T! d ? ou g b ly resembling
English untnlled er, but with a u
element slightly perceptible ; the
same as German o.
UR, a sound differing from English
trilled oor as U from English do &
do, or as Scotch dialect puir from
English poor.
EUR, the R sound following EU.
(e), not an un-English sound ; the
English e, but so lightly sounded at
the end of a word after cl, br, &c.,
as not to be a separate syllable.
[s]> [ x ], in the French-word column
are inserted, often in the middle of
compounds, to show the spelling of
the French plural.
0 ], [ z ]> [iz], in the phonetic column
show the pronunciation in English,
but not in French, of the plural
forms ; where such insertions are
not made, it is better to pronounce
the plural like the singular.
e, 6, b, e ; a special warning is
necessary against the assumption
that the normal sound of the plain
or unaccented French e is 6 or a,
e. g. that pd'te (instead of pete') is
the way to pronounce petit ; it has
that sound only in exceptional posi¬
tions, & wherever e is used in the
phonetics care must be taken not to
say b or a.
abandon, ab&'ndon
abattoir's], &'batwar[z]
abbi[s], &'ba[z]
accouchement[s], akdo'shmAN[z]
accoucheur[s], &kdoshEUR'[z]
accoucheuse[s], &kooshEU'z [ ]
acharnement, AsharR'nemAN
a deux, ahdEU'
adieu[x], adyEU'[z]
affaire[s] de coeur, afar'dekEUR'f ]
a fond, ahfAN'
agent[s ] provocateurs ],
AzhAN' prOvOkAtEUR'[ ]
agrtments, AgramAN"
a huis clos, ahweklo'
aide[s]-de-camp,
a'dekAN[z] (or -ong)
aide-memoire, admdmwarRTz]
aiguille[s], a'gwel[z]
aiguillette[s], agwil6't[s]
ainl, a'na
d la, ah'lah
d la carte, ahlahkar't
d la mode. ahlahmO'd
FRENCH WORDS, 2
PRONUNCIATION
d la russe, ahlahrU's
ame[s] damnee[s], ahmdAna'[ ]
amende[s ] honorable[s\,
AmAN'dOnOrah'bl[ ]
d merveillc, ahmarRva'Y
amour[s], &'moor[z]
amour-propre, amoorR'prO'pr(e)
ancien regime, AN'syAN rezhe'm
annexe[s\, &'neks[lz]
d outrancc, ah dotrAN's
apachc[s], apah'shflz]
apergu[s], AparRsU'[ ]
aperilif[s], ap£j'rltef[s]
aplomb, A'plAN
appui , Apwe'
a pres, Apra'
d propos, ahpropo'
arc[s\, arR[ j
ara'tfs]
argot, arRgo'
arme blanche, arm blANsh
arriere-pensee a r R y ar R' p AN s a'
arrondissemcnt[s], ArANde'smAN[]
artiste[s], arte'si [s]
a s s ig) i a t [ s ], &'slgnat[s]
alelier\s\, A'tiya[ J
atiache[s), aia'sha[z]
auberge[s], 6buT'zh[ ]
au courant, ok dor AN'
au fait, ofa'
au fond, ofAN'
au grand serieux , ogrAN'sbreEU
au gratia, ogrAUN'
au natural , Oniiture'l
au pied de la lettre, opya'dlahle'tr(e)
au revoir, orevwarR'
automobile[s], awtomobe'lfz]
baccara(t), b&'kavah
baignoire[s], benv/arR'[ ]
ballade[s], b«lah'd[z]
ballet[s\, ba'la[z]
ballon[s] d'essai, b«lAN'desa'[ ]
bandeau[s], bando'fz]
banqucitc[s], bANke't[s]
barege, bara'zh
baroque, baro'k
barrage[s], bar'lj[iz]
bas bleu[s], baliblEU'[ ]
basque[s\, bAsk[s]
bas rclief[s], ba'srllefjs]
Bastille[s], b&ste'l[z]
batiste, bete'st
baton\s], b&'tn[z]
baltue[s], batob'[z]
beau[xj, bo[z]
196
beau[x geste[s], bozh£'st[ ]
beau[x id£al[s\, b5 ide'al[z]
beau monde , bomaw'nd
beaux esprits, bozGspre'
beaux yeux, bozyEU'
btche-de-mer, bashdema?'
bdguinage[s], be'genahzh[!z]
bcguine[s], b£ge'n[z]
beige, bazh
bel esprit, bGlespre'
beliefs], b61[z]
belles-lettres, bele'tr(e)
bcte[s\ noire[s], batnwarR'[ ]
betisc\s\, bate'zf ]
bezique, blze'k (F Msigue)
Lien entendu, bvIN'ANtANdU'
bienseance, bylN'saAN s
bijou, be'zhoo
bijouterie, be'zhootre'
billet[s]-doux, bllldoo'fz]
bise, bez
bisque, bisk
bizarreric, blzar'ere'
blague, blahg
blancmange[s], blamAN'zh[lz]
blase[s], blah'za[ ]
bloc, blok
bonbon[s], bAN'bANfz]
bonhomie, bonome'
bonjour, bANzhoor'
froftfs] mot[s], bANmo'fz]
bonnets'], bon[z]
bonne bouche, bonboo'sh
bonnes fortunes, bGnforRtU'n
bonsoir, bANswarR'
bon ton, bANtAN'
6on[s] vivant[s], bANve'vAN[ ]
borne[s ], borR'na[ ]
boudoir[s], boo'dwar[z]
bougiejs], boo'zhe[z]
bouillabaisse, boolyahba's
bouilli, boo'lye
bouillon, boo'lyAN
boulevard[s], boo'lvarR[ ]
boulcversemcnt, boolvarRsmAN'
bouqucl[s], bobka'[z]
bourdon[s], boor'don[z]
bourgeois, boor'zhwah
bourgeoisie, boorzhwahze'
boursc[s ], boors[lz]
brassard[s], br«sar'd[z]
brevet[s], br6'vit[s]
bric-d-brac, bri'kabrSk
bricole, bri'kl
briquelte[s], brlkG'tfs]
french WORDS, 2
brochure[s], brOshUR'[ ]
brunette[s\, broon£'t[s]
brusque, broosk
buffers], bU'fa[z]
bulletm[s ], bd5'lltin[z]
bureau[x], bur5'[z]
bureau[x\ de change,
buro'deshAN'zh[ ]
burnous, beraoo's[izj
cabaret[s 1, kA'bara[z]
cabinet[s ], k2'bina[z]
cachalol[s], k&'shal6[z]
cache[s\, kAsh[iz]
cachet, kA'sha
cachou, k 2/s hod
cadet, kA'da
cadre[s ], kah'der[z]
cafd[s], k2'fa[z]
caf6[s au lait, k2'faolaT J
cafd[s] chantant[s ],
k&'fa shAN'tAN[ ]
cafd[s] noir[s ], k3,fanwarR'[ ,
caique\s\, kah-e'k[s]
ccimon[s], ka'sn[z]
calembour[s ], kA'lANboorf ]
calibre[s\, k2'libcr[z]
calorie[s], k&'lori[z]
camaraderie, kAmarahdere'
camembert, ka'mANbarR
camisole[s], k&'misolfz]
camouflage, kS/modflakzh
canaille, kanah'Y
canapes], k&'napaf ]
canard[s\, kanar'd[z]
cancan, kAN'kAN
cangue, k&ngg
cantatrice[s ], kANtahtre's[ ]
caoutchouc, kow'chook
cap-d-pie, k&pape'
caporal, kS'porahl
capote[s], kapo't[sl
carafe[s ], karah'ffsl
can7Zon[s], kA'relyAN[ ]
Carmagnole, kar'manyol
carte blanche, kartblAN'sh
carte[s]-de-visite, kart devize'tr 1
cartouche[s ], kartoo'shflzl
caseme[s ], kazer'nfz]
casque[s], k&sk[s]
casserole[s], kS'serolfzl
catafalque[s], k&'t&faik[s]
M,t t k5zEU ' z t 3
197
PRONUNCIATION
centime\s\, sANte'm[z]
cerise, sere'z
chalet[s\, shA'lafz]
chamade\s\, shamah'd[z]
chamois[ ], sh&'mwah[ ]
champagne, sh&mpa'n
Champs Itlystes, shANzCleza'
chancre[s ], shANkr(e)[ ]
chantage, shAN'tahzh
chanlerelle[s], shANterS'I[z]
chapeau-bras, shapo'brah'
chaperones ], shS'peronfz]
char[s]-d-bancs, sh&'r&b&ng[z]
charade^], sharah'd[z]
chargi[syd’affaires, sharzhadAfar'[ ]
charivari, shar'ivari
charlatan[s ], shar'latanfz]
charlotte russe, sharlotrU'a
chartreuse, shartrEU'z
chasse, shAs
chassis], sh&'safz]
chassepol[s ], sh&'spo[z]
chdssis[ ], sh&'sef ]
chdteau[x], shAto'[z]
chdtelaine[s], sh&'telan[z]
chauffeur[s], shofer'[z]
chaussure, shosUR'
c/ic/[s], sh6f[s]
chef[s]-d oeuvre, shgdEU'vr(e)[ ]
chemisette[s ], shSmIze't[s]
chenille, shine'I
chevalier[s ] d Industrie,
shevA'lyadlNdUstre'f ]
chevaux de frise, shevo'defre'z
chevelure, shevdUR'
chevron^s], she'vron[z]
chic, shek
chiffon, she'fAN
chignon[s ], she'nyANfz]
cftose[s] jugte[s], shoz zkUzhaT 1
chou[x], shoo[ ]
chronique scandaleuse,
krOne'k skANdahlEU'z
cJiw/e[s], shoot[s]
ci-devant, sedvAN'
cirque, serk
clairvoyance, klarvoi'ana
clairvoyants ], klarvoi'antrsl
claque[s\, ldahk[s]
claqueur[s], klAkEURT ]
clichi[s\, kle'shafz]
clientele, kliente'I
clique[s\, klekfs]
cloisonrte , klwah'zona
cognac , ko'ny&k
FRENCH WORDS, 2
198
PRONUNCIATION
coiffeur[s], kwahfEUR'[z]
coiffure[s], kwahfUR'
coiporteur[s], kolportEUR'[z]
comddiennc[s], komedle'nfz]
commandant[s], komand&'nt[s]
comme ilfant, komelfo'
commissionnairc[s], komIshonar'[z]
commode[s ], komo'dfz]
communiquc[s], komU'mkafz]
compote, ko'mpot
concessionnaire[s ], kons£shonar[z]
concierge\s ], kANsyarR'zh[ ]
concordats], konkor'd&t[s]
conf rere[s], kAN'frar[z]
congd{s], kAN'zha[z]
connoisseur[s], konaser'[z]
conservatoires], konser'vat\var[z]
consommd, kANsOma'
co/dour[s], ko'ntoor[z]
contretemps[ ], kAN'tretAN[z]
convenances, kAN'venANs
cordclier[s], kordder'[z]
cordo«fs], kor'don[z]
cordon[s] bleu[s], korR'dAN blEU[ ]
corps[ ], kor[z]
corsage, kor'sahzh
corsets], kor'sit[s]
cortdge[s], korRta'zh[ ]
corvee, kor'va
cosaque\s], kosah'k[s]
cos/M?m‘er[s], kOstUmya'[ ]
cotillon[s], kotriyon[z]
couleur de rose, kobler / dero'z
coulisses, kdble's
couloir[s], kdb'hvarfz]
coulomb[s], kdo'16m[z]
cozip[s], kdb[z]
coup[s]-d'ctat, kood£tah'[z]
coup-de-grdce, kobdegrah's
coup[s]-de-main, koodemlN'f ]
coup\s -dc-thddtrc, koddetaah'tr(e)[ ]
coup-d'oeil, koodEU'Y
coupd[s], koo'pa[z]
coupon[s], koo'pQnfz] __
coute que coute, kootkekoo't
crampon[s], kr&'mpSn[z]
crayon[s], kraon[z]
criche[s], krash[iz]
crime, kram
creme de la creme, kram dlah kra'm
creme de menthe, kramdeniAN't
crepe, krap
crepe de Chine, krapdeshe'n
erdpon, kre'pon
crdtin[s], kre'tin[z]
cretonne, kreto'n
critique[s], krite'kfs]
croquette[s], krok6't[s]
crosses], kr5s[iz]
croupier[s], krod'plcrfz]
cuirassier[s], kuraser'[z]
cuisine, kwize'n
cul[s]-de-sac, kUdesA'k[ ]
curd[s], kU'ra[z]
daguerreotype[s], dag6'rotip[sJ
dais[ ], das[iz]
dartre, dar't er
ddbdcle[s], dlbah'kl[z]
ddbris, de'bre
debut[s], d6'bU[z]
ddbutant[s], d6'butant[s]
ddbutante[s], debUtAN't[ ]
ddcigramme[s], d&'sigr&m[z]
dccilitre[s], d£'sileter[z]
decimctre\s], d6'simeter[z]
ddclassd(e)[s], d6klAsa'[ ]
decolletd(e)[s], dfiko'lta
ddgagd(e)[s], de'gAzlia
de haul en bas, deo'ANbah'
ddjeuner[s], d6'zhEUna[z]
delaine, dila'n
ddmarche[s], d6marR'sh[ ]
ddmenti[s], dSmANte'[ ]
demi-monde, dg'mlmdnd
demi-mondaine[s], dmemANda'n[ ]
dcmoiselle[s], dgmwahzS'lfz]
denouemeni[s], d6'noomAN[z]
de nouveau, de noovo'
ddpot[s], de"po[z]
de rdglc, dera'gl
de rigueur, deregEUR'
dernier rcssort, darR'nya r&sorR'
deshabilld, ddzA'bcya'
ddlentc[s ], d6tAN't[ ]
ddtour[s], ditoor'jz]
de trop, detr5'
devoir[s], de'vwarfz]
diablerie, dyahblere'
difficile, dlflse'l
diplomats], di'pIom&t[s]
dishabille, dlsabe'l
distingud{e)[s], d!stIN'ga[ ]
distraits], distra'[
distraite[s], distra'tf ]
dormeuse[s], dorRmEU'z[ ]
dossier[s], d6'syer[z]
dot, dOt
douane{s], doo'ahnfz]
double entendre, dooblANtAN'dr(e)
double entente, dooblANtAN't
PRONUNCIATION
FRENCH WORDS, 2
doublure[s], dooblUR 7 [z]
douceur[s], doosEUR'jz]
douche[s], doosh[lz]
doyen[s], dwah 7 yAN[ ]
droit[s ], droitfs]
dwoet[s], dU'vafz]
eau sucrle, o'sUkra 7
6clair[s], g 7 klar[z]
tclaircissement[s], 6klarse 7 smAN[ ]
iclat, gklah 7
dan, SIAN
dite, 61e 7 t
&ys6e, €Ieza /
embarras de choix,
ANbArah 7 de shwah 7
embarras de richesse,
ANbArah 7 de reshg's
embonpoint , AN'bANpwIN
6meute[s], 6mEU't[ ]
employi(e)[s], 6 7 mploie 7 [z]
empressement , ANprgsmAN 7
en casserole, ANkAserO'l
enfamille, ANfAme'Y
en fete, ANfa't
en gargon, ANgarRsAN 7
ennui, 6nwe 7
en masse, ANmA's
en passant, ANpAsAN 7
en rapport, ANrAporR 7
en route, ANroo't
ensemble, ANsAN'bl(c)
entente[s], ANtAN 7 t[ ]
entourage, ANtoorah 7 zh
entf acte[s], ANtrA 7 kt[ ]
entrie[s], AN 7 tra[z]
entremets , AN'trema
entre nous, ANtrenoo 7
entrep6t[s ], AN 7 trepo[z]
espidglerie, fispya'glere 7
esprit de corps, fispre'dekor
esprit d’escalier, 6spre 7 d£scA
estaminet[s], est&'mlnarzl
exposes], 6ksp5 7 sa[zl
faintant[s], fanaAN'r ]
fait accompli , ffitAcANple 7
farceur[s], farsEURl 1
fauteuil[s], fotEU'Yr 1
faux pas, fopah 7
femme de chambre,
fA 7 mdeshAN 7 br(e)
Jeuilleton[s], fEUY 7 tAN[ ]
ffancj(e)[ s ], fyAN 7 sa[ ]
*™*re, feY'desh AN
j|* 3 oie, feY'dezhwah 7
199
fine champagne, fe'nshANpah'nY
flair, flar
fldnerie, flahnere 7
fldneur\s], flahnEUR 7 [z]
fltche[s], flash[iz]
force majeure, forR'smahzhEUR 7
format, for'mah
foyer[s], fwah'ya[z]
franc[s]-tireur[s], frANterEUR 7
frappant, fr&'pant
friseur[s], frezEUR'fz]
galimatias, g&IIm&'tlah
gamin[s\, gA 7 mIN[z]
garagets], g&'rlj[iz]
gargon[s], garRsAN'[ ]
gauche, gosh
gaucherie, gSshere 7
gendarme[s], zhANdar'mfz]
gendarmerie, zhANdar'mere 7
genre, zhAN're
glacd(e)[s ], glA'sa
glacis, gla'sls
gobe-mouches [pi. same],
gOb'moosh[Iz]
gourmandise, goor'mandez
gourmand[s ], goor'mAN[z]
gourmet[s ], goor 7 ma[z]
grande passion, graw'ndpAsyAN 7
grande toilette, graw'ndtwahlg't
grand[s ] seigneur^s],
grAN'sanyEUR'[ ]
gratin, grA'tIN
grippe, grep
grisaille, griza 7 !
grisette[s ], grezg'tfs]
gros de Naples, grddenah 7 pl(e)
gruydre, grUyarR 7
guerre de course, gardekoor's
guilloche, gilo'sh
guipure, gepoor 7
habitues ], Abe'tUa
hauteur, otEUR 7
hors concours, orR'kANkoorR 7
hors-d'oeuvre, orRdEU'vr(e)
idie fixe, eda'fe'ks
impasse, INpA's
impayable, INpayah 7 bl(e)
ingtnue[s], INzh6nU'[ ]
insouciance, INsoosyAN's
insouciant, INsoosyAN 7
instantant , INstANtAna 7
Internationale, INtarRnAsISnahl
intriguant[s\ , INtregANT ]
intrigante[s], INtregANt 7
jabot[s], zhAboTz]
FRENCH WORDS, 2
200
PRONUNCIATION
jacquerie[s ], zhAkere'
jalousie[s], zhA'lobze[z]_
jardinidre[s], zhar'dinyar[z]
je ne sais quoi, zhensakwali'
jeu[x ] de mots, zhEUdcmd'f ]
jeu[x] d'esprit, zhEUdespre'[ ]
jeunesse dorde, zhEUnc'sdOra'
jongleur[s ], zhANglEUR'[ ]
julienne, zhUlye'n
jupe[s], zhUp[ ]
kdpi[s], ke'pe[z]
lacrosse, lahkrb's
laissez aller, le'sa A'la
laissez faire, le'safar'
lansquenet, l&'nskenet
layettc[s], iae't[s]
lese-majeste, la'zmAzhesta'
lever de ridcau, lcva'deredo'
Ziaiso?;[s], lja'zn[z]
lingerie, lINzhre'
liqueur, likur'
litteraieur[s], Irte'rahtEUR'
livre[s], le'vr(c)
longue haleinc, lOnggAla'n
lorgnette[s], lornye't[s]
louis[ ], lob'I[z]
luge[s], lUzh[iz]
luxe, lUks
lycde[s], lesa'[z]
macabre, makah'br(e)
macddoine[s], m&sldwah'n[z]
madame, mAdA'm
mademoiselle, mA'dmwalizc'l
malaise, mala'z
mal a propos, mA'lahpropo'
manege, mana'zh _
mange-tout, mANzhtoo'
manqud(e)[s\, mAN'ku.
marguerite[s], margere't[s]
mariage de convenance,
mAryah'zhdckANvenAN's
marquisc[s], marRke'zf ]
marron[s] glacdfs], mft'rANglA sa[ ]
Marseillaise, marsela'z
massage, masah'zh
masse, m&'sa
7 nassewr[s], mAsEUR[ ]
masseuse[s ], mAsEU'z
mattricl, mater!e'l_
matinde[s], m&'tlnafz]
mauvais quart d'heure,
mbva'karRdEUR'
mauvais sujet[s\, moya'sUzha [ ]
mauvaise honte, mova'zaw'nt
mayonnaise, maona'z
melange, mSlAN'zh
melee\s\, m6'la[z]
menage[s ], me'nahzh[ ]
menu[s], me'noo[z]
meringue[s\, mera'ng[z]
mdsalliance[s], mez&leAN's
mesdames, madA'm
messieurs, mSsyEU'
metayage, mS'taahzh
metayer, mlta'er
mdtier, mS'tya
mignon, me'nyAN
migraine[s], me'granfz]
milor(d)[s ], melorR'
mise en sedne, me'zANsa'n
mistral[s], nu'strahl[z]
mitrailleuse[s], metrahyEU'z[ ]
modiste[s ], mOde'st[s]
moire, mwarII
moird, mwah'ra
moire antique, mwarANte'k
monde, mawnd
monseigneur, mANsanyEUR"
monsieur, mesyEU'
moral, morah'l
mcrceau[x], mors5'[z]
morgue, morg
morgue anglaise, morRgANgla'z
motif[s\, motejfjcj
moulin[s], mot/lIN[z]
mousscline, mooslo'n
mwse*/e[s],_mE T z6't[s]
naif, nah-e'f
naive, nah-e'v
naivete, nah-e'vta
nde, na
ixdgligd[s], ne'glizha[z]
ndvd[s\, ne'va
noblesse, noble's
noblesse oblige, nOble's Oble zb
noisette[s\, nwahze't[s] _
nom de guerre, nANdegarR'
nom de plume, nANdeplU'm
non avenu, nOnAvenU'
nonchalant, nd'nshalant
nonpareil, nonparS'l
Notre-Dame, nOtredah'm
noyau, nwahyo'
nuance[s ], nU'ANs[ ]
numdro, nu'mero
ogive[s\, oji'y[z]
on dit, ANde' _
opdra comique, o'perakome k
opdra bouffe, d'peraboo'f
outrd, oo'tra
PRONUNCIATION
FRENCH WORDS, 2
201
paillasse, p&l&'s
paktot[s\, pA'ltofz]
panache, panah'sh
papier m&cM, p&pyam&'sha
par excellence, parfikselAN's
par exemple, parSkzAN'pl(e)
pari mutuel, par'emUtUl'l
parole[s], paro'l[z]
parterre[s ], partar'[z]
parti[s], parRte'[ ]
parvenu[s], par'venU[z]
pas de deux, pah'dedEU'
pas seul, pahisEU'l
passd(e)[s], pA'sa
passementerie, pAsmANtre'
passe-partout, pAsparRtoo'
pastiche, p&ste'sh
pastille[s], p&ste'l[z]
p&U de foie gras, p&'tadefwahgrah'
patois, p&'twah
pccv£[s\, pAva'[ ]
paysage[s ], paezah'zh
peignoir[s], panwar'[z]
peine forte et dure, pan forRt a dUR
pderine[s], pS'Ieren[z]
penchant[s], pAN'shAN
pension[s], pAN'syAN[z]
perdu(e){s\, perdu'f ]
p&re, par
perron[s], p6'rAN[z]
persiennes, persIS'nz
persiflage, par'slflahzh
personnel, personal
petite, pete't
petits chevaux, pete'shevo'
petit[s] maitre[s ], pete'ma'tr(e)[ ]
petit[s\ souper[s], pete'soopa'
petits soins, peteswIN'
petit[s] »crrc[s], pete'varR'
p6troleur[s], p6tr61EUR'[ ]
pttroleuse[s], p6trolEU'z[ 1
picot[s], pe'ko[z]
pUce de r<kisJa»ce,pya'sderSzest AN's
pied d, terre, pya'dahtarR'
pierrette[s\, pyar6't[s]
pierrot[s], pyar'ofz]
pince-nez, pIN'sna
piolei[s], pe'ola[z]
piquant, pe'kant
pigui, pe'ka
pis alter, pezAla'
plafond, plA'fAN
* kI —plANshfi't
f]» plafak[s]
plah[ ]
plateau[x], plAto'fz]
point d'appui, pwlN'dApwe'
poisson[s], pwah'sAN[ ]
pompon[s\, pAN'pAN
ponceau, pANso'
porte-cochere, porR'tkSsharR'
porte-crayon, portkra'on
portiere[s]> por'tyar[z]
poseur[s ], pOzE(JR'[ ]
poste restante, po'strdstAN't
potage, pOtah'zh
pot-pourri, pdpoore'
pouf, poof
poult-de-soie, poo'deswah'
pourboire, poorRbwarR'
pourparlers ], poorRparRla'
pour rire, poor rerR
poussette[s], pbose'tf ]
pratique, pr&'tik
prdcis[ ], pr6'se[z]
premiire[s], prcmyar'[z]
prestige , pr£ste'zh
preux chevalier[s ], prEUshrvA'lya
prie-diea[ ], predyEU'[z]
primeur, premEUR'
prod?s-verbal, prO'savarRbAl
proldlaire\s], prOletarR'
protdgd(e)[s\, prO't6zha[z]
provenance, pro'vinans
prud'homme, prUdO'm
purde[s], pU'ra[z]
pur sang, pURsAN'
Quai d'Orsay, kadorsa'
quand meme, kANma'm
quantity ndgligeable,
kAN'teta neglezhA'bl(e)
quenelle[s], kene'l[z]
quinte, kINt
qui vive, keve'v
raconteurs ], rAkANtEUR'
rago&i[s], ragob'fz]
raison d'etre, ra'zANda'tr(r)
rdle, rahl
ramequin[s ], ri'mlklnfz]
ranz des vaches, rANzdavA sh
rapport, rAporR'
rapprochement, rAprO'shmAN
razzia[s], r&'zya[z]
Rdaumur, ra'omUR
rdchauffd[s\, rS'sh6fa'[z]
recherchd, reshar'sha
rdclame, rfc'klahm
reconnaissance, rlkd'nisans
ridaction\s\, rfidA'kseAN
redingote[s\, r6'dlngg5t[s]
FRENCH WORDS, 2 202 PRONUNCIATION
•rtduil[s], re'dwe[z]
rejlet[s], rdla'[z]
rdgie, re'zhe
regime, rezhe'm
rclevd, rc'Iva
renaissance, rina'sans
rencontre, rengkb'nter
rendez-vous[ ], rAN / duvoo[z]
rente[s\, rAN'tfs]
rentier[s], rAN'tya[ ]
ripertoirc[s], re'pt’rtwarfz]
repondez, s' il vous plait,
rdpAN'da sel voo pla
repousse, repbb'sa
restaurants], re'storantfs]
restaur ate ur[s], rest6'rAtEUR'[ ]
rdu/nf[s], re'zUmajz]
retenue, rdenU'
retroussd, ritrob'sa
reveille, rive'll
revenanl[s], revnAN'f ]
revers, rcvarU'
revuc[s], rlvu'[z]
riant, ri'ant
ricochet[s\, ri'kosha[z]
riposte[s], ripo'stfs]
risque, re'ska
risso/e[s], ri'solfz]
rivUre[s], ii / viar[z]
robe dc chambre, rO'bde.shAN'bi^e)
rocambolc[s], ro'kambdlfz]
rococo, roko'ko
roi faineant, nvahfu'naAX'
rd/c[s], rol[z]
rondcau[x], rondo'fz]
rondel[s], ronde'lfz]
roquefort, rO'kforR
roti, ro'te
roturicr[s], rOtUrea
rouc[s\, roo'afz]
Rouge Croix, robzhkrwah'
Rouge Dragon, rbbzhdr&'gon
Rouge et Noir, rddzhanwahR'
roulade[s ], rbblah'dfz]
rouleau[x], rbblo'[z]
roulette, rdole't
ruche, rUsh
rMse[s], robz[iz]
rust(e)[s\, rU'za
sa6o<[s], sA'bd[z]
sabotage, s&'botlj
sabretache[s], s&'bert&sh[Iz]
sabreur[s\, sAbrEUR'[
sachet[s], sA'shafz]
sacque[s ], s&k[s]
saerd, sAkra'
salle a manger, sA'lahmAN'zha
salle d'attente, sA'ldAtAN't
sa/mi[s], s4'lme[z]
sa/on[s], sA'!AN[z]
sang-de-boeuf, sANddbEUF
sang-froid, sANfrwah'
sans edrdmonie, sANsere'mOne'
sans-culotte[s], sANkU10't[s]
sans-culotterie, sANkUldtere'
sans doutc, sANdoo't
sans faqon, sANfAsAN'
sans-gene, sANzha'n
sans peur et sans reproche,
sANpEUR'asANreprO'sli
sans phrases, sANfrah'z
sans-souci, sANsoose'
sauce piquante, sospekAN't
sautd, -ee, -es, -ees, so'ta
sauve-qui-peut, sSvkepEU'
sauan^s], s&'vAN[z]
savate, sAvah't
savoir-faire, sAvwarfar'
savoir-vivre, sAvwarve'vr(e)
scrutin d'arrondissement,
skrU'tlNdArAN'desmAN'
scrutin de liste, skrUtIN'dele'st
s6ance[s ], sa'ANs[ ]
sec, sek
secretaires], sSkritar'fz]
seigneur[s ], sanyEUR'fz]
seme, sS'ma
serac[s ], s6r&'k[s]
servietteS], servid'tfs]
Sevres, sa'vr(e)
silhouetteS], siloo6't[s]
sobrujuetS], so'brlkafz]
soi-disant, swalide'zAN
soirdeS], swar'a [z]
sor/ie[s], sorRte'[z]
6*02/[s], sdo[z]
soubrcttcS], soobrfi't[s]
souffleS], sbb'flafz]
soupgon, sdo'psAN
sourdine, soorde'n
soutache, sbb'tahsh
soutaneS], sootah'nfz]
souteneurS ], sbotenEUR'fz]
souvenirS], soovener'fz]
spirituelle, spmtue'l
succes d'estime, sUksa'ddste'm
succds fou, sU'ksafoo'
suede, swad
suivez, swe'va
surtoutS], ser'tdofz]
203
FRIAR
FRENCH WORDS, 2
surveillance , servalans
svelte, svfilt
tableau[x], tAblo'[z]
tableau[x] vwant[s\, tA'blS ve'vAN
table d'hdte, tahbldo't
tablier[s\, tA'bl!a[z]
tache, tAsh
tant soit peu , tAN'swahpEU'
tapis, tA'pe
tapotement, tApO'tmAN
Tartuffe, tarRtU'f
terrain, tera'n
terre-plein, tar'plan
terrine, tfire'n
Ute-a-tete[ ], tatahta't[s]
tic douloureux, ti'kddlordo'
tiers Hat, tyarzgtah'
tige, tezh
timbale[s\, tIN'bAlf ]
timbrels], t&'mb er
tirailleur[s], terahyEUR'[ ]
toilette, twahlfi't
toison d'or, twah'zANdorR'
ton, tAN
tonneau[x\, tS'no[z]
tontine[s ], tonte'n[z]
toque[s], tokfs]
torchon, tor'shAN
tour de force, toordefor's
toumure, toornUR'
tous-les-rnois, toolamwah'
tout court, tookoorR'
tout ensemble, tootANsAN'bl(e)
tracasserics , trAkA'sere'
trait[s], tra[z]
trente-et-quarante, trAN'takArAN't
trois-temps , trwah'tAN
trottoir, tro'twarR
troubadour[s), troo'badoor[z]
trou[s\-de-loup, troodeloo'
trousseau[x], trooso'fz]
trouvaille[s ], troovah'Y
trouo&re[s], trod'yaiTzl
tulle, tUl
Turco[s], tURTcofz]
turquoise[s], ter'koizllzl
tuyire[s], twer[z]
Valenciennes, vAlANsyg'n
valse, vAls J
vaudeville[s], vo'dveirzl
vedette[s], v!d6't[s]
veillcuse[s], valyEU'z
velours, veloor'
V J** Te d tone, vAN'trahtarR'
venue. v6'nu
verve, varRv
vieux jeu, vyEUzhEU'
vignette[s\, venyg'tfs]
villanelle[s], vfianS'l[z]
mnaigrette[s], vlnagrS'tfs]
vingt-et-un, vIN'taUN'
vingt-un, vINtUN'
vin ordinaire, vIN ordinar'
vis-a-ms, vezahve'
visi, ve'za
vivanditre[s J, ve'vANdyarR'[ ]
vive, vev
voix etteste, vwahsfilfi'st
vol-au-vent[s ], vfi'lovAN
volte-face, vOltfA's
coMssotrf.s], vooswar'fz]
vraisemblable, vrasANblA'blfe)
vraisemblance, vrasANblAN's
M;agon[s]-h7[s], vA'gANle'
zouavc[s ], zoo'ahv[z]
frenum. See fraenum.
frequence, -cy. See -ce, -cy.
frequentative. See Technical
TERMS.
frequently, as compared with often,
is a Formal word.
fresco. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
friable. Confusion between the
common word meaning crumbly &
the -able adjective from to fry is not
likely enough to justify the irregular
spelling fry able for the latter, though
oddly enough the OED’s first quota¬
tion for friability illustrates the pos¬
sibility : Codfish for . . . friability of
substance is commended.
friar, monk. By the word f. is
meant a member of one of the men¬
dicant orders, i.e. those living en¬
tirely on alms, especially ‘ the four
orders ’ of Franciscans, Dominicans,
Carmelites, & Augustinian Hermits.
M. is used sometimes of all male
members of religious orders includ¬
ing friars, but properly excludes the
mendicants. In the latter case the
general distinction is that while the
monk belongs essentially to his par¬
ticular monastery, & his object is to
make a good man of himself, the
friar’s sphere of work is outside, &
his object is to do a good work
among the people.
FRICANDEAU
204
FULL
fricandeau. Pronounce frl'kando ;
pi. - eaux, pron. -oz, or -eaus (see -x).
fricative. See Technical terms.
Friday &c.) (on Friday &c.) The
Puritan way of eating fish is, to eat it
Saturday instead of Friday./Can you
dine with us Tuesday at 8.0 ?
The OED says : ‘ The adverbial
use of the names of the days of the
week is now chiefly U. S. except in
collocations like “‘next Saturday”,
“ last Saturday ” ’.
friendlily. See -lily.
frier, fryer. The first is better ; see
dry, 2, & Verbs in -ie &c., G.
frightful(ness). The words ought
to revert in due time to their true
English meaning. They have pro¬
perly no implication of terrorism, &
owe that sense merely to ignorance
of English on the part of the
journalists who seized on them as
the handiest translation of German
words that had that implication.
The felt unnaturalness of the words
had a certain value while war lasted,
as suggesting the unnatural state of
mind° of a people that confused
honest fighting with brutal cruelty ;
but we do not want our language
permanently corrupted by such
accidents.
The mistranslation represented by
ruthless, the original of which means
regardless of consequences, or reck¬
less, or unrestrained, though it gar¬
bles the German phrases, does not
injure the English language, & is of
temporary interest only ; but cul¬
ture is, like frightful ness, in danger of
a change of meaning that is to be
deprecated.
friseur. See French words.
frith. See firth.
fritillary. The OED accents the
second i ; but the M. Arnold line
(i know what white, what purple
fritillarics) seems likely to fix the
stress on the first, for the flower at
least.
frivol. See Back-formation.
friz(z). The double letter is pre¬
ferred in general use & in the OED,
for the simple words as well as for
inflected forms ; but see -z-, -zz-.
frock. The use of frock for a dress,
& especially for a dress regarded
from the decorative point of view
(‘ But in the language of fashionable
society the use of frock for “ dres3 ”
has within the last few years been
revived said the OED in 1901), is
in origin a nurseryism of the same
kind as nighty & shimmy ; see
Vogue-words.
frontage, frontal, frontier, frontis¬
piece. It seems best to make the o
in all these conform to that in front
(u, not 6), but the OED separates
frontier, in which it prefers 6, from
the rest.
frontispiece. For the use = face,
see Polysyllabic humour.
froth. See foam.
fructify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6. _
fruition. Pronounce frooi'shn.
frustrate. See Participles 5 A, &
-ATABLE.
frustum. PI. -ta, -turns ; the first
is recommended.
fryable, fryer. See friable, frier.
fuchsia. So spelt,
fucus. PL -ci, pronounced -si.
fuel, vb, makes - lied, -lling ; see
-LL-, -L-.
fugacious. Chiefly in Pedantic
humour.
fugue makes fugal, fuguist.
-FUL. The right plural for such
nouns as handful, spoonful, cupful,
basketful, is handfuls &c., not hands-
ful &c.
fulcrum. Pronounce ful-, not fool-;
pi. -era.
fulfil, fulfilled. So spelt ; see -ll-,
-L-, 3 .
fulgent. A poetical variant for the
ordinary refulgent.
fuliginous. Chiefly in Polysyl¬
labic humour. At present it is af.,
not to say mysterious, matter.
full for fully in such phrases as
/. twenty, f. as good as, where it
means quite, & such as f. sweet,
f. early, where it means quite sufn-
F0L(L)NESS
205
FUSED PARTICIPLE
ciently or rather too, is idiomatic
but colloquial. In the sense very,
as in /. fain , /. many a , f. weary,
where fully cannot be substituted,
it is poetical.
ful(l)ness. Use -ll -; see dullness,
<$£ “LL", “L-, 4.
FULL STOP. See Stops ; & Period
IN ABBREVIATIONS.
fulsome. The OED recognizes only
the pronunciation ful- (not fool-),
fumigate makes -gable, -tor',
-able 1, -OR.
function. That such & such a thing
* is a function of ’ such another or
such others is a Popularized tech¬
nicality : —A man's fortitude under
given painful conditions is a function
of two variables. As not everyone
can cope unaided with mathematical
technicalities, the following may be
useful: ‘ When one quantity de¬
pends upon another or upon a sys¬
tem of others, so that it assumes
a definite value when a system of
definite values is given to the others,
it is called a function of those
others ’.
. fundamental is the established word
in literary use for which writers with
a taste for newfangled scientific-
sounding terms substitute basic or
basal.
funebrial, funeral (adj.), funerary,
funereal. The continued existence
of the first & third words, which
no-one uses if he can help it, is due
to what has happened to the other
two. Funeral, though originally an
adjective, has so far passed into a
noun that it can no longer be used
as an adjective except in the attri-
utive position, as in funeral cus¬
toms, the funeral procession; funereal
as become so tied to the meaning
as of a funeral , gloomy enough for
/ttnerai, that it can no longer mean
amply of or for a funeral. In such
aS TAe 0Ti & in °f the
custom w--» 11 onl Y remains to
oose between funebrial & funerary.
fungus. PI. funguses or fungi
* ‘ji).
funicular. Cable railway is, when
possible, preferable to /. railway.
funnel makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
funniment. See Hybrid deriva¬
tives, Facetious formations,
-MENT.
funny. For ‘ too f. for words ’ see
Hackneyed phrases.
furcate. See Participles 5 A.
furiously. The British journalist
finds it so amusing that the French¬
man should say penser furieusement
where we say think hard, & donner
furieusement a penser for puzzle,
that he bores us intolerably with his
discovery. (7a donne furieusement
a penser is quoted, translated, para¬
phrased, & alluded to, till we are all
heartily sick of it ; see Gallicisms.
Making every allowance for special
circumstances, the manner in which
these amateur soldiers of seven weeks
acquitted themselves compels one 4 fur¬
iously to think './That word ‘ although'
caused us furiously to think, but when
we come to read the leading article
in the Times we fancy that we get
a clue to what may be meant./That
sentence of Professor Dicey's makes
one think furiously ./The reduction in
the majority from 6,000 to 1,400 has
given many Coalition members f. to
think.
furore. Three syllables (furor'I).
furry. See Pronunciation s.f.
further, adj. & adv. See farther.
furze, gorse, whin. The first two
would appear to be that very great
rarity, a pair of exact synonyms,
meaning the same thing & used
indifferently in all localities & all
contexts. The third differs not in
sense, but in being chiefly a Scotch
& northern word.
fuse. 1. The verb makes fusible ;
see -able 2.
2. It is worth while to remember
that a fuse is not so called because
it fuses, being named solely from its
shape (L fusus spindle, while the
verb is from L fundo pour) j see
True & false etymology.
Fused PARTICIPLE is a name
given to the construction exemplified
FUSED PARTICIPLE
206
FUSED PARTICIPLE
in its simplest form by ‘ I like you
pleading poverty ’, & in its higher
development by ‘ The collision was
owing to the signalling instructions
laid down by the international regu¬
lations for use by ships at anchor in
a fog not having been properly
followed ’. The name was invented
(The King's English, 1906) for the
purpose of labelling & so making
recognizable & avoidable a usage con¬
sidered by the inventor to be rapidly
corrupting modern English style. A
comparison of three sentences will
show the meaning of the term.
1. Women having the vote share
political power with men.
2. Women’s having the vote re¬
duces men’s political power.
3. Women having the vote reduces
men’s political power.
In the first, the subject of the
sentence is women, & having ( the
vote) is a true participle attached to
women. In the second, the subject
is the verbal noun or gerund having
(the vote), & women's is a possessive
case (i.e. an adjective) attached to
that noun. The grammar in these
two is normal. In the third, the
subject is neither women (since
reduces is singular), nor haying (for
if so, women would be left in the air
without grammatical construction),
but a compound notion formed by
fusion of the noun women with the
participle having. Participles so
constructed, then, are called fused
participles, as opposed to the true
participle of N° 1 & the gerund of
N° 2.
We are given to ridiculing the cum¬
brousness of German style, & the
particular element in this that
attracts most attention is the device
by which a long expression is placed
between a noun & its article & so,
as it were, bracketed & held together.
Where we might allow ourselves to
say This never to be forgotten occa¬
sion, the German will not crane at
The since 1914 owing to the world-
war befallen destruction of capital ;
only a German, we assure ourselves,
could be guilty of such ponderous¬
ness. But the fused participle is
having exactly the same effect on
English as the article-&-noun sand¬
wich on German, the only difference
being that the German device is
grammatically sound, while the
English is indefensible. The half-
dozen examples that follow, in which
the two members of each fused
participle are in roman type, all
exhibit both the bracketing capacity
that makes this construction fatally
tempting to the lazy writer, & its
repulsiveness to a reader who likes
clean sentences. In the last three
may be observed a special fault
often attending the fused participle
—that the reader is trapped into
supposing the construction com¬
plete when the noun is reached, &
afterwards has to go back & get
things straight.
Mr Fred Hall asked the Home
Secretary if, in order to avoid the
necessity of men who desired to work
& ivere wantonly attacked by strikers
being compelled to arm themselves
with fire-arms, he would . . ./No one
is better qualified than Mr Charles
Whibley to write the biography of
W. E. Henley ; & there is some
likelihood of the life-story of that
influential <& strenuous litterateur
from his hand appearing before the
close of the year./The machinery
which enables one man to do the work
of six results only in the others losing
their job, & in skill men have spent
a lifetime acquiring becoming sud¬
denly useless./New subsections giving
the Board of Trade power to make
regulations for permitting workmen
who are employed under the same
employer, partly in an insured trade
cfc partly not in an insured trade,
being treated, with the consent of the
employer, as if they were wholly
employed in an insured trade./A.
dangerous operation, in which every¬
thing depends upon the General
Election, which is an essential part
of the operation, being won ./The
amazing resolution ‘ to take steps, to
prevent ’ the Liberal demonstration
in Belfast to be addressed by Mr
FUSED PARTICIPLE
207
FUSED PARTICIPLE
Churchill & Mr Redmond being held
should surely open the eyes of the
people of Great Britain to . . ./We
have to account for the collision of
two great fleets, so equal in material
strength that the issue was thought
doubtful by many careful statisticians,
ending in the total destruction of one
of them & in the immunity of the
other from damage greater than might
well be incurred in a mere skirmish.
It need hardly be said that writers
with any sense of style do not, even
if they allow themselves the fused
participle, make so bad a use of the
bad thing as is shown above to be
possible. But the. tendency of the
construction is towards that sort of
cumbrousness, & the rapidity with
which it is gaining ground is por¬
tentous. A dozen years ago, it was
reasonable, & possible without much
fear of offending reputable writers,
to describe as an * ignorant vulgar¬
ism * the most elementary form of
the fused participle, i.e. that in which
the noun part is a single word, &
that a pronoun or proper name ; it
was not very easy to collect instances
of it. Today, no-one who wishes to
keep a whole skin will venture on so
frank a description. Here are a
dozen examples, culled without any
difficulty whatever from the columns
of a single newspaper, which would
be very justly indignant if it were
hinted that it had more vulgarisms
than its contemporaries. Each, it
will be seen, has a different pronoun
or name, a sufficient proof in itself
of abundant material. We need fear
nothing from China developing her
resources (China's)./Which will result
in many having to go into lodgings
(many s),/ It should result in us
securing the best aeroplane for mili¬
tary purposes (our )./Germany pledges
herself to put no obstacles in the way
deny the possibility
(ftnythi n/s)'/I~quite
relevance there is in Mr
loyd George dragging in the mis¬
deeds of .. . (George’s )./They wish
to achieve this result without it being
necessary to draw up a new naval
programme (its).// insisted on him
at once taking the bill down (his )./We
shall look forward with confidence to
Mr Buxton adding to his reputation
(Buxton’s). /The reasons which have
led to them being given appointments
in these departments (their). /lie is
prepared to waive this prohibition
upon you giving him a written under¬
taking as follows (your).
It is perhaps beyond hope for a
generation that regards upon you
giving as normal English to recover
its hold upon the truth that gram¬
mar matters. Yet every just man
who will abstain from the fused
participle (as most good writers in
fact do, though negative evidence
is naturally hard to procure) retards
the progress of corruption ; & it
may therefore be worth while to
take up again the statement made
above, that the construction is
grammatically indefensible. At the
first blush everyone probably grants
this ; it is obvious, in any sen¬
tence so made as to afford a test
(e. g.. Women having the vote reduces
men's power), that the words defy
grammatical analysis. But second
thoughts bring the comforting no¬
tion that the fusion must after all
be legitimate ; it is only our old
friend occisus Caesar effecit ut , which
means not Caesar when killed, but
The killing of Caesar, had such &
such results ; why should not Women
having mean The possession by women
of, if occisus Caesar can mean The
killing of Caesar ? The answer is
that the Romans did resort to sense-
fusion, but did not combine it with
grammar-confusion ; The deaths of
the Caesars had such effects is occisi
Caesares effecerunt (not effecit) ; but
the fused-participlists say Women
having the vote reduces (not reduce),
& You saying you are sorry alters
(not alter) the case. The Latin
parallel is therefore of no value, &
with it goes the only palliation of
the bad mmmar.
FUSED PARTICIPLE
208
GAELIC
And now, in order that the reader
may leave this disquisition sick to
death, as he should be, of the fused
participle, a few miscellaneous speci¬
mens are offered :—We cannot reckon
on the unrest ceasing with the end of
one strike, or on its not being renewed
in the case of other trades (Compare
unrest with its)./It may be that this
is part of the meaning t£* instinctive
motive of fish, such as the perch, going
in shoals at all./The 1 elastic defence \
which the Germans have prided them¬
selves on being their speciality ./The
Mullah's influence {as a result of
him having been denounced at
Mecca as an impostor) teas declining./
Developments have occurred in conse¬
quence of the action of one of the
accused, a man 31 years of age, de an
ex-student of several colleges, having
turned approver./It was only after
Mr Buckmastcr, Lord Wodehouse,
& Mr Freakc, finding that they were
unable to go. that the England team
as now constituted was decided on./
The holiday habit is growing upon us,
possibly owing partly to the persistent
be recurrent habit of Christmas Day
falling at the week-end./We welcome
Tariff Reform being discussed as
often as possible./This habit of
Ministers putting forth their ideas
through newspaper articles sometimes
produced curious results ./A place
having bored & depressed one is not
a reason for regretting it./But he
objects to the cutting down of imports
in war time, be the fact that zve have
to do without things being taken as an
argument for our continuing to shut
goods out after the war./Some similar
scheme can be introduced without the
school doing so suffering pecuniary
loss./Good criticism combines the
subtle pleasure in a thing being well
done with the simple pleasure in it
being done at all ./The existence of
these long term contracts is a large
part of the case for the coalowners
refusing to give increased wages to the
men (ambiguous : those who refuse ?
or the refusal of them all 1)./There
is a big enough area for the speed men
even in the narrow limits of these isles,
without them making the exquisite
little corner of English lakeland the
special field for their trials./Conser¬
vatives proper neither want nor would
willingly submit to a question of such
gravity as the continued existence of
the House of Lords as at present con¬
stituted being again left to . . ./One
of the jurymen absented himself from
the rest of the jury without he, or the
rest of the jury, being given in charge
of the proper officer (after all, if it is
not to be his, it may as well be he
as him)./Nor does it call for any
great acumen to prophesy a torrent of
specious sophistries on every single
one of the ‘ Fourteen Points ’, which
the enemy relies on being duly re¬
printed in the Allied Press./The truth
of the old saw about being a better
thing to wear out than to rust out./
Surely the force of injustice cannot
be conceived of going any further./
The same objections apply to the
patient telling the head attendant as
to his telling the medical officer (com¬
pare patient with his).
fuselage. So spelt : pronounce -z-.
fustigate, fustigation, are Pedan¬
tic-humour words.
futurism. A dictionary definition
is : A recent movement in (esp.
Italian) art, literature, &c., marked
by violent departure from traditional
methods & by the use of arbitrary
symbols in the expression of emo¬
tion —Concise Oxf. Diet.
G
gabelle. For synonymy see tax.
gaberdine. So spelt.
Gaelic, Gadhelic, Goidelic. The two
longer forms are used chiefly by
writers on philology & ethnology ;
the tw r o mean the same thing, but
are distinguished from the usual
meaning of Gaelic, i.e. Scotch-Celtic,
by including also Irish-Celtic &
Manx-Celtic. When precision is not
required, Gaelic is the word chiefly
used both in the narrow & the wide
senses. Pronounce ga-, not g»‘«
The corresponding term to Gadhelic,
GALLICISMS
including Welsh-Celtic, Cornish-Cel-
tic, & Breton-Celtic,. is Brythonic.
gag. See closure for the Parlia¬
mentary sense.
gainsay is a Literary word, &
now little used except in negative
contexts such as There is no gain¬
saying it, Without fear of being gain¬
said, That can scarcely be gainsaid.
gala. Pronounce ga-.
galaxy. Pronounce g&'laksl.
galimatias. See French words.
gallant. The ordinary pronuncia¬
tion is g&'lant. Certain senses,
‘ politely attentive to women ’,
‘ amorous % ‘ amatory ’, are tradi¬
tionally distinguished by the pro¬
nunciation gal&'nt; but these senses,
& still more the special accent, are
perhaps moribund.
gallery. Que diable allait-il faire
dans cette galtre ? is a famous line,
& so often applicable that it is often
applied. It is not possible for any¬
one who has seen it in its original
place to be unaware that galire
means galley ; & therefore to put
it, or an allusion to it, into English
with gallery betrays infallibly the
jackdaw with borrowed plumes. To
write galene (Mr McKenna, who has
at least escaped being mixed up in that
galerie) is to say ‘Yes, I know the
* » & so to add the sin of lying
to the peccadillo of pretension. But
tnen, whether one is caught out with
gallery or galerie, one can always
explain It was the printer ; I wrote
gaWei/, or galire See Gallicisms,
® Foreign danger.
giUey. PI. -eys.
Galilean, Gaulish, French.
Galhcan is a purely ecclesiastical
'desponding to Anglican.
g““ “? only ‘ Of the (ancient)
usual than Gallic. The normai
ofGW® a* ? alhc >» the same as that
" but it is also much used
as a synonym
French, ft
‘ French hni
tfully
m some contexts for
means not si mply
• ‘ characteristically ’,
> * distressingly or
French ‘ so French,
you know ’, &c. ; or again not ‘ of
France ’, but ‘ of the typical French¬
man ’. We do not, or should not,
speak of Gallic wines or trade or law
or climate, but we do of Gallic wit,
morals, politeness, & shrugs ; & the’
symbolic bird is invariably the
Gallic cock. So far as Gallic is used
for French without any implication
the kind suggested, it is merely
a bad piece of Elegant variation
or Avoidance of the obvious.
gallice, -c6. See latine.
GALLICISMS. By Gallicisms are
here meant borrowings of various
kinds from French in which the
borrower stops short of using French
words without disguise.
1. One form consists in taking a
French word & giving it an English
termination or dropping an accent
or the like, as in actuality, banality,
& redaction.
2. Another in giving to an existent
English word a sense that belongs to
it only in French or to its French
form only, as in intrigue (v.t.,=
interest, perplex, &c.), impayable ( =
priceless for absurdity, impudence,
&c.), arrive ( = attain success &c.),
exposition (= exhibition), & actual
(= concerned with the present, as in
The most actual instructive article
is on broadcasting).
3. Another in giving vogue to a
word that has had little currency in
English but is common in French,
such as veritable & envisage.
4. Another in substituting a French
form or word that happens to be
English also, but in another sense,
for the really corresponding English,
as when brave is used for honest or
worthy, or ascension for ascent.
5. Another in translating a French
word or phrase, as in jump or leap
to the eyes, to the foot of the letter, give
furiously to think, knight of industry,
daughter of joy, gilded youth, living
pictures (= tableaux vivants), the
half-world, rose-colour, curtain-raiser,
do one’s possible, castle in Spain,
goes without saying, suspicion (==>
soup 9 on), dean (= doyen), marriage
GALLIO
of convenience , on the carpet, & success
of esteem.
To advise the abandonment of all
Gallicisms indiscriminately would be
absurd; there are thousands of
English words & phrases that were
once Gallicisms, but, having pros¬
pered, are no longer recognizable as
such ; & of the number now on trial
some will doubtless prosper in like
manner. What the wise man does
is to recognize that the conversa¬
tional usage of educated people in
general, not his predilections or a
literary fashion of the moment, is
the naturalizing authority, & there¬
fore to adopt a Gallicism only when
he is of opinion that it is a Gallicism
no more. To use Gallicisms for the
worst of all reasons—that they are
Gallicisms—, to affect them as giving
one’s writing a literary air, to en¬
liven one’s dull stuff with their
accidental oddities, above all to
choose Gallicisms that presuppose
the reader’s acquaintance with the
French original, these are confes¬
sions of weakness or incompetence.
If writers knew how 4 leap to the
eye ’ does leap to the eye of the
reader who, in dread of meeting it,
casts a precautionary glance down
the column, or how furious is the
thinking that 4 give furiously to
think ’ stirs in the average English¬
man, they would leave such paltry
borrowings alone for ever.
Some of the Gallicisms here men¬
tioned, as well as others, are com¬
mented upon in their dictionary
places. Words for which the reader
is simply referred without comment
to this article are to be regarded as
undesirable Gallicisms.
Gallio. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 8.
gallivant. See Facetious forma¬
tions.
gallop makes - oped, -oping ; see
-p-, -pp-.
gallows, though originally a plural
form, is now singular ( set up a g.
&c.) ; the plural is usually avoided,
but when unavoidable is gallowses.
galop, the dance, is so spelt; used
210 GAOL
as a verb, it does not double the p
in inflexions, see -p-, -pp-.
galore, an Irish or Gaelic word, &
no part of the Englishman’s natural
vocabulary, is chiefly resorted to by
those who are reduced to relieving
dullness of matter by oddity of
expression. Like anent, it is a
favourite with the writers of letters
to the press.
galosh, golosh. The OED gives
precedence to the first spelling,
galumph. See Facetious forma¬
tions.
gambado. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6 .
gamboge. Pronounce -boozh.
gamin. See French words.
gammon)(ham. The ordinary
modern meaning of g. is the hinder
end of a side of bacon including the
ham ; in the sense of a cured h.
alone it is now rare & old-fashioned.
gamp. See Sobriquets.
gamut. For synonyms, in the
extended sense, see field.
gamy, not gamey ; see -ey & -y.
gang agley is a Battered orna¬
ment.
ganglion. PI. -lia.
gangway. Below the g., as a parlia¬
mentary phrase, is applied to mem¬
bers whose customary seat does not
imply close association with the
official policy of the party on whose
side of the House they sit.
gantry, gaun-. In the modern
engineering sense the first spelling
is usual.
Ganymede. See Sobriquets.
gaol, gaoler, jail, jailor, &c. ‘In
British official use the forms with
are still current ; in literary &
journalistic use both the G & the
J forms are now admitted as correct,
but all recent Dictionaries give the
preference to the latter.’—OED.
It may be added that the very
anomalous pronunciation of g soft
before other vowels than e, i, & y
(only in mortgagor & in the popular
mispronunciation of margarine ?) is
a strong argument for writing jail.
The spellings of the agent-nouns to
211
GENERIC NAMES
which the OED gives precedence are
jailer & jaileress.
garage, like many other French
words in constant necessary use
(e.g. billet-doux, bulletin, cadre, cha¬
peron, commissionaire, cordon, cou¬
pon, employd, liqueur, restaurant,
valet), should be completely anglic¬
ized in pronunciation (g&'rij).
garble. The original meaning is to
sift, to sort into sizes with a view to
using the best or rejecting the worst.
The modern transferred sense is to
subject a set of facts, evidence, a
report, a speech, &c., to such a pro¬
cess of sifting as results in presenting
all of it that supports the impression
one wishes to give of it & deliberately
omitting all that makes against or
qualifies this. Garbling stops short
of falsification & misquotation, but
not of misrepresentation ; a garbled
account is partial in both senses.
garqon. See French words.
garden. For the G. in philosophy,
see Academy.
gargoyle, gur-. The first is the
right form.
garret, attic. The two words mean
the same thing, but the former is
usually chosen when poverty, squa¬
lor, &c., are to be suggested.
gar(r)otte. The right spelling is
garrotte. * 8
gas. See fluid.
gaseous. 1. The pronunciations
recognized by the OED are g&'sius,
ga sins, m that order of preference.
• goseous)(gassy. The first prevails
use 5 the further the
x° f gass V for it can t> e
earned, the better.
i H ff ^ ge 5! )(g ^ Z0 ^ ene - T be original
accent S nch Sazogdne ; when the
f^ r ,° P P ed ’ xt seems better to
estahHafi? 16 hog ’ assimilate to the
established gasometer, & write s for z.
S2W- See FrENC H WORDS.
verhS’ i, So s P elt > not guage. The
’&■ gougcabk ; feelftrrK e.
its inhSS n lf n<aent Gaul or one of
^habitants: the i.s*
France or Frenchman is poetic or
facetious. See Sobriquets.
Gaulish. See Gallic.
gauntry. See gantry.
gay makes gayer, gayest, gaily,
gaiety.
gazogene. See gasogene.
geezer, i.e. queer old character,
orig. guiser or mummer, is spelt
geezer in the OED.
gelatin(e). The form without final
-e is in scientific (or pseudo-scien¬
tific) use only ; see -in & -ine.
gemma. PI. -ae.
gemmate. See Participles 5 A.
gendarme, gendarmerie. See
French words.
gender, n., is a grammatical term
only. To talk of persons or creatures
of the masculine or feminine g.,
meaning of the male or female sex,
is either a jocularity (permissible or
not according to context) or a blun¬
der.
generalissimo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 7.
generalize has -zable ; see Mute e.
generate makes -rable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
GENERIC NAMES AND OTHER
ALLUSIVE COMMONPLACES.
When Shylock hailed Portia as
A Daniel come to j udgement, he was
using a generic name in the sense
here intended ; the History of
Susanna was in his mind. When we
talk of the Mecca of Free Trade , of
the Huns, of IthurieVs spear, of
a Naboth's vineyard, of shooting
Niagara, of Procrustean regulations,
draconic severity , or tantalizing op¬
portunities, we are using allusive
commonplaces. Some writers revel
in such expressions, some eschew
them of set purpose, some are ill
provided with them from lack of
reading or imagination; some esteem
them as decorations, others as aids
to brevity. They are in fact an
immense addition to the resources
of speech, but they ask to be em¬
ployed with discretion ; this article
is not intended either to encourage or
to deprecate their use ; they are
often in place, & often out of place ;
GENERIC NAMES
212
GENTEELISM
fitness is all. An allusion that strikes
a light in one company will only
darken counsel in another ; most
audiences are acquainted with the
qualities of a Samson, fewer with
those of a Dominie Sampson, fewer
still with those of the Laputans, &
yet fewer again with those of
IthurieVs spear. Nevertheless, to
some audience or other each of these
may well be, apart from any de¬
corative value attaching to it, the
most succinct & intelligible name
for what is meant. It is for the
writer to see that he does not try
Ithuriel’s spear on those whose
knowledge stops short at Samson ;
for if the test reveals them as
ignoramuses they will not like it,
nor him.
It is perhaps worth while to call
attention to a practical difference
between the useful & the decorative
allusions : when an allusive term is
chosen because it best or most
briefly conveys the meaning, trite¬
ness is no objection to it, intelligi¬
bility being the main point ; but the
choice for decorative purposes is a
much more delicate matter ; you
must still be intelligible, but you
must not be trite, & the margin in
any audience between what it has
never heard of & what it is tired of
hearing of is rather narrow ; it is
necessary to hit it between wind &
water
These few remarks may suffice on
the unanswerable question whether
allusive terms should be sought or
avoided. The purpose of this article
is not to answer it, but to point out
that if thev are used it is inexcusable
& suicidal"to use them incorrectly ;
the reader who detects his writer in
a blunder instantly passes from the
respect that beseems him to con¬
tempt for this fellow who after all
knows no more than himself. It is
obvious that the domain of allusion
is full of traps, particularly for the
decorative allusionist, w r ho is apt to
take the unknown for the fine, & to
think that what has just impressed
him because he knows little about
it may be trusted to impress his
readers. For an example or two see
the articles Benedick, cui bono ?,
devil’s advocate, exit, gallery,
Frankenstein, ilk.
genie. Pronounce je'nl; pi. genii,
pron. je'nfi ; see Latin plurals.
Another form is jinnee, pi. jinn.
genitive(ly), genitival(ly). See ab-
LATIVELY.
genius. PI. - uses ; the form genii
is now used only as pi. of genie (or
of genius in the sense of genie) ; see
Latin plurals. For g. & talent,
see TALENT.
genre. See French words.
gens. PI. gentes, pron. -ez.
gent ( = gentleman) is used only in
uneducated speech or in jocular
imitations of it.
genteel is now used, except by the
ignorant, only in mockery.
genteelly. So spelt.
GENTEELISM. By genteelism is
here to be understood the substi¬
tuting, for the ordinary natural
word that first suggests itself to the
mind, of a synonym that is thought
to be less soiled by the lips of the
common herd, less familiar, less
plebeian, less vulgar, less improper,
less apt to come unhandsomely be¬
twixt the wind & our nobility. The
truly genteel do not offer beer, but
ale ; invite one to step, not come,
this way ; take in not lodgers, but
paying guests ; send their boys not
to school, but to college ; never help,
but assist, each other to potatoes ;
keep stomachs & domestics instead 01
bellies & servants ; & have quite
forgotten that they could ever have
been guilty of toothpowder & napkins
& underclothing, of before & except &
about, where nothing now will do tor
them but dentifrice, serviette, lin¬
gerie, ere, save, anent.
The reader need hardly be warned
that the inclusion of any particular
word in the small selection of gen-
teelisms offered below does not
imply that that word should never
be used. All or most of these & ot
the hundreds that might be classed
213
with them, have their proper uses,
in which they are not genteel, but
natural. Ale is at home in historical
novels, ere & save in poetry, mirrors
in marble halls, the military in riots,
dentifrices in druggists’ lists, & so
forth; but out of such contexts,
& in the conditions explained above,
the taint of gentility is on them.
To illustrate a little more in detail,
‘ He went out without shutting the
door * is plain English ; with closing
substituted for shutting it becomes
genteel; nevertheless, to close the
door is justified if more is implied
than the mere not leaving it open :_
‘Before beginning his story, he
crossed the room & closed the door
1 . e. placed it so as to obviate over¬
hearing ; 4 Six people sleeping in
a small room with closed windows ’,
i.e. excluding air. Or again, 4 The
schoolroom roof fell in, & two of the
boys (or girls, or children) were
badly injured ’; scholars for boys
&c. would be a genteelism, & a much
more flagrant one than closing in the
previous example ; yet scholar is not
an obsolete or archaic word ; it is
no longer the natural English for
a schoolboy or schoolgirl, that is all.
the reader may now be left to the
pecimen list of genteelisms, which
ne wifi easily increase for himself.
I he point is that, when the word in
the * second column is the word of
2 S t W> one should not con-
men?fn ?? lumn ^ess an improve¬
ment in the meaning would result
Genteelisms
ale
anent
assist
carafe
cease
chiropodist
close
coat-vase
college
couch
Normal wore
beer
about
help
water-bottle
stop
corn-cutter
shut
coal-scuttle
school
sofa
toothpowder
striking
servant
Genteelisms
edifice
endeavour
exclusive
j expectorate
hi ther
inquire
kinema
lady-dog
lady help
lingerie
military, the
mirror
odour
paying guest
perspire, -ration
peruse
place
preserve
proceed
recreation
save
scholar
serviette
step
stomach
sufficient
woolly
tipsy
GENTLEMANLY
Normal words
building
try
before
select
spit
here
ask
cinema
bitch
servant
underclothing
soldiers
looking-glass
smell
boarder
sweat
read
put
jam
go
amusement
except
boy &c.
napkin
come, go
belly
enough
sweater
drunk
gentle. The gentle art. This phrase,
long a favourite with anglers as an
affectionate description of their pur¬
suit, was cleverly used by Whistler
m his title The Gentle Art of Making
h,nemies. The oxymoron was what
made it effective ; but the journal¬
ist, aware that Whistler made a hit
with the gentle art , & failing to see
how he did it, has now, by rough
handling on inappropriate occasions,
reduced it to a Battered ornament
(cr. Irrelevant allusion). Thus :
We have not the smallest doubt that
this is what will actually happen db
without any undue exercise in the
gentle art of intelligent anticipation
we may discuss the situation./In a
Committee the gentle art of pro¬
crastinating may prove very deadly
to progress . 9
gentlemanly, gentlemanlike. If the
ugly -like form were understood to
suggest, while the other dirt
GENTLEWOMAN
214
GERUND
a warning that all is not gold that
glitters, there would be sufficient
justification for their coexistence ;
but the OED quotations do not
bear out, nor does the OED em¬
phasize, such a distinction. It seems
a pity, then, that -like should be
kept in being ; see Superfluous
words.
gentlewoman)(lady. The first has
no sense that does not belong to the
second also, but l. has half a dozen
for which g. will not serve—the
Virgin, pi. of madam, titled woman,
wife, beloved, woman politely de¬
scribed. It follows that in the one
sense common to both (fern, of
gentleman, i.e. woman of good birth
& breeding, or woman of honourable
instincts) g. is sometimes preferred
as free of ambiguity or as more
significant. It is, however, an old-
fashioned if not quite archaic word,
& as such tends to be degraded by
facetious use, & to have associated
with it constant epithets, of which
some are derisive ( ancient, decayed,
innocent) & others are resorted to as
protests against such derision ( true ,
Nature's, &c.) ; it is therefore to be
used with caution.
genuine. Compare authentic.
genus. Pronounce je- ; pi. genera,
pron. jen- ; see Latin plurals.
geographic(al). The short form
4 now somewhat rare except in Geo¬
graphic latitude ’—OED. See -ic(al).
geometric(al). 1. The long form
prevails, & there is no difference in
meaning ; see -ic(al). 2. G. pro¬
gression. For the misuse of this, see
progression.
Georgy, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y
germ. For synonymy see Schi-
ZOMYCETES.
German. High & Low G. High G.
is the language known ordinarily as
German ; Low G. is a comprehensive
name for English, Dutch, Frisian,
Flemish, & some G. dialects. The
words High & Low are merely geo¬
graphical, referring to the Southern
or mountainous, & the Northern or
low-lying, regions in which the two
varieties developed.
gerontocracy. See Greek g.
gerrymander. The g is hard.
GERUND. 1. G. & gerundive. 2.
G. & participle. 3. G. & infinitive.
4. G. & possessive.
1. Gerund)(gerundive. The second
word is of importance only with
regard to the languages that possess
the thing, of which English does not
happen to be one ; but, as its being
occasionally used for the other word
gerund, which is of importance in
English grammar, may cause con¬
fusion, the difference between the
Latin gerund & gerundive should be
explained. The gerund is a noun
supplying a verb’s infinitive or noun¬
form with cases ; thus amare to love
has the gerund amandi of loving,
amando by loving, amandum the act
of loving; correspondingly the word
loving as a noun (but not as an
adjective) is the gerund in English,
though it is of the same form as the
participle. From the same stem as
amandi &c. is formed in Latin an
adjective amandus lovable, & this
in Latin grammar is named the
gerundive as being formed from the
gerund. The English adjectives
formed in -ble from verbs, like
lovable, might well enough be called
gerundives from their similarity in
sense to the Latin gerundive ; but
they are not in practice so called, &
the word gerundive has accordingly
no proper function in English
grammar.
2. Gerund & participle. The Eng¬
lish gerund is identical in form, but
only in form, with the active^ par¬
ticiple ; loving is a gerund in 4 can¬
not help loving him ’, but a^ par¬
ticiple in 4 a loving husband ’. A
grammarian quoted by the OED
says 4 Gerundives ’ [by which he
means gerunds] 4 are participles
governed by prepositions ; but,
there being little or no occasion to
distinguish them from other p ar "
ticiples, we seldom use this name .
The distinction is, on the contrary.
215
GERUND, 4
of great importance, & the occasion
for making it constantly occurs. In
the article Fused participle an
attempt is made to show the fatal
effects on style of disregarding it.
3. Gerund & infinitive. Among the
lapses that are concerned not with
particular words but with a whole
class of phrases, & that without
being describable as grammatical
blunders reveal a writer’s ignorance
of idiom, few are more insidious than
failure to recognize when the gerund
with a preposition is required rather
than an infinitive. I look forward
to meet , or to meeting, him ? I aim to
remove, or at removing, the cause ?
The duty is laid on us to do , or of
doing, our best ?
The variety of cases in which the
question arises is so vast, & the rules
that should answer it would be so
many & need so many exceptions,
that it is better not to state them.
Three general remarks may suffice
instead, to be followed by some
specimens. A. There is very little
danger of using the gerund, but
much of using the infinitive, where
the other would be better. B.
Lapses are usually due not to de¬
liberate choice of the worse, but to
failure to think of the better. C.
The use of the infinitive is often
fu C °“ n i ed for > but not justified, by
the influence of analogy ; because
°r. sufficient, or adequate, to
Pcr/om is English, we assume that
equal to perform , which is to bear the
jame meaning, must be English too.
SP u Cimens » where analogy
t0 ha ve been at work, the
S**"* T° rd is su gg e sted in the
correction bracket.
Specimens after nouns
ha ? e been ^cked by the
to'nri vf °f f armers & landlords
t o pwm de notable /and> & b “ “
totir vmiy H Cal authorities to use
h/J refer to the grouping habit
of a few hooligans to annoy & assault
those who . . . (of annoying. Ten-
dency )./Germany's plan to keep to
the present tariff flatly conflicts with
. . . (of keeping. Determination)./
The Government can in no circum¬
stances neglect its elementary duty to
protect the worker (of protecting.
Obligation )./They have been selected
with a view to illustrate both the
thought cfc action of the writer's life
(illustrating. Analogue for with a
view, so as)./Then Humperdinck had
the happy idea one day to write
a little fairy opera (of writing. In-
spiration)./I?wssta assures us that
she has no intention to encroach
upon it (of encroaching. But idiom
after intention is less fixed than
after most such nouns)./ You have
likened the resistance of Ulster
Unionists to be driven out of the
Constitution of Great Britain to the
economic opposition of a number of
scattered citizens to a reform of the
tariff (to being driven. Refusal,
reluctance).
Specimens after adjectives
A simplicity that seems quite un¬
equal to treat the large questions
involved (to treating. Incompetent)./
The navy is not equal in numbers or
in strength to perform the task (per¬
forming. Sufficient).
Specimens after verbs
Since the Ulstermen have com*
mitted themselves to line actual &
visible trenches if a settlement is not
arrived at (lining. Threaten). /He
confesses to have seen little of the
great poets of his lime (having. Pro-
fess)./27ie cab-drivers object to pay
their proportion of the increase (pay¬
ing. Refuse). /France rightly objects
to allow Germany to assume a posi¬
tion m Morocco which would
(allowing. Hesitate)./^// the tradi¬
tions m which she has been brought up
have not succeeded to keep her back
(m keeping. Avail).
Gerund & possessive. The
gerund is variously describable as
an -mg noun, or a verbal noun, or
GERUND, 4
21G
GERUND, 4
a verb equipped for noun-work,
or the name of an action. Being the
name of an action, it involves the
notion of an agent just as the verb
itself does ; He went is equipped for
noun-work by being changed to
his going, in which his does for going
the same service as he for goes, i.e.
specifies the agent. With the verb,
the agent is usually specified, but
not always ; it is seldom, e. g., used
with the imperative {go, not go you
or you go) because to specify the
agent would be waste of words.
With the gerund it is the other way ;
the agent is usually not specified,
but sometimes must be, i.e. a posses¬
sive must sometimes be inserted ;
& failure to distinguish when this is
required & when it is superfluous
leads to some ugly or unidiomatic
writing. Scylla is omission of the
possessive when the sense is not
clear without it ; Charybdis is the
insertion of it when it is obvious
waste of w r ords ; but these are only
the extremes, rarely run into. Jones
icon by Smith's missing a chance ;
if you omit Smith's, & say Jones
won by 7nissing a chance (as in fact
he did, only the missing was not
his), Scylla has you. If you say lie
suffers somezvhat, like the proverbial
dog, from his having received a bad
name, you & your his are in Charyb¬
dis. The second is a real extract ;
of Scylla it was necessary to invent
an illustration ; but even Charybdis
is rare. What is not rare is some¬
thing between the two. It will be
noticed that the reason why that his
(with having received) w r as felt to be
so intrusive is that the receiver is
the same person as the subject of
the sentence ; compare Smith’s
missing, where Smith's was indis¬
pensable just because the misser
was not the subject of the sentence.
Hence has come a subconscious
assumption that the possessive will
be omitted if, & only if, the agent
it would have specified is the same
as the agent in the action denoted
by the main verb, i.e. either the
subject, or, if the verb is passive,
an agent following by or perhaps not
even expressed. The following sen¬
tences are bad because they flout
this assumption ; &, though they
escape both Scylla & Charybdis,
neither leaving out an essential
possessive nor using a superfluous
one, they offend against idiom by
jumping from one agent to another
without giving notice :— By con-
niving at it, it will take too deep root
ever to be eradicated {By our con¬
niving would give the necessary
notice. We shall root it too deeply
would avoid the jump. But better
abandon the gerund & write If
connived at)./Why should not the
punishment for his death be confined
to those guilty of it, instead of launch¬
ing expeditions against three tribes?
(Why should we not confine, or instead
of our launching or instead of expedi¬
tions' being launched. The first is
best)./By allowing month after month
to pass without attempting to defend
our trade, von Tirpitz had some excuse
for supposing that we recognized it to
be indefensible {By our allowing —
clumsy—, or—better— we gave von
Tirpitz some excuse).
k The agent in the action denoted
by the verb ’ was spoken of above,
& not simply ‘ the subject ’ ; this
complication was necessary because
there is a common type of sentence
in which the possessive is regularly
omitted, & which would have seemed
to contradict the rule if ‘ the sub¬
ject ’ had been allowed to pass as
sufficient ; that type is seen in This
danger may be avoided by whitewash¬
ing the glass ; the agent of the
whitewashing is not the same as the
subject i.e. danger, but is the same
as the agent in avoiding, i.e. the
owner of the plants that are not
to be scorched ; consequently the
possessive is not required.
A few wrong forms are added with¬
out comment :— Sure as she was of
her never losing her filial hold of
the beloved./Mr Chamberlain has no
warrant for his limiting the phrase to
. . ./I cultivated a cold & passionless
exterior, for I discovered that by
gesticulation
217 ,
GIRL
assuming such a character certain
persons would, talk more readily
before we./After following a country
Church of England clergyman for a
period of half a century, a newly
appointed, youthful vicar, totally
unacquainted with rural life, comes
into the parish,
gesticulation)(gesture. The usual
relation between the two is that of
abstract to concrete : gesticulation
is the using of gestures, & a gesture
is an act of gesticulation. On the
other hand, gesture also is some¬
times used as an abstract, & then
differs from gesticulation in implying
less of the excited or emotional or
theatrical or conspicuous. Simi¬
larly, if a gesticulation is preferred
to a gesture, it is in order to imply
those characteristics. The use of
gesture in political & diplomatic con¬
texts, = advance, manifestation of
willingness to treat or compromise
or make concessions, exhibition of
magnanimity or friendliness, &c.,
is so recent that the OED (1901)
has no example of it. It dates from
the war, & is apparently a Gallic¬
ism, having been substituted for the
French beau geste ; that, after hav-
iug a great vogue in the newspapers
for a year or two, has notv ceased to
puzzle us, & bequeathed its vogue
to gesture; see Vogue-words.
. 1. Have got for possess or hav>
is good colloquial but not gooc
literary English.
2. Gotten still holds its ground ii
American English. In British Eng
hsh it is in verbal uses (i.e. in com
K* 1 ™? with have, am, &c.) archai<
» b yt as a mere participle
^ adjective lt occurs in poetical
gotten goods t0 Kve con '
vfhfi & technicalities
cnnl onl y f or the l <*rge
™ Per ton gotten). ^
3. Get-at-able. See come-at-able.
The . pronunciation ga'ser
given precedence in the OED.
"OG«. Wor
ced *d by a single
or y) double the g before a suffix
beginning with a vowel : waggery,
priggish, froggy, sluggard, sand-
bagged, zigzagging, nutmeggy, peri¬
wigged, leapfrogging, humbugged.
ghastlily. See -lily.
ghaut, ghat, ghat. The first has
precedence in the OED. Pronounce
gawt.
ghetto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
ghoul. Pronounce gool.
giaour. Pronounce jowr.
gibber, gibberish. The first is
usually pronounced with soft g, &
occasionally spelt ji- ; the second is
pronounced with hard g, & was
sometimes spelt gui- or ghi- to mark
the fact. It is doubtful whether one
is derived from the other. For
gibberish, lingo, &c., see jargon.
gibbous. Pronounce with hard g.
gibe, jibe. The OED gives pre¬
cedence to g-.
gibus. Pronounce ji-.
gild, n. See guild.
gild, vb. For Gilded Chamber see
Sobriquets. Gild the lily is a Mis¬
quotation.
gill, ravine, and gills of fish, have g
hard ; gill, the measure, & Gill, lass,
have g soft. In Jack cfc Gill, Gill (for
Gillian) is the right form.
gillie has g hard ; flower has
g soft.
gimbal has g soft ; the OED gives
that only, & older spellings (often
ji-) & the etymology ( gimmal,
gemellus) confirm it ; but in modern
use the hard g is common.
gimp, gymp, guimp. gi- is best,
gingerly. The word, which is at
least four centuries old, has probably
no connexion with ginger ; see True
& FALSE ETYMOLOGY.
Giotto, Giovanni.
SOUNDS.
See Italian
gipsy. See gypsy.
gird, encircle, has past & p.p.
girded or girt.
girl rhymes with curl, whirl, &
Pearl , with the first syllable of early ,
not of fairly . But a pronunciation
gairl (garl), not very easily dis-
GIRLIE
. 218
GLOSS
tinguished from gal (g&l), is much
affected by persons who aim at
peculiar refinement. Novelists who
write gurl as a representation of
coarse speech are presumably of this
relined class.
girlie, -ly. Sec -ey, -if., -y.
gist has soft g.
give. 1. Give one right, in the sense
justify him or allow that he is in the
right, is both French ( donner droit
d quelqu'un) & German ( einem Recht
geben) ; but it is not English, & the
OED appears to quote no example
of it. In the first passage below
it has been resorted to under the
Elegant-variation impulse, justify
having been already used up :— The
local Liberals & the Chief Whip who
supported them from headquarters
are abundantly justified in their
belief that a radical candidate had.
a better chance of winning this parti¬
cular constituency than a Labour one,
cfc the working-class voters have them¬
selves given them right. /M. Mil¬
ler and is much praised in France
for having resisted Mr Lloyd George’’s
efforts, & M. Clcmcnceau apparently
gives him right.
2. Give to think. The phrase is
commented on in the article Gal¬
licism as one of the two or three
that surpass all other Gallicisms for
ineptitude. It has, however, had
a lamentable vogue, & a few ex¬
amples follow ; others will be found
under furiously. This is a power¬
ful impressionistic sketch, true to life,
which gives to think./fn every chapter
the author has that to say which
arrests attention cfc gives to think./
The Labour Party has made a clean
sweep of the Transvaal Provincial
elections, & the result is certainly one
calculated to give furiously to think./
But what we are told as to coal &
cotton gives furiously to think, as
they say in France. This last gentle¬
man seems to think he has got hold
of a striking novelty ; he is mis¬
taken.
glac6. See French words.
glacial, glacier, glacis. The pro¬
nunciations preferred by the OED
are gla'shlal, gl&'si er, gla'sis.
glad(den). See -en verbs for the
distinction.
gladiolus. The pronunciation re¬
commended is gl&'dyolws, or, if that
is too difficult, gladi'olws; for
further discussion see False quan¬
tity. PI. -luses or - Vi ; see Latin
plurals.
gladsome. See -some.
glamour makes glamorous; see
-our- & -OR-.
glass. 1. Glass-case)(glass case; the
latter is better ; see Hyphens.
2. Glass eye)(glass-eye ; a person
has a g. e. ; a horse has g.-e. (a
disease) ; see Hyphens. 3. Glass-
fuls)(glassesful ; see -ful.
glimpse. Glance & g. are synonyms
only in a very loose sense ; the g.
is what is seen by the glance, & not
the glance itself; you take or give
a glance at something, but get a
glimpse of it; the following sen¬
tences are not English :—Was there
a member of either House who gave
a glimpse at this schedule to see for
himself whether all these documents
deserved to be destroyed ?/A glimpse
at the map will show why Turkey
was not receiving munitions from
Germany or Austria at that time.
glissade. Pronounce glisah'd.
globe. In their primary sense
sphere , globe , orb, & ball, do not
differ, except with regard to the
contexts they suit. And their par¬
ticular applications (a sphere of
action , circumnavigate the globe, his
sightless orbs, a ball of wool, &c.) are
too familiar to need setting forth.
glorify, glory vb. For inflexions
ee Verbs in -ie, -y, -ye, 6.
gloss. The two nouns (a, — com¬
ment; b, = lustre) are of different
irigins, the first Greek, the other
teutonic ; but the meaning of the
irst, & of its derived verb gloze, has
to doubt been considerably affected
see True & false etymology) by
gnorance of this fact, Greek glossa
ongue had as secondary senses:
GLOSSARY
219
GOODNESS KNOWS
word or locution; word needing
explanation ; marginal word serving
as explanation; comment. The
notions of falsity or misrepresenta¬
tion or imputation or explaining
away by which it (& still more gloze)
is now so often coloured are not
essential to it; & though the
development of explanation into
misrepresentation is not unnatural
without assistance, the confusion of
the two nouns has had the effect that
in popular as opposed to learned
speech the first gloss is seldom
without the suggestion of something
sophistical.
glossary) (vocabulary. Both are par¬
tial dictionaries, & so far synony¬
mous; but the g. is a list to which
a reader may go for explanation of
unfamiliar terms (see gloss), while
the v. is a stock in which he may hope
to find words to express his meaning.
The g. selects what is obscure, & the
v. what is serviceable. V. has also
the meaning of the whole stock of
words used by a nation, by any set
of persons, or by an individual. For
lexicon &c. see dictionary.
gloze. The original sense of simply
commenting (see gloss) is obsolete,
gluey. So spelt; see -ey & -y.
glycerin(e). In pharmacy, manuals
of chemistry, &c., -in is preferred ;
m everyday use -ine is much com¬
moner, & -in something of an affec¬
tation ; see -in & -ine.
ffnii-n 8 P-P- Snowed or gnawn.
i , USD examples from the 17th
centuries show -ed eleven
19?h A S ! X 5 half the six are
esfhe l? 6 /.! f ° rm neve rthe-
iess be regarded as an archaism,
gnomic. iSee Technical terms.
Id v * £° eS ; see "°( E ) S 2 -
grntl; m 1 }®! ea r with0ut sa ^ n s is a
nprho~ m ' se ® Gallicisms 5), but
natural! of those that are nearing
second thoughts. Still, the English
stalwart has * needless to say ’, * need
hardly be said ’ or ‘ stated ’, ‘ of
course ’, & other varieties to choose
from.
2. Go phut , fut(t), or foot. The first
spelling seems best, as suggesting
by its obvious want of connexion
with any English word that the
point lies in the mere sound (that of
a collapsing bladder).
gobe-mouches. The word is not
common enough in English to be
regarded as naturalized or subject to
such liberties as we have legitimately
taken with the spelling of morale,
locale , commissionaire, & others. It
should be treated as real French,
printed in italics, & allowed its final
-s in the singular (a gobe-mouches ;
the literal sense is a gorge-flies) as
well as in the plural.
godlily. See -lily.
God’s acre, as a name for church¬
yard or cemetery, though its beauty
may be admitted, has not succeeded
in establishing itself in English. It
is not a phrase of home growth, but
a translation from German ; & it
is interesting that of four quotations
for it in the OED only one shows it
used simply without a reference to
its alien nationality ; such a pre¬
ponderance may be accidental, but
remains significant.
Goidelic. See Gaelic.
golden. See -en adjectives.
golden syrup. At table, as a
synonym for treacle, this is a Gen-
teelism ; at the grocer’s, as denot¬
ing a particular quality of treacle,
it is a good business name.
golf. The OED gives precedence
to the natural pronunciation (gdlf),
& remarks :— 4 The Scotch pronun-
«?ion is (gof) ; the pronunciation
(gof)» somewhat fashionable in Eng¬
land, is an attempt to imitate this ’.
golosh. See galosh.
goloptious, golup-. See Facetious
formations.
G.O.M. See Sobriquets.
goodness knows has two curiously
divergent senses. In Goodness knows
GOODWILL
220
GRAND COMPOUNDS
who it can have been it means God
only knows, & I do not ; in Goodness
knows it wasn't 1 it means God
knows & could confirm my state¬
ment. Ambiguity is unlikely, but
not impossible.
goodwill, good will, good-will. Ex¬
cept in the attributive use, which
happens to be rare (as a good-will
token , that is, as a token of good
will), the choice should be between
the unhyphened forms, since the
accent falls on the second syllabic ;
see Hyphens. Good will is required
when the notion is virtuous intent
&c., & goodzcill is better "when it is
benevolence &c.
goody, -ie. The first is better ; see
•'EY, -IE, -Y.
goosy, -ey, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
gormandize, gourmandise. The
first is the English verb, the second
the French noun, for which see
French words.
gorse. Compare furze.
gossip makes gossiped, gossijnng ;
see -p-, -PP-.
gotten. See get.
gouge. Pronounce gowj.
gourd. The OED gives precedence
to the sound gdfd over goord.
gourmand)(gourmet. The first
ranges in sense from greedy feeder
to lover & judge of good fare ; the
second from judge of wane to con¬
noisseur of delicacies. The first
usually implies some contempt, the
other not. See French words.
graffito. Pronounce grafe'to ; pi.
-ti, pronounce -te.
grammar, syntax, &c. G. is the
general term for the science of lan¬
guage. The following list gives the
chief parts of it, in their logical (not
actual) order of development:—
Phonology-—How sounds are made
& depicted.
Morphology—How words are made.
Accidence—How words are in¬
flected.
Orthoepy—How words are said.
Orthography—How words are writ¬
ten.
Composition—How words are fused
into compounds.
Semantics—How words are to be
understood.
Syntax—How words are arranged
in sentences.
Etymology—How words are tested
bv reference to their source.
Of these, orthography , accidence , &
syntax, as the bare essentials for
writing & reading, represent for
most of us the whole of grammar ;
& morphology, orthoepy, phonology,
& semantics, are meaningless terms
to the average person.
gram(me). There seems to be no
possible objection to adopting the
more convenient shorter form, ex¬
cept that the -me records the unim¬
portant fact that the word came to
us through French.
gramophone. A bad formation;
but incurable, & established.
gourmandise. See gormandize.
governance has now the dignity of
incipient archaism, its work being
done, except in rhetorical or solemn
contexts, by government & control.
governor, -nour. The second is
almost obsolete ; see -our & -or.
grace. For pronouns after your g.
&c., see MAJESTY.
graduate makes graduable (see
-able 1), graduaior (see -or).
graece, -c§. See latine.
Gr(a)ecism, gr(a)ecize, Gr(a)eco-,
&c. The spelling grec- is recom¬
mended ; see M , ce.
GRAND COMPOUNDS. The separat¬
ing, hyphening, or fusing, of the
chief compounds is as follows in the
OED :—
grandam(e); grand-aunt;
grandchild ; grand-dad;
grand-daughter; Grand Duke;
Grand Duchess ; grandfather;
grandfatherly; grandmamma;
Grand Master; grandmother;
grandmotherly; grand-nephew;
grand-niece; grandpapa;
grandparent; Grand Signior;
grandsire; grandson;
grand-uncle.
grande passion
221
GREY
grande passion, toilette. See
Fbench words.
grangerize. Pronounce -anj-.
granite. For the g. city see So-
bbiquets.
granny. So spelt ; see *ey, -ie, -y.
granulate makes -table, -tor; see
•able 1, -OR.
grapnel makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
gratify. For forms see Verbs in
-ie, -y, -ye, 6.
gratin. See French words.
gravamen. PI. -mina.
grave, v. (carve &c.). P.p. graved
or graven, the second much the
commoner; but the whole verb is
archaic except in particular phrases,
esp. graven image, graven on one's
heart.
gravel makes -lied, -lly, &c.; see
-LL-, -L-.
gray. See grey.
greasy. Pronounce -zi.
great. For the differences between
g., big, & large, see big. For the
g. Commoner, the g. unwashed, see
Sobriquets.
greatcoat, not great-coat; see Hy¬
phens.
greaten. See -en verbs ; but it is
now little used, though formerly
common.
Grecian)(Greek. The first is now
cunously restricted by idiom to
architecture, facial outline, the
Grecian bend & knot, & Grecian
slippers. We seldom talk of Grecian,
but usually of Greek, history, fire,
calends, lyrics, tyrants. Church, dia¬
lects, aspirations, though Grecian
noses & brows, colonnades & pedi¬
ments, may still be heard of.
J&j** grecize, Greco-, &c. For
spelling see m, ce.
sSd^f G : • T ? lereis something to be
t retaining the hard sound of
Greek^^^^ 6 e ’ ** & in such
SnuW k V * d as are not in
Know somp r. reek the BQund f
„ . ~°§y) or jfirontfi'krasl
cracy) or faiide'na (r>hnar-
daena) or srziji (syzygy) or jinlkfi'lojl
(gynaecology) either obscures the
meaning, which they would catch
with the aid of the hard g, or, if
they happen to be prepared for it &
so do not miss the meaning, is still
repulsive. To those who do not
know Greek, the sound of the words
is indifferent, & they might allow
the other party the indulgence of
a harmless pedantry that affects
after all but a few words. A list of
deserving cases is given below with
the pronunciations reminiscent of
the Greek origin ; in it are inserted
some others in which the same
principle is involved, but concerns
instead of the sound of g some
different point of pronunciation or
spelling. In support of the proposed
hard g it may be pleaded that the
ch representing Greek chi is often
or. usually hard in similar cases
( diptych, trochee, trichinosis, tracheo¬
tomy, synecdoche, pachyderm, hemi¬
stich, catechism, polychaetan, &c.).
Specimen words :— anagoge (-go'gi);
anthropophagi (-gl) ; antiphlogistic
(-gls-) ; antiphlogistine (-gis-) ; de¬
magogical (-gog-); demagogy (-g5gi);
dialogist (-gist) ; epid(e)ictic (-dik-) ;
gerontocracy (gg-) ; gynaeceum (gin-
eke'wm) gynaecocracy (gi-) ; hege¬
mony (hegd^-) ; hemiplegia (-leg-) ;
isagogic (-gog-) ; laryngitis (-gi-) ;
meningitis (-gi-) ; misogynist (-og-) ;
monogynist (-og-) ; monologist (-og-);
mystagogic ( _ g<3g-); osteomalacia
(-&k-) ; pacdagogical (pgdagdg-) ;
paedagogy (pedagdg-) ; paragoge
(-go'ge) ; paral(c)ipsis (-lip-) ; para¬
logism (-log-) ; paranoia (rather than
-noea) ; paraplegia (-pleg-) ; phage-
daena (fag-); pharmaceutical (-kut-) ;
pharyngitis (-gi-); philogynist (-16g-);
phlogiston (-log-); polygynous (-lig-);
proceleusmatic (-ok-) ; sceptic &c.
(sk-) ; sciamachy (sk-) ; syringitis
(-gi-) ; syzygy (-Ig-) ; theodicy (-kl).
greenness. So spelt,
greenth. See -th nouns.
grey, gray. ‘ In Great Britain the
form grey is the more frequent in use,
notwithstanding the authority of
-* /A,
•n •.
A $ * i - ••
• «
GREYHOUND
222
GUARANTEE
Johnson & later English lexico¬
graphers, who have all given the
preference to gray ’—OED.
greyhound is known to be uncon¬
nected with grey, though the mean¬
ing of its first part is doubtful ; see
True & false etymology.
gridiron, griddle, grid. What the
light of nature would suggest as to
their relations would be that grid
was the original word, griddle its
diminutive, & gridiron a compound
of it with iron. Inquiry seems to
reveal, on the contrary, that grid is
a mere curtailment of gridiron,
which in turn has nothing to do with
the word iron, but is a corruption of
the earlier form gredire, a variant
of gredil the source of griddle. The
particular question is of no practical
importance, but is here mentioned
as illustrating well the kind of mis¬
take, sometimes dangerous, against
which a knowledge of etymology
may be a protection ; sec True &
FALSE ETYMOLOGY.
griffin, griffon, gryphon. Griffon is
the regular zoological form, i.e. as
the name of a kind of vulture ; it is
also the French dog name. For the
monster griffin is the ordinary, &
gryphon an ornamental spelling.
grimy. So spelt ; see -ey & -y.
grippe, grisaille, grisette. See
French words.
grosbeak. Pronounce gros-.
gros de Naples. See French words.
grotto makes grottoes, see -o(e)s 1 ;
& grotto'd, see -ed & ’d.
grouse, bird. See Collectives, 1.
grovel makes -lling, -lied, &c. ; see
-LL-, -L-.
grow. For a grown man &c. see
Intransitive p.f.
grojne. It appears that the word
usually so spelt, & meaning beach-
barrier, is of different origin from
groin the part of the body or of a
vault ; the separate spelling is there¬
fore useful.
gruel makes -lling &c.; see -ll-, -l-.
Gruy6re. See French words.
gryphon. See griffin.
guano. Pronounce gwah-; pi, -os,
see -o(e)s 3. ’
guarantee, guaranty. Fears of
choosing the wrong one of these two
forms are natural, but needless. As
things now are, -ee is never wrong
where either is possible. As a verb,
-y is called by the OED ‘ now rare’
superseded by -ee ’, & -ee should
therefore always be used. As a
noun, -y is correct in some senses,
but -ee is established in all. Those
who wish to avoid mistakes have in
fact only to use -ee always.
For those who either wish to use
words more accurately than their
neighbours, or are curious about the
history of the two forms, some
further remarks are offered. The
contexts in which -y may still be
reasonably preferred are those in
which the sense desired is rather the
act or fact of giving security than
the security given or its giver ; con¬
sequently, 4 willing to enter into a
-y ', ‘ contracts of -y ’, 4 a league of
j -y ’, 4 an act of -y ’, 4 treaties of -y ’,
! 4 be true to one’s -y ’, in all of which
-y is a verbal noun & means guar¬
anteeing.
The history (if the OED suggestion
is right) is as follows. French garant
(person or thing that gives or serves
as security) appears directly in Eng¬
lish as warrant ; warranty & guar¬
anty (the giving of or acting as
warrant) are its derived verbal
nouns. Garant also came indirectly
(through Spanish gar ante) into Eng¬
lish as gar ante, which having the
-e pronounced came to be spelt
guarantee ; the result was two differ¬
ent confusions : first with guaranty
(the concrete with the abstract),
which led to guarantee's taking to
itself the senses of -y as well as its
own ; these it still keeps. Secondly
with passive participles like lessee,
by which guarantee is opposed to
guarantor (though it is in one of its
senses synonymous with it) & gets
the sense, not much used, of person
to whom security is given.
223
GYVES
Gittttre. The OED gives pre¬
cedence to the pronunciation ge'ber.
guer(r)illa. The true spelling is
with -it-, not -r-.; & the true mean¬
ing is not a person, but a kind of
fighting, guerrillero being the word
for the person. But the -r- is four
tiroes as common as the -rr- in the
OED quotations, & we should assert
our right to spell foreign words as
we choose when we have adopted
them (cf, morale). And as to the
meaning, the phrase g. warfare is
now so firmly established in place
of g. itself that the use of g. as a
personal noun may be considered
almost an inevitable Back-forma¬
tion from it. The best course is to
accept the spelling guerilla, & the
sense (as old as Wellington’s dis¬
patches) irregular fighter.
guest. For paying g., see Gen-
teelisms.
guide makes guidable ; see Mute e .
guidon. Pronounce gl'dn.
g(U)ild. Though the form guild
dates back only to 1600, it became
so vastly predominant in the 17th
& 18th cc. that the Revival gild
usually puzzles the reader for a
moment, & should be abandoned as
an affectation.
guillemot. Pronounce gi'llmdt.
guilloche. Pronounce gllo'sh,
guillotine. For the parliamentary
sense, see closure.
gulmp. See gimp.
guipure. See French words.
gulden, Pronounce gool-.
gulf, bay. Apart from the fact
nat each has some senses entirely
toreign to the other, there are the
df£ enCes (1) that *• implies a
deeper recess & narrower width of
entrance, while b, may be used of
slowest inward curve of the
sea-Mne & excludes a landlocked
fw W°ached by a strait j &
While - ,S fl the Qrdinar y word,
fK&i* Chlefly ^rved as a name
f0r lar £ e or notable instances.
BlSujfd hk \ 0t A the torm > which
OTWslly. A bad Anti-Saxonism.
gumma. PI. -as or -ala.
gunwale, gunnel* The pronuncia¬
tion is always, & the spelling not
infrequently, that of the second,
gurgoyle. See gargoyle.
Gurkha. So spelt.
gusset makes gusseted &c. ; see
-T-, -TT-.
gutta-percha. Pronounce -cha.
guttural. See Technical terms.
Pronounce -ter-.
guy, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 5.
gybe. The nautical term is usually
spelt thus.
gymnasium. PI. -ums or - a ; as the
name of a German place of educa¬
tion, pi. Gymnasien.
gymp. See gimp.
gynaeceum, gynaecocracy. See
Greek g.
gyp, as name of a college servant,
belongs to Cambridge & Durham,
not Oxford (cf. scout).
gypsy, gipsy. In contrast with the
words into which y has been intro¬
duced instead of the correct i, ap¬
parently from some notion that it
has a decorative effect ( sylvan ,
syphon, syren, tyre, tyro, &c.), there
are a few from which it has been
expelled for no better reason than
that the display of two ys is thought
an excessive indulgence in orna¬
ment. In gypsy & pygmy the first
y is highly significant, reminding us
that gypsy means Egyptian, &
pygmy foot-high (Gk pugme elbow to
knuckles). It is a pity that they
should be thus cut away from their
roots, & the maintenance of the y is
desirable. The OED’s statement
is :—‘ The prevalent spelling of late
years appears to have been gipsy.
The plural gypsies is not uncommon,
but the corresponding form in the
singular seems to have been gener¬
ally avoided, probably because of
the awkward appearance of the
repetition of y *. See y & i.
gyves. The old pronunciation was
with the g hard, as indicated by
a former spelling gui- j but the a is
now soft.
HABERGEON
224 HACKNEYED PHRASES
H
habergeon. Pronounce h&'berjn.
habiliments. See Polysyllabic
HUMOUR.
habilitate makes habililable ; see
-able 1.
habit, v., has -ited ; see -t-, -tt-.
habitude. In some of its obsolete
senses (relation to, intimacy or
familiarity) the word was not ex¬
changeable with habit. But in the
senses that have survived it is diffi¬
cult to find or frame a sentence in
which habit would not do as well or
better, the only difference being
a slight flavour of archaism attach¬
ing to habitude. The following
examples from the OED are chosen
as those in which, more than in the
rest, habit may be thought inferior
to habitude ; In the new land the
fetters of habitude fall off./All the
great habitudes of every species of
animals have repeatedly been proved
to be independent of imitation./They
can be learned only by habitude. &
conversation. The sense constitution
or temperament, though not called
obsolete in the OED, is so rare as to
be negligible, & habitude may fairly
be classed as a Superfluous word.
habitue. See French words.
hackneyed. So spelt.
HACKNEYED PHRASES. When
Punch set down a heading that
might be, & very likely has been,
the title of a whole book, 4 Advice
to those about to marry & boiled
down the whole contents into a
single word, & that a surprise, the
thinker of the happy thought de¬
served congratulations for a week ;
he hardly deserved immortality, but
he has—anonymously, indeed—got
it ; a large percentage of the great
British people cannot think of the
dissuasive 4 don’t ’ without remem¬
bering, &, alas ! reminding others,
of him. There are thousands to
whose minds the cat cannot effect
an entrance unaccompanied by
4 harmless necessary ’ ; nay, in the
absence of the cat, 4 harmless ’ still
brings 4 necessary ’ in its train ; &
all would be well if the thing stopped
at the mind, but it issues by way of
the tongue, which is bad, or of the
pen, which is worse. King David
must surely writhe as often as he
hears it told in Sheol what is the
latest insignificance that may not be
told in Gath. How many a time
has Galileo longed to recant the
recanting of his recantation, as 4 e
pur si muove ’ was once more
applied or misapplied! And the
witty gentleman who equipped
coincidence with her long arm has
doubtless suffered even in this life
amiable
hundred
attempt
at seeing that arm so mercilessly
overworked.
The hackneyed phrases are counted
by the hundred, & those registered
below are a mere selection. Each
of them comes to each of us at some
moment in life with, for him, the
freshness of novelty upon it; on
that occasion it is a delight, & the
wish to pass on that delight is
but we forget that of any
persons for whom we
this good office, though
there may be one to whom our
phrase is new & bright, it is a stale
offence to the ninety & nine.
The purpose with which these
phrases are introduced is for the
most part that of giving a fillip to
a passage that might be humdrum
without them ; they do serve this
purpose with some readers the
less discerning—, though with the
other kind they more effectually
disserve it; but their true use
when they come into the writer s
mind is as danger-signals ; he should
take warning that when they sug¬
gest themselves it is because what
he is writing is bad stuff, or it would
not need such help ; let him see to
the substance of his cake instead oi
decorating with sugarplums. in
considering the following selection,
the reader will bear in mind that ne
& all of us have our likes & our
dislikes in this kind ; he may find
pet phrases of his own in the list,
or miss his pet abominations ; ne
225
HAD
ouwu «. not on that account decline
to accept a caution against the
danger of the hackneyed phrase.
Suffer a sea change./Sleep the sleep
of the just./The cups that cheer but
not inebriate./Conspicuous by his
absence./The feast of reason./The
flow of soul./A chartered libertine./
A consummation devoutly to be
wished./All that was mortal of
-./Which would be laughable if
it were not tragic./But that is
another story ./Had few equals & no
superior./But it was not to be./
Come into one’s life./Has the de¬
fects of his qualities./Leave severely
alone./Take in each other’s wash-
ing./In her great sorrow./Metal
more attractive./More sinned against
than sinning./There is balm in
Gilead./Fit audience though few./
My prophetic soul !/The scenes he
loved so well./A work of supereroga-
tion./The irony of fate./The pity of
it !/The psychological moment./
Curses not loud but deep./More in
sorrow than in anger./Heir of all
the ages./There’s the rub./The
curate’s egg./To be or not to be./
Hmc illae lacrimae./Filthy lucre./
2wL° Uter man */The inner man./
ur the —— persuasion./Too funny
\ or fr/? et no forrader./My
hd./SenousIyincline./Snapper-up 1 of
unconsidered trifles./The logic of
nf/nr ^ts./The tender mercies
the parting of the
ways./Not wisely, but too well.
tw?!i had )(had have. There are
is required, 8 & that
fe had ■ • • *««
fatal In • u„a ^ e , ® rs * . proved
Cnthni • m ^ ^ have done it foT the
SA f a0uld ““
*to '%Z,T Zed . as St An Sda ’;
bcni^.? nda ^ 3 * should certainly have
■fe^not a fin hC fiTSt P eT f or ™ a nce \
i
easily shown to be absurd. Had
she, had I, are the inverted equiva¬
lents of if she had, if J had j no-one
would defend if she had have done,
nor if 1 had have been, & it follows
that Had she done, Had 1 been,
are the only correct inverted con¬
ditionals.
The other wrong form is seen in
The country finds itself faced with
arrears of legislation which for its
peace tfc comfort had far better been
spread over the previous years ’. It
ought to be had far better have been
spread; but the demonstration is
not here so simple. At the first
blush one says : This had is the
subjunctive equivalent of the modern
would have, as in If the bowl had been
stronger My tale had been longer ;
i*e.» had far better been spread is
equivalent to would far belter have
been spread. Unluckily, this would
involve the consequence that You
had far better done what I told you
must be legitimate, whereas we all
know that I on had Jcit bcttcT have
done is necessary. The solution of the
mystery lies in the peculiar nature
of the phrase had better. You had
better do it j It had better be done ^
You had better have done it ; It had
better have been done; it will be
granted at once that these are cor¬
rect, & that have cannot be omitted
in the last two ; but why ? Because
the word had in this phrase is not
the mere auxiliary of mood or tense,
but a true verb meaning find ; You
had better do it = You would find to-
^o*it better j You had better have
done it = You would find to-have-
done-it better. The sense is a little
strained with transfer to passives
(it had better have been done = It
would find to-have-been-done bet¬
ter), since it is in strictness the
doer, & not the doing, that would
fand the result better; but the
transition is eased by such forms as
You had better have never been chosen ,
& it must be remembered that in the
evolution of an idiom the precise
force of all the words concerned is
seldom present to those who are
HAEM-
226
HALF
evolving it. To return to the arrears
sentence, those arrears would find
to - have - been - spread - over - the - pre¬
vious-years far better, i.e. would
have been in a better state if they
had been so spread. This reminds
us that there is another possible
way of arriving at the same sense :
The arrears would have been better if
they had been spread is compressible
into The arrears had been better
spread ; better then agrees with
arrears, not with to-have-been-spread ;
but that the writer did not mean
to take that way is proved by the
impossible order 4 had better been ’
instead of 4 had been better ’ (cf., in
Othello, Thou hadst been better have
been born a dog) ; he has perhaps
combined the two possible forms,
one idiomatic, & the other at least
grammatical, into a third that is
neither idiomatic, grammatical, nor
possible. Another example like the
4 arrears ’ one is : The object of his
resistance zcas to force Great Britain
to expend men dc material in dealing
with him which had better been
utilized elsewhere.
2. Had in parallel inverted clauses.
Had we desired twenty-seven amend¬
ments, got seven accepted, & were in
anticipation of favourable decisions
in the other twenty cases, we should
think . . . To write Had zve desired
& were in anticipation is wrong (see
Ellipsis G) ; to write Had we de¬
sired & were we in anticipation,
though legitimate, is not only
heavily formal, but also slightly
misleading, because it suggests two
separate conditions whereas there is
only a single compound one. This
common difficulty is best met by
avoiding the inversion when there
are parallel clauses ; write here If we
had desired & were in anticipation.
haem-, haem-, hem-. See m, ce.
h(a)emorrhage, h(a)emorrhoids.
Best spelt hem-, see m, ce ; the - rrh-
should be observed.
hagiarchy, hagiolatry, &c., have
hard g ; see Greek g.
hail, vb. II. fellow well met is now
chiefly used as an adj., & should be,
in that use, hail-fellow-well-met.
hair. Hair shirt, having the accent
on shirt, should not be hyphened ;
see Hyphens.
half. 1, A foot & a h.){One & a h.
feet. In all such mixed statements
of integers & fractions (7£ mill.,
3§ doz., 27£ lb., &c.), the older &
better form of speech is the first—
a foot & a h., seven millions & a
quarter, &c. In writing & printing,
the obvious convenience of the
second form, with figures instead of
words, & all figures naturally placed
together, has made it almost uni¬
versal. It is a pity that speech
should have followed suit; the
1-j ft of writing should be translated
in reading aloud into afoot & a half ;
& when, as in literary contexts,
words & not figures are to be used,
the old-fashioned seven millions & a
quarter should not be changed into
the seven & a quarter millions that is
only due to figure-writing. But
perhaps the cause is already lost;
we certainly cannot say a time &
a half as large instead of one & a half
times. For sing, or pi. after one &
a half, use pi. noun &sing. vb.
2. II. as much again is a phrase
liable to misunderstanding or mis¬
use. The train fares in France were
raised this year 25%, & have again
been increased by half as much again.
That should mean by a further
37j%, making altogether 62£% ;
the reader is justified, though
possibly mistaken, in suspecting
that 124 (half as much, not half as
much again) was meant, making
altogether 37£% instead of 62f.
The phrase is better avoided in
favour of explicit figures when such
doubts can arise. ^
3. Half-world = demi-monde. bee
Gallicisms. The endless intrigues
of the 4 half-world ’.
4 Better half = wife. See Hack¬
neyed phrases.
5. Half-weekly, -yearly, &c. *°r
the superiority of these to bi-weekly,
bi-annual, &c., see bi-.
I I
The
by Se| r °S 1 * dS ; but as esta fa»shed
than a t ^o^,i that *‘ 2 ' ard is no better
tion; but tnt n r ; ety ^° l0 ^ corrup-
I a gainst established
c t* amuck, & gee Di-
one senRA ' 18 vaa ity in more than
HALLELUJAH 227
6. Halfpennyworth is best spelt &
pronounced ha'p'orth, ha'path.
7. H. of it is, h. of them are, rotten.
See Number.
8. For half-breed, half-caste , see
mulatto 1 4.
hallelujah, halleluiah, alleluia.
‘ Now more commonly written as in
the A.V. of the O.T. hallelujah ' —
OED. The mispronunciation -loolya
should be avoided.
halliard. See halyard.
hallmark. For synonymy see sign.
halloo &c. The multiplicity of
forms is bewildering ; there are a
round dozen at the least— hallo,
halloa, halloo, hello, hillo, hilloa,
holla, holler, hollo, holloa, hollow,
hullo. Hello may perhaps be put
aside as American, hillo & hilloa as
archaic, & hollow as confusable with
another word. Then, with inter¬
jection, noun, & verb, to provide
for, the best selection & arrange¬
ment from the remainder is perhaps:
Hullo for the interjection & for the
noun as the name of the interjec¬
tion ; halloo for the noun as the
name of a shout, & for the verb in
dimified contexts ; holla (with past
holla d) for the verb in colloquial
contexts. We thus get x— Hullo !
w that you ? ; He stopped short with
a Hullo ; The minstrel heard the far
halloo ; Do not halloo until you are
°Z°{. wood ; lie holla'd out
something that I could not catch. The
WfmM IWUer ' & hollo(a),
Kf 4 *? be got rid of as well as
hello, hillo{a), & hollow.
halm. See haulm.
W&. ■° (E)S 1: adj -
HANGING-UP
hamstringed, hamstrung. See the
discussion of forecast(ed). With
h., no doubt of the right form is
possible ; in to hamstring, -string is
not the verb string ; we do not
string the ham, but do something
to the tendon called the hamstring ;
the verb, that is, is made not from
the two words ham & string, but
from the noun hamstring ; it must
therefore make hamstringed. On
bowstring vb, where the notion that
-string is verbal is not quite so
obviously wrong, the OED says
‘ The past tense & p.p. ought to be
bowstringed, but bowstrung is also
found ’ ; the case for hamstringed
is still clearer.
hand. 1. Hand dc glove)(h. in glove.
Both forms are common ; the OED
describes the second as 4 later *, &
h. & glove gives best the original
notion, as familiar as a man’s h. &
glove are, while h. in glove suggests,
by confusion with h. in h. (which is
perhaps responsible for the in), that
the h. & the glove belong to different
persons. II. db glove is therefore
perhaps better.
2. At close h. Those who follow the
intricacies of German internal policy
at close h. are able to .. . seems to
be a mixture of close at h. & at close
quarters.
3. Get the better h. If the Imperial
troops got the better h., the foreigners
would be in far greater danger similarly
mixes get the better of with get the
upper h.
4. Handful makes -Is ; see -ful.
handicap makes -pped &c. ; see
-p-, -pp-.
handsel, hansel. The OED gives
precedence to the first; h. makes
-lied &c., see -ll-, -l-.
handy. For h. man see Sobriquets.
hang. Past & p.p. hanged of the
capital punishment & in the impre¬
cation ; otherwise hung.
hangar. The aeroplane shed is so
spelt, & pronounced -ngg-.
HANGING-UP. The indicating of
your grammatical subject & leaving
it to hang up & await your return
HAPLY
228
HARDLY
from an excursion is not common
in modern writing ; it belongs rather
to the old days of the formal period.
When a journalist of today does try
his hand at it, he is apt, being a
novice in the period style, to overdo
things ; the subject & verb are here
italicized for the reader’s assist¬
ance :—‘ A stockbroker friend of the
Z—s & of the Y—s, & then Lord
Z— himself, passed through the box
before the interest of the audience,
which had languished as Lady Z—
resumed her place at the Solicitors’
table, & “ Babs ”, in her demure
grey hat, with the bright cherries,
& her deep white fichu, struggled
through the crowd from the body
of the Court in answer to the call of
Miss Z— X — revived .’
haply. See Wardour street.
happening(s). As all those whose
reading days go back to the last
■century are probably aware, it is
only in the last ten years or so that
the word has set up for itself—i.e.,
has passed from a mere verbal noun
that anyone could make for the
occasion if lie chose, but very few
did choose, into a current noun
requiring a separate entry in the
dictionaries. To younger readers,
who do not know how well we got
on without ‘ happenings ’ till about
1905 , this may be (such is its vogue
nowadays) a surprise. It is a Vogue-
word, which has had a startlingly
rapid success, & which many of us
hope to see wither away as quickly
as it has grown. There is nothing
to be said against it on the score of
correctness ; but it is a child of art
& not of nature ; may it prove
sickly, & die young ! It comes to
us not from living speech, but from
books ; the writers have invented
it, how far in Saxonism (event is the
English for it), & how far in Novel¬
ty-hunting, is uncertain. We can¬
not help laughing to see that, while
the plain Englishman is content that
■events should happen, the Saxonist
on one side requires that there
should be happenings , & the anti-
Saxonist on the other that things
should eventuate. The purpose of
the long string of quotations ap¬
pended is to suggest that the use of
the word (still not common in talk)
is an unworthy literary or journal¬
istic affectation:— The coal happen¬
ings of the last few hours are not
without their significance./There was,
first of all, one little happening which
1 think began the new life./The even¬
ing newspapers turn their backs &
stop their ears upon the incessant
march & clang of happenings./Mr
William Moore (who has up to now
played singularly little part in recent
happenings) said . . ./So clear &
vivid are his descriptions that we can
almost see the happenings as he relates
them./The silence from Tripoli con¬
tinues, but we may be thankful that
another day has passed without any
serious happening elsewhere./There
have been fears expressed of terrible
happenings to crowded liners./Clearly
there is strong resentment in the
electorate at recent happenings./In
his well written summary of happen¬
ings in the art world for the past year
Mr . . ./From 1908 onwards we have
lived in a chronic anxiety about the
next happening.
hara-kiri. Pronounce -lciTi.
harass. So spelt ; cf. embarrass
harassedly. A bad form; see
-EDLY.
harbour. See port.
hardly. 1. IIardly)(hard. 2. Hard¬
ly .. . than. 3. Without h., no *—
hardly.
1. llardly)(liard. . Except in the
sense scarcely, the idiomatic adverb
of hard is hard, not hardly : We
worked hard, lodged hard, & fared
hard DeFoe. It is true that in
special cases hardly may or must be
substituted, as in What is made is
slowly, hardly, & honestly earned
Macaulay; if Macaulay had no
wanted a match for his two other
adverbs in - ly, he would doubtles
have written hard ; but there is now
a tendency, among those who are
not conversant enough with gram-
HARDLY, 2
229
HASHISH
mar to know whether they may
venture to print what they would
certainly say, to amend hard into
hardly & make the latter the normal
wording; see Unidiomatic -ly.
It is even more advisable with hard
than with other such adverbs to
avoid the -ly alternative, since, as
the following quotations show, a
misunderstood hardly will reverse
the sense:— For attendance on the
workhouse he receives £105 a year,
which, under the circumstances, is
hardly earned./It must be remembered
that Switzerland is not a rich country,
& that she is hardly hit by the war./
Upon Saturday the 25th there was
another fluctuation of the line in this
hardly contested & essential point./
The history, methods, & hardly won
success of the anti-submarine cam¬
paign.
2. Hardly... than. This, & scarcely
•.. than, are among the corruptions
for which Analogy is responsible ;
hardly . . . when means the same as
no sooner . . . than, & the than that
fits no sooner ousts the when that
fits hardly. The OED marks the
phrases (under than) with the f of
condemnation; but the mistake is so
obvious that it should not need
pointing out; it is, however, sur¬
prisingly common :— The crocuses
had hardly come into bloom in the
London parks than they were swooped
upon by London children./Hardly
nas the Marne salient obliterated, at
«*cn an expense to the enemy, than
ine Amiens salient followed./Hardly
has Midsummer passed than munici-
v®* Vf, 3 all °ver the country have to
sKfw choosing new mayors./
on«* ely ha i i ^ ey arri ved at their
£Ruhleben racecourse than
8 came to visit them.
4 * u£ r ^fhout hardly, see without
rjJ5 q - UaUy . bad is no — h -y as in
hrecar^ mdu f tr y h - which cannot
& h g al^\, Vx. a t ey ind ™try. There
n ‘ any is the English.
harem, -
-am, -eem, -1m. Theestab-
euing & pronunciation are
arcm; haram , harram, are
antiquated ; harecm & harim, pro¬
nounced hare'm, may still fairly be
called Didacticisms.
haricot. Pronounce -ko.
harmattan. See wind, n.
harmony)(melody. When the words
are used not in the general sense,
which either can bear, of musical
sound, but as the names of distinct
elements in music, h. means ‘the
combination of simultaneous notes
so as to form chords ’—OED, & m.
‘a series of single notes arranged
in musically expressive succession ’
—OED.
harness. Him that putteth on his h.
is a Misquotation.
harquebus, arquebus. The OED
gives precedence to the h - form.
The word is the same as hackbut
( = hook-gun), corrupted in passing
through Italian by confusion with
Latin arcus bow.
harry. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie, -y, -ye, 6.
hart, stag, buck, hind, doe. The
following extracts from OED de¬
finitions will make the distinctions
clear :—
Hart—The male of the deer, esp.
of the red deer; a stag ; spec, a male
deer after its fifth year.
Stag—The male of a deer, esp. of
the red deer ; spec, a hart or male
deer of the fifth year.
Buck — The he-goat, obs. . . . The
male of the fallow-deer. (In early
use perh. the male of any kind of
deer.) . . . The male of certain other
animals resembling deer or goats, as
the reindeer, chamois. In S. Africa
(after Du. bok) any animal of the
antelope kind. Also, the male of
the hare & the rabbit.
Hind—The female of the deer, esp.
of the red deer ; spec, a female deer
in & after its third year.
Hoe—The female of the fallow
deer ; applied also to the female of
allied animals, as the reindeer . . .
The female of the hare or rabbit.
hashish, -eesh. The OED gives
precedence to the first spelling, with
the stress on the first syllable.
HASTEN
230
HAZINESS
hasten. The / should not be sound¬
ed ; see Pronunciation, Silent t.
hate, v., makes hatable ; see Mute e.
ha(u)lm, haunch, haunt. The OED
gives precedence in all to the -aw-
over the -ah- sound, & in the first
to the spelling haulm.
hautboy, oboe. Pronounce hS'boi,
o'boi ; oboe is now the usual form,
hauteur. See French words.
Havana. So spelt,
have. 1. No legislation ever has
or ever will affect their conduct. For
this common mistake see Ellipsis.
2. Some Liberals would have pre¬
ferred to have wound up the Session
before rising. For this mistake see
Perfect infinitive 2.
3. For if the Turks had reason to
believe that they were meditating the
forcible seizure of Tripoli, it was not
to be expected that facilities for ex¬
tending Italian influence would
readily have been accorded. Would
have been, as often happens, is wrong¬
ly substituted for would be.
4. What would have Bcaconsfield
thought ? We need only substitute
he for lleaconsficld to see that the
right place for the subject in this
type of question is between would
& have.
5. For does not have &c. instead of
has not &e., see do 2.
haven. See port.
havoc, v., makes -eking, -eked.
hay. 1. Look for a needle in a bottle
of h. This is the correct form of
the phrase, bottle being a difterent
word from the familiar one, &
meaning truss ; but having become
unintelligible it is usually changed
into bundle.
2. Hay fever)(hay-fiver. The first
is better ; sec Hyphens.
HAZINESS. What is meant by this
is a writer’s failure to make a clear
line between different members of
a sentence or clause, so that they
run into one another ; if he does
not know the exact content of what
he has set down or is about to set
down, the word or words that he is
now writing will naturally not fit
without overlapping, or a gap will
be left between them. This sounds
so obvious that it may seem hardly
worth while to devote an article to
the matter & find a heading for it♦
but even the more flagrant trans¬
gressions of the principle are so
numerous as to make it plain that
a warning is called for. Those more
flagrant transgressions are illus¬
trated first.
The effect of the tax is not likely to
be productive of much real damage
(overlapping ; part of be productive
of has been anticipated in effect;
omit either the effect of or productive
of)./It is a pity that an account of
American activities in aircraft pro¬
duction cannot yet be described (over¬
lapping ; account is contained in
described ; omit an account of, or
change described to given)./A full
account of this explosion & how it
was brought about was narrated in
LAND cfc WATER of April llih
(like the last, but not quite so
indef'ensi ble )./The need of some effort,
a joint effort if possible, is an urgent
necessity for all the interests con¬
cerned (need & necessity overlap)./
A taste for arboriculture has always
attracted a wealthy & cultured class
(taste & attracted overlap)./// has not
come up to the expectations which
Grand Admiral von Tirpitz & von
lloltzendorff himself had so con¬
fidently predicted (they predicted
results, only cherished or encouraged
expectations)./// is almost incom¬
prehensible to believe at present that
such works as his Five Orchestral
Pieces can ever undergo such a total
change of character as to . . . (1°
believe is part of the content of
incomprehensible)./They have ac¬
counted for three times as many
enemy casualties as they themselves
have suffered (cause enemy casual¬
ties ; account for enemies)./T/ie
welfare of the poor <& needy was a
duty that devolved especially on those^
who had a scat in that House (g^P >
it is not the welfare, but the securing
of the welfare, that is a duty).// ^
Tories are not yet reconciled to the
231
HEBREW
loss of power & privilege of which they
were deprived by the last General
Election (loss & deprived overlap ;
that power & privilege is not the
antecedent of which is proved by the
absence of the before power)./The
rather heavy expense of founding it
could have been more usefully spent
in other ways (spend money ; incur
expense)./hitherto the only way of
tackling the evil was by means of pro¬
hibiting the exportation from certain
places (way & means overlap ; the
only way of tackling was to pro¬
hibit ; it could only be tackled by
means of)./With the one exception of
Sir Alfred Lyall, who chequers praise
with somewhat tentative criticism, all
these tributes are naturally eulogistic
(gap; Sir Alfred is not a tribute).
Certain words seem to lend them¬
selves especially to this sort of hazi¬
ness, as ago {It is five years ago since
1 saw him ); reason with because
(The only reason his wages have not
been higher is because — i.e. that —the
profits of the industry have been
miserably low), or with due (The
reasons of his success were due not
owy to . . .); the illogical too (We
need not attach too much importance
?•••); preferable with more (the
former alternative being , in our view,
on every ground the more preferable) ;
fun T 11 * 1 superfluous negatives
iSffcA" 0 ®* hut what this memorial
2™ on mm J not prove the starting
nr * T j A T con j* with questions
2 ®ommands (Crises arise so rapidly
tn days that who can say what
Jjw»ears may bring forth ?/Your I
send it to...) { remain
JSL Z p Z <These it
iSaUy)!^ Ppear be reached
oader the ^ oun ^
***** fc r £S‘° by
Jackdaw
Rheims
I grammar of he & him, an illegitimate
him occasionally appears even in
less colloquial placings than ‘ That ’s
him ’ ; thus : It might have been
him <& not President Wilson who said
the other day that ... The tendency
to use he where him is required is,
however, much commoner in print.
The mistake occurs when the pro¬
noun is to stand in some out-of-the-
way or emphatic position ; it looks
as if writers, pulled up for a moment
by the unusual, hastily muttered to
themselves ‘ Regardless of grammar
they all cried “ That’s him ! ” &
thanked God they had remembered
to put ‘ he ’ The bell will be always
rung by he who has the longest purse
& the strongest arm./The distinction
between the man who gives with con¬
viction cfc he who is simply buying a
title./And the severance then was
followed four years later by the crea¬
tion of yet another Secretary of State,
<& he for India./One of its most
notable achievements was the virtual
* warning off ’ Newmarket Heath,
though not in so many words, of a
Prince of Wales, he who was after¬
wards George the Fourth./The charac¬
ter of Bismarck is of an intrinsic
greatness cfc completeness, which en¬
ables the spectator, even he who is
most repelled by the results of Bis¬
marck's appearance in the world
to . . .
headmaster, headmistress, head¬
quarters. Write each as a single un¬
hyphened word, the accent being on
the second element; see Hyphens,
p. 246b, and cf. topsawyer (top).
heap. There are heaps more to say,
but I must not tax your space further.
Are, or is ? see Number.
hearths. For pronunciation see
TH & DH.
haave. Past & p.p. heaved or hove.
Hebe. See Sobriquets.
hebraism, hebraist, hebraize, are the
usual forms, not hebrewism &e.
Hebrew, Israelite, Jew, Semite.
Persons to whom all these words are
applicable are thought of by the
modern Englishman as Jews : if he
HECATOMB
232
hedonist
uses in speech one of the other words
instead of Jew, it is for some reason,
known or possibly unknown to
himself. He may be deliberately
avoiding Jew for whichever of the
others he first thinks of, & that
either at the bidding of Elegant
variation or Novelty-hunting or
facetiousness, or for the better rea¬
son that Jew has certain traditional
implications (as usury, anti-Chris¬
tianity) that are unsuited to the
context. Or on the other hand he
may be not avoiding Jew, but
choosing one rather than another
of the alternatives for itself: Hebrew
suggests the pastoral & patriarchal,
or again the possession of a language
& a literature ; Israelite, the Chosen
People & the theocracy, & him in
whom was no guile ; Semite, the
failure of most modern nations to
assimilate their Jews. The fact
remains that Jew is the current
word, & that if we mean to sub¬
stitute another for it, it is well to
know why we do so. A remark or
two of the OED bearing on the
distinctions may be added (On
Hebrew) ‘ Historically, the term is
usually applied to the early Israel¬
ites ; "in modern use it avoids the
religious & other associations often
attaching to Jew' ’ ; (on Jew) ‘ Ap¬
plied comparatively rarely to the
ancient nation before the Exile, but
the commonest name for contem¬
porary or modern representatives of
the race ; almost always connoting
their religion & other characteristics
which distinguish them from the
people among whom they live, &
thus often opposed to Christian, &
(esp. in early use) expressing a more
or less opprobrious sense ’.
hecatomb. Pronounce -dm.
hectic. For a h. moment./M. Coue
was taken up by some of our h. papers,
cfc then dropped because he did not
do what he never professed to do./
They have got pretty well used to the
h. undulations of the mark. The
sudden blossoming of h. into a
Vogue-word, meaning excited, rap¬
turous, intense, impassioned, wild,
uncontrolled, & the like, is very
singular. The OED (1901) shows
hardly a trace of it, & explains its
one quotation of the kind (‘ vehe¬
ment & h. feeling ’) as an allusion
to the h. flush—no doubt rightly.
Now a h. flush is one that is ac¬
counted for not, like other flushes,
by exceptional & temporary vigour
or emotion, but by the habit (Greek
<f, y ) of body called consumption.
The nearest parallel to this queer
development seems to be the use of
chronic for severe, the only differ¬
ence being that while that is con¬
fined to the entirely uneducated
this has had the luck to capture the
journalists.
hecto-. See centi-.
hedonist, Cyrenaic, epicurean, utili¬
tarian. The first (literally, adherent
of pleasure) is a general name for the
follower of any philosophy, or any
system of ethics, in which the end
or the summum bonum or highest
good is stated as (in whatever sense)
pleasure. ,
The Cyrenaic (i.e. follower of Aris¬
tippus of Cyrcne) is the hedonist in
its natural acceptation-—the plea¬
sure-seeker who only differs from the
ordinary voluptuary by being aware,
as a philosopher, that the mental
& moral pleasures are pleasanter
than those of the body. .
The epicurean (or follower of Epi¬
curus), bad as his popular reputa¬
tion is, rises above the Cyrenaic by
identifying pleasure, which remains
nominally his summum bonum, witn
the practice of virtue.
The utilitarian, by a stll l m0 £;
surprising development, while
remains faithful to pleasure, un e
stands by it not his own, but that oi
mankind—the greatest happiness ot
the greatest number.
It will be seen that the hedonist
umbrella is a broad one, covering
very different persons. Both
epicurean & the utilitarian
suffered some wrong in fwpui
usage ; it has been generally ig
that for Epicurus pleasure consisted
233
HELP
ONY
in the practice of virtue, & the
utilitarian is unjustly supposed (on
the foolish ground that what is use¬
ful is not beautiful & that beauty
is of no use) to rate the steamroller
higher than Paradise Lost. It may
be worth while to quote the OED’s
statement of ‘ the distinctive doc¬
trines of Epicurus :—1. That the
highest good is pleasure, which he
identified with the practice of virtue.
2. That the gods do not concern
themselves at all with men’s affairs.
3. That the external world resulted
from a fortuitous concourse of
atoms
hegemony. The pronunciation
hegfi'mon! is recommended ; see
Greek g.
_heglra. Pronounce hd'jlra (not
ir'a), hijra a Didacticism
heir. 1. For h. of all the ages see
Hackneyed phrases.
2. H. apparent)(h. presumptive.
1 nese phrases are often used, when
there is no occasion for either & heir
alone would suffice, merely because
they sound imposing & seem to
TO y L familiarit y With legal terms.
And those who use them for such
reasons sometimes give themselves
away as either supposing them to be
equivalent or not knowing which is
T~ch. Thus : By the tragedy of the
th i 6 C J? Wn Prince Rudolph in
lh* «. Arehduke Ferdinand became
pf. . A ?P are nt to the throne.
ttUdoJph, it is true, was heir appar-
l * butby his death no-one could
necome h. a. except his child or
younger brother (whereas Ferdinand
SI " 8 cpusin), since the Emperor
S ht conceivably have a son
K n b y a«y possible birth ; an
if an h a ne - W S° wiU lose his position
doubt at I" 5 u rn ; Mi stakes are no
tZifTT'- Its «« sense re!
4 confusi on with the other
Prevailing sense, is manifest or
(not
[ unquestionable. But the current
sense is almost the same as that of
seeming, though with slightly less
implication that the appearance &
the reality are different ; apparent
in this sense means much the same
as presumptive , but in the other
something very different ; hence the
error.
heliotrope. Pronounce he-,
helix. PI. helices, pronounce -sez.
hellebore. Pronounce he'libor.
Hellene, Hellenic. The function of
these words in English, beside Greek,
is not easy to define ; but the use of
them is certainly increasing. They
were formerly scholars’ words, little
used except by historians, & by
persons concerned not so much with
Greeks in themselves as with the
effects of Greek culture on the
development of civilization in the
world. With the modern spread of
education, the words have been
popularized in such connexions ; at
the same time the national aspira¬
tions of Greek irredentists have
called newspaper attention to pan-
IIellenism & to the name by which
the Greeks & their king call them¬
selves ; so that the proportion of
people to whom Greek means some¬
thing, & Hellene & Hellenic nothing,
is smaller than it was. Neverthe¬
less, Greek remains the English
word, into whose place the Greek
words should not be thrust without
special justification.
hello. See HALLOO.
helmet makes -eted; see -t-, -tt-.
help, n. For lady h., see Genteel-
isms.
help, v. Than , & as, one can help,
Don t sneeze more than you can help.
Sneeze as little as you can h ., are
perhaps to be classed as Sturdy
indefensibles. Those who refrain
from the indefensible however sturdy
it may be have no difficulty in cor¬
recting : Don't sneeze more than you
must. Sneeze as little as you can or
PfafU- ' Out of Don't sneeze if you can
help it is illogically developed Don't
sneeze more than uou can h*/n wL.vk
* tk
: "*i-
HELPMATE
234
HERS
would be logical, though not attrac¬
tive, if cannot were written lor can.
And out of Don't sneeze more than
you can help by a further blunder
comes Sneeze as little as you can
help ; a further blunder, because
there is not a mere omission of a
negative— 4 you can not help ’ does
not mend the matter—, but a failure
to see that can without help is
exactly what is wanted : the full
form would be Sneeze as little as you
can sneeze little, not as you either can,
or cannot, keep from sneezing. The
OED, which stigmatizes the idiom
as 4 erroneous ’, quotes Newman for
it :— Your name shall occur again as
little as I can help, in the course of
these pages (where as little as may be
would have done, or, more clumsily,
if the I is wanted, as little as 1 can
let it\
helpmate)(helpmeet. The OED’s
remark on the latter is :—A com¬
pound absurdly formed by taking
the two words help meet in Gen. ii.
18, 20 ( 4 an help meet for him’, i.e.
a help suitable for him) as one word.
hem-. See haem-, haemorrhage,
& JE, CE.
hemiplegia. For pronunciation see
Greek g.
hemistich. Pronounce -k.
hempen. See -ex adjectives.
hendecasyllable, hendiadys, heph-
themimeral. See Technical terms.
her. 1. Case. For questions of her
& she, see she, & ef. he.
2. For questions of her & hers (e. g.
Her & his tasks differ), see Absolute
POSSESSIVES.
3. For her & she in irresolute or
illegitimate personifications (e.g. The
United States has given another proof
of its determination to uphold her
neutrality./Danish sympathy is writ
large over cdl her newspapers), see
Personification.
Herculean. Pronounce herku'lian.
The normal sound of words in -ean
is with the -e- accented & long ; so
Pericle'an, Cythere'an, Sophoele'an,
Medice'an, Tacite'an, pygme'an, &
scores of others. Of words that
vacillate between this sound & that
given by shifting the accent back
& making the -e- equivalent to 1,
as in Herculean, most develop a
second spelling to suit ; so Caesarean
or Caesarian , cyclopean or - pian ,
Aristotelean or -Xian. Herculean, like
protean, changes its sound without
a change of spelling ; & many
people in consequence doubt how
the words should be said. The
sound herku'lian is not a modern
blunder to be avoided, but is estab¬
lished by long use. In the only
three verse quotations given by the
OED, -e'an is twice impossible, &
once unlikely :—
Robust but not Herculean—to the
sight
No giant frame sets forth his com¬
mon height.— Byron
Let mine out-woe me ; mine’s
Hurculean woe.— Marston
So rose the Danite strong,
Herculean Samson, from the harlot-
lap
Of Philistean Dalilah .—Milton
heredity. The word is now used,
by good writers, only in the bio¬
logical sense, i.e. the tendency of
like to beget like. The extract be¬
low, where it has been substituted
for descent solely because descendant
is to follow, illustrates well what
happens when zeal for Elegant
variation is not tempered by dis¬
cretion :— The Agha Khan ... is
unique because of his heredity— he is
a lineal descendant of the Prophet
Mohammed—though he is more note¬
worthy because of his being the leader
of the neo-Moslems.
heriot. For synonymy see tax.
heritrix. For pi. see -trix.
hermit. For the Hermit Kingdom
see Sobriquets.
hero. PI. -oes ; see -o(k)s 1.
heroic (of metres). See Technical
terms.
herr. See mynheer.
herring. For the h.-pond, see Worn-
out humour.
hers. See Absolute possessives.
235
HISTORICITY
hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation.
The last has almost driven out the
others; -ce may be regarded as
obsolete; but -cy is still occasion¬
ally convenient when what is to be
expressed is not the act or fact of
hesitating, but the tendency to do
so. Two examples from the OED
will illustrate :— She rejected it with¬
out hesitation./That perpetual hesi¬
tancy which belongs to people whose
intelligence <& temperament are at
variance.
heteroclite. See Technical
hew. P.p. usu. hewn, sometimes
hewed.
hexameter. See Technical
hiatus. See Technical terms.
PI. •uses, see -us, & Latin plurals.
Hibernian differs from Irish(man)
as Gallic from French, & is of the
nature of Polysyllabic humour.
hibemice, -c6. See latine.
hiccup makes -uping, -uped; see
-P-, -pp-. The spelling -ough is a
perversion of popular etymology,
& ‘ should be abandoned as a mere
error ’—OED.
hide, vb. P.p. hidden or hid, the
latter still not uncommon.
hie makes hieing ; see Mute e.
hierarchic(al). The long form is
the commoner.
highbrow. See mugwump.
highly, 1. It should be remem-
^at high is an adv. as well as
& better in many contexts ;
»$*’■“ } s heft to pay your men high ;
High-placed officials ; see Unidiom-
Though highly in the
E.. to a high degree is often un-
contentious
tLtT?^ ati0n > a Patronizing
A® hl Shty entertaining perform-
in such ^ ls ^ ncd y* & is best avoided
m such connexions.
Highness. For pronouns
see MAJESTY.
.at. bee Worn-out hum
. - halloo.
See he.
after
hinc illae lacrimae. See Hack¬
neyed PHRASES.
hind, deer. For synonyms see hart.
hindermost. See -most.
Hindu, Hindoo. The OED gives
precedence to the former j but it is
perhaps still permissible for the
old-fashioned to regard it as a
Didacticism & keep to the anglicized
Hindoo.
hinge v. makes hinging ; see
Mute e.
hippocampus. PI. - pi , pron. -pi.
hippogriff, -gryph. The first spel¬
ling is recommended ; cf. griffin.
hippopotamus. PI. -muses better
than -mi.
hire, v., makes hirable ; see Mute e.
his. 1. A graceful raising of one’s
hand to his hat. For the question
between his & one's in such posi¬
tions, see one.
2. The member for Morpeth has long
been held in the highest respect by all
who value sterling character & whole¬
hearted service in the cause of his
fellows. For this type of mistake
see Pronouns.
historic (in syntax). See Tech¬
nical terms.
historic(al). The Differentiation
between the two forms has reached
the stage at which it may fairly be
said that the use of one in a sense
now generally expressed by the
other is a definite backsliding. The
ordinary word is historical ; historic
means memorable, or assured of
a place in history ; historical should
not be substituted for it in that
sense ; the only other function
retained by historic is in the gram¬
marians’ technical terms historic
tenses, moods, sequence, present, &c.,
in which it preserves the notion
appropriate to narration of the past
of which it has been in general use
robbed by historical.
historicity. The earliest OED ex¬
ample of this ugly word is dated
1880 ; but, being effective in impart¬
ing a learned air to statements that
are to impress the unlearned, it has
had a rapid success, & is now com-
HITHER
236
HOMONYM
mon. It has, however, a real use as
a single word for the phrase his¬
torical existence, i.c. the having
really existed or taken place in his¬
tory as opposed to mere legend or
literature. To this sense, in which
it makes for brevity, it should be
confined. The historicity of St Paid
should mean the fact that, or the
question whether, St Paul was a
real person ; the following quotation
shows the word in a quite different
sense ; in that sense it would not
have been worth inventing (why not
accuracy ?) ; & as soon as it has
two or more senses liable to be con¬
fused, it has lost the only merit it
ever had—that of expressing a
definite compound notion unmis¬
takably in a single word :— He is
compelled to speak chiefly of ivhat he
considers to be exceptions to St Paul's
strict historicity & fairness ; & he
tells us that he is far from intending
to imply that the Apostle is usually
unhistorical or unfair.
hither, described by the OED as
‘ now only literary ’, is even in
literature, outside of verse, almost
disused. It is still tolerable, perhaps,
in one position, i.e. as the first word
in an inverted sentence following
a description of the place referred to
—Hither flocked all the . . . Else¬
where, it produces the effect of a
Formal word, being used mainly by
the unpractised writers who bring
out their best English when they
write to the newspapers. The same
is true of thither ; but, as often
happens with stereotyped phrases,
hither & thither retains the currency
that its separate elements have lost.
hoarhound. See iioreiiound.
hobbledehoy, hobbadehoy. The
elements of the word being quite
uncertain the best spelling is which¬
ever is most used ; that is hobble¬
dehoy,& the OED gives it precedence.
hob-nob makes -bbed, -bbing ; see
-B-, -BB-.
hock, hough. Hough, the older
spelling, is now pronounced like
hock , which ‘ has largely superseded ’
it (OED) in spelling also; it is
better to abandon the old spelling.
hocus. For inflexions see -ss-, -s*.
hodge-podge. See iiotchpot(ch).
hoe, v., makes hoeable , hoeing ;
exceptionally, see Mute e.
hoi polloi. These Greek words for
the majority, ordinary people, the
man in the street, the common herd,
&c., meaning literally ‘ the many
are equally uncomfortable in Eng¬
lish whether the ( = hoi ) is prefixed to
them or not. The best solution is to
eschew the phrase altogether.
holey, holy. See -ey & -y.
holily. See -lily.
holla, holler, hollo(a), hollow. See
HALLOO.
hoiy. Write holy day or holy-day
according as an accent is or is not
desired on day ; this depends on
context.
home, n., makes homy, not homey ;
see -ey & -y.
home, vb, makes homing ; see
Mute e.
homelily. See -lily.
homely. For ‘ to use a h. phrase ’
see Superiority.
homoeopathic. Spell thus; see
rE , ce. For the use of the word as
a substitute for tiny, small, diminu¬
tive, &c., see Pedantic humour,
Worn-out humour.
Homeric. For II. laughter , see
laughter.
homonym, synonym. Any con¬
fusion between the two is due to the
fact that s. is a word of rather loose
meaning. Broadly speaking, homo¬
nyms are separate words that happen
to be identical in form, & synonyms
are separate words that happen to
mean the same thing. Pole, a shaft
or stake, is a native English word ;
pole, the terminal point of an axis,
is borrowed from Greek ; the words,
then, are two & not one, but being
identical in form are called homo¬
nyms ; on the other hand cat, the
animal, & cat, the flogging instru¬
ment, though they are identical m
form & mean different things, are
237
HOPE
not separate words, but one word
used in two senses ; they are there¬
fore not homonyms. An example
of true synonyms, i.e. of separate
words exactly equivalent in meaning
& use, is seen in furze & gorse ; such
synonyms are rare, & the word is
applied more frequently to pairs or
sets in which the equivalence is
partial only; see Synonyms .
homophone. See Synonyms.
Hon. In the use of this prefix
(Hon. or the Hon.), which requires
the person’s Christian name or
initial, not his surname alone ( the
Hon. James or J. Brown , not the
Hon. Brown), a common mistake is
to suppose that the Christian name
is unnecessary before a double-
barrelled surname, as in The Court,
composed of Mr Justice A. T.
Lawrence, the Hon. Gathorne-Hardy,
... The same remarks apply to
the prefixes Rev. & Sir. With Hon.,
. . if the Christian name or
lmtial is unknown, Mr at least
should be inserted (the Rev. R. Jones
or the Reo. Mr Jones, not the Rev.
Jones, nor the Rev. Bryce-Jones).
honest. For the honest broker see
•sobriquets.
honeyed, honied. The first is best.
honorarium. PI. -iums or -ia. The
„ . gives precedence to the pro¬
nunciation with a sounded h ; this,
f P** seem proper tributes
forever. WOrd “ “ languished
.«"o£S\ K “P th = -u-; but
Soever wiH look up
Bee fiW ( Hamlet i. iv. 16) will
a custom* beyond a doubt,
° but ^ break A ng than for kee P-
& very different sense of a
♦£? ? r more often
forbids So; The Act
'of °Vj ad f or f° r tf *
toe A# £L * T ^ ere f° re > unless
1 oe honoured more in it*
breach than in its observance, the
cherubic choirboy ... is likely . . . to
be missing from his accustomed place
in cathedral cfc church. For similar
mistakes, see Misap PUFTIFMCTAxto
hoof. PI. -fs, sometimes -ves : see
•ve(d).
hope. In the OED, the examples
illustrating the use of the verb are
nearly 60 in number ; of all these
not a single one bears the slightest
resemblance or gives any hint of
support to any of the sentences
here to be quoted. This seems
worth mention as showing how very
modern these misuses are ; in 1901,
the date of II in the OED, they
could apparently be ignored ; that
they were not quite non-existent
even then is shown by the fact that
one of the offenders quoted below
is Emerson, but it may be safely
assumed that they were rare ; now¬
adays, the newspapers are full of
them.
First, three examples of the mon¬
strosity sufficiently discussed in the
article Double passives : — No
greater thrill can be hoped to be
enjoyed by the most persistent play¬
goer of today than . . ./What is hoped
to be gained by the repetition of
these tirades against Liberalism just
now I cannot conceive./There was
a full flavour about the Attorney-
GeneraVs speech against him in the
Assize Court at Launceston which
cannot be hoped to be revived in
these indifferent times.
Secondly, Analogy has been at
work, &, as hope & expect are roughly
similar in sense, the construction
proper to one (/ expect them to suc¬
ceed) is transferred to the other
(I hope them to succeed, whence They
are hoped to succeed) with which it
is far from proper ; so :— I need not
say, how wide the same law ranges, <fc
how much it can be hoped to effect./
In the form of a bonus intended to cover
the rise, hoped to be temporary, in the
cost of living./A luncheon at which
k is hoped to be present. But
the notion that, because hope meant
HOPEFUL
238
HOWBEIT
hopefully expect, therefore it can have
the construction that that phrase
might have is utterly at variance with
the facts of language.
Thirdly, writers have taken a fancy
to playing tricks with ‘ it is hoped ’,
& working it into the sentence as an
essential part of its grammar instead
of as a parenthesis ; the impersonal
it is omitted, & is (or are) hoped is
forced into connexion with the sub¬
ject of the sentence, with deplorable
results. See also it. In the first
two examples, it should be rein¬
stated ; in the third, read are not
even yet , it may be hoped, at an
end :—The actual crest of the Vil -
leneuve hill was not reached, as was
hoped might be possible./The final
arrangements jor what is hoped will
prove a ‘ monster demonstration ’./
Who has held two of the most distin¬
guished positions under the Crown,
& whose self-sacrificing services for
the Empire may be hoped even yet
not to be at an end./Which ended in
what is hoped is only a temporary
breakdown./The chief actors in what
is hoped will prove the final act./
During what is hoped will prove to be
a more active autumn.
hopeful. For young h. see Hack¬
neyed phrases.
horehound, hoarhound. Though
‘ the analogical spelling is hoar- ’
(i.e. the word is connected with
hoary), ‘ this is much less usual in
England than hore- ’—OED.
horrible)(horrid. The distinctions
between the two are (1) that horrid
is still capable in poetical & literary
use of its original sense of bristling
or shaggy ; & (2) that while both
are much used in the trivial sense of
disagreeable, horrible is still quite
common in the graver sense inspiring
horror, which horrid tends to lose,
being now ‘ especially frequent as a
feminine form of strong aversion ’—
OED.
horrify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
hors concours, hors de combat,
hors-d’ceuvre. See French words.
horse makes horsy, not horsey j see
-ey & -Y.
hose (stockings) is archaic, or a
shop name, or rarely a Genteelism.
hospitable. The stress should be
on hos-, not on -pit- ; for doubtful
cases of such stress see Recessive
accent ; but the stress on hos- is as
old as Shakspere & Drayton (lines
quoted in OED).
hospitaller, not -aler ; see -ll-, -l-.
hostler. See ostler.
hotchpot, hotchpotch, hodgepodge,
hotpot. The first is nearest to the
original form (Fr. hochepot = shake-
pot) ; 2, 3, & perhaps 4, are succes¬
sive corruptions dictated by desire
for expressiveness or meaning when
the real sense was forgotten. Hotch¬
potch being the prevailing form, it
would be best if the two later ones
might perish; hotchpot, being a
technical legal term, would naturally
resist absorption in hotchpotch, but
might be restricted to its special use.
hotel. The old-fashioned pronun¬
ciation with the h silent (cf. humble,
humour, humorous, honorarium) is
certainly doomed, & is not worth
fighting for.
hough. See hock.
houri. Pronounce hoor'i or howr'I.
houseful. PI. -Is; see -ful.
housewife. The shortened pro¬
nunciation (hu'zif or hii'zwif), which
is almost invariable for the sewing-
case, is still fairly common also for
the mistress or domestic manager ;
displacement of the traditional
hu'zif or hii'zwif by how'swif was in
part brought about in the 16th c.»
when housewife & hussy were still
realized to be the same word, by the
feeling that a distinction between
the two was due to the reputable
matron.
housewifery. Pronounce hu'zifri,
hu'zwi'fri, or how'swifri; see house¬
wife.
hover. The OED gives precedence
to the pronunciation hii'ver. .
howbeit, according to the OED, is
archaic in one of its senses (neverthe¬
less) & obsolete in the other (al-
230
HUGEOUS
The archaic has its place
in modern writing, the obsolete has
not; see Archaism. Those who,
without much knowledge of the kind
of literature in which archaism is in
place, are tempted to use this word
should carefully note the distinction.
It is often a delicate matter to draw
it aright; but there is little doubt
that the OED has done so here.
however. Several small points re¬
quire mention. 1. however, how ever,
how . . . ever. In everyday talk,
how ever is common as an emphatic
form of the interrogative how ( How
ever can it have happened ?) ; it
should not appear in print except
when dialogue is to be reproduced,
being purely colloquial; this does
not apply to cases where ever has its
full separate sense of at any time
or under any circumstances, but it
is then parted from how by some
other word or words. We believe
that before many years have passed
employers & employed alike will
wonder however they got on without
it ; this should have been how they
ever got on ; the other order is an
illiteracy in itself, & the offence is
aggravated by the printing of how¬
ever as one word. See ever.
3. But howeoer)(but . . . however,
fy* f* ™; us t be remembered, however ,
mat the Government had no guarantee./
uw these schemes, however, cannot be
corned out without money. And for
other examples of this disagreeable
out common redundancy see but 5 ;
SZm b H t ? r , lwwa,er suffices ; one
J aken > & the other left;
than**v»?r tw ° stools is little better
SSLffi* 1 * between them. It is
hy that But however with
seem interven *ng, which would
the mos * flagrant case, is on
™<8ge*ts that there is more in it
ever has & that
a . 3 tog ad / erb & not
> « therefore strictly
iot trespassing on but's
ground. The usage is colloquial
only.
However too late. These extra¬
vagant German counter-attacks in
mass on the Cambrai front , however,
materially helped the French opera¬
tions in Champagne. The excuse for
such late placing of the conjunction
—that these . . . front is in effect
a single word—is sound only against
a suggestion that it should be placed
after attacks ; it, or Nevertheless, or
All the same, could have stood at the
head of the sentence. The undue
deferring of however usually comes
from the same cause as here, i.e. the
difficulty of slipping it in where
it interrupts a phrase, & should be
recognized as a danger to be avoided.
4. However too early. It should be
borne in mind that the placing of
however second in the sentence has
the effect, if the first word is one
whose meaning is complete (e.g. He
as compared with When), of throw¬
ing a strong emphasis on that word.
Such emphasis may be intended, or
short of that may be harmless ; but
again it may be misleading ; em¬
phasis on he implies contrast with
other. people ; if no others are in
question, the reader is thrown out.
The Action Commission wished to get
permission for meetings & had tele¬
phonic communication with Wallraff,
who declared that he would not
negotiate with the workmen. He,
however, would receive the Socialist
members of Parliament. The only
right place for however there is after
would, the contrast being not be¬
tween him & anyone else, but be¬
tween would not & would. The
mistake is made with other con¬
junctions of the kind usually cut off
by commas, but is especially com¬
mon with however & therefore.
hue. For synonymy see tint.
hugeous. Those who use the form
perhaps do so chiefly under the im¬
pression that they are satirizing the
ignorant with a non-existent word,
as others of their kind do with
mischevious or underconstumble or
HUGUENOT
240
HUMOUR
high-strikes for mischievous, under¬
stand, & hysterics. It is in fact a
good old word, & corresponds rather
to vasty & stilly by the side of vast
& still; but it is practically obso¬
lete, &, as its correctness robs it of
its facetious capabilities, it might be
allowed to rest in peace.
huguenot. Pronounce liu'genot.
hullo. See halloo.
human makes humanness.
humanist. The word is apt to
puzzle or mislead, first, because it is
applied to different things & a doubt
of which is in question is often
possible, & secondly because in two
of these senses its relation to its
parent word human is clear only to
those who are acquainted with a
long-past chapter of history. The
newspaper reader sometimes gets
the impression that humanist means
a great classical scholar ; Why ?
he wonders, & passes on. Another
time he gathers that a humanist
is a sceptic or an agnostic or a free¬
thinker or something of that sort,
vou know ; again he wonders why,
& passes on. Another time he feels
sure that a humanist is a Positivist
or Comtist, & here at last, since he
knows that Comte founded the
Religion of Humanity, there seems
to be some reason in the name.
And lastly he occasionally realizes
that his writer is using the word in
the sense in which he might have
invented it for himself—one for
whom the proper study of mankind
is man, the student, & especially the
kindlv or humane student, of human
nature.
The original humanists were those
who in the Dark Ages, when all
learning was theology, & all the
learned were priests or monks, re¬
discovered pre-Christian literature,
turned their attention to the merely
human achievements of Greek &
Roman poets & philosophers &
historians & orators, & so were
named humanists as opposed to the
divines ; hence the meaning classical
scholar. But this new-old learning
had, or was credited with, a ten¬
dency to loosen the hold of the
Church upon men’s beliefs ; hence
the meaning free-thinker. The third
meaning—Comtist—was a new de¬
parture, unconnected in origin with
the first two, though accidentally
near one of them in effect, but
intelligible enough on the face of it.
As to the fourth, it requires no
comment.
humanity. For the Humanities, or
Litterae humaniores, as an old-
fashioned name for the study of
classical literature, see humanist.
humanize has -zable ; see Mute e.
humble-bee. See bumble-bee.
humbug. The verb makes -gged,
-gging, &c. ; see -G-, -gg-.
humerus. PI. -ri (-rl).
humiliate makes humiliable; see
-able 1.
humour, n., makes humorous, but
humourist ; see -our- & -or-.
Humour is still often or usually pro¬
nounced without the h sound ; the
derivatives now being rarely without
it, humour itself will probably follow
suit. The spelling -our is better than
-or ; but see -our & -or.
humour, wit, satire, sarcasm, invec¬
tive, irony, cynicism, the sardonic.
So much has been written upon the
nature of some of these words, &
upon the distinctions between pairs
or trios among them (wit & humour,
sarcasm & irony & satire), that it
would be both presumptuous &
unnecessary to attempt a further
disquisition. But a sort of tabular
statement may be of service against
some popular misconceptions. No
definition of the words is offered,
but for each its motive or aim, its
province, its method or means, &it s
proper audience, are specified. The
constant confusion between sarcasm,
satire, & irony, as well as that now
less common between wit & humour,
seems to justify this mechanica
device of parallel classification ; ou
it will be of use only to those who
wish for help in determining whicn
is the word that they really want.
241
HYBRID DERIVATIVES
humour
wit
satire
sarcasm
invective
irony
cynicism
MOTIVE
or AIM
The sardonic Self-relief
Discovery
Throwing light
Amendment
Inflicting pain
Discredi t
Exclusiveness
Self-justification
| PROVINCE
METHOD
or MEANS
Human nature
Observation
Words k ideas
Surprise
Morals k manners
Accentuation
Faults k foibles
Inversion
Misconduct
1
Direct statement
statement of facts
1 —
Mystification
Morals
Exposure of na¬
kedness
Adversity
Pessimism
AUDIENCE
The sympathetic
The intelligent
The self-satisfied
Victim k bystan¬
der
The public
An inner circle
The respectable
Self
hundred.
huntress.
See Collectives 3.
See Feminine designa¬
tions.
hurricane. See wind, n.
hurry, vb. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie, -y, -ye, 6.
hussy, huzzy. In the OED ex¬
amples, the spelling with -ss- occurs
nearly five times as often as that
with -zz-. The traditional pronun¬
ciation (hu'zl, cf. housewife) is
giving way before hu'sl, which, with
the assistance of the spelling, will no
doubt prevail.
hyaena. See hyena.
hybrid. See mulatto 1.
Hybrid derivatives are words
formed from a stem or word belonor-
ng t° one language by applying to
® suffix or prefix belonging to
It will be convenient to
t ¥ se the words, abortions
22® * ha J“ hybrids, in which all the
? eIong indeed to one lan-
on?™**?? ? r , e 80 put together as to
SS- that i? nguage ’ s Principles of
Z5f'?K n E !! glish contains thou-
vaS m!; hy f ,d words > of which the
All fiimh w are Un °bjectionable.
“ which a Greek
& has j 88 become English
Iff ^ ad an English
technically h but * n ?’ * are hybrids
13 true of those
WBdhhfc, breakage
s-
E5J2? %, come Uvi
* -able, -age, -e
dis-y though of Latin-French origin,
are all freely used in making new
forms out of English words.
At this point it may be well to
clear the ground by collecting a
small number of the words that may
be accused of being hybrids in either
of the senses explained above—i.e.
as made of heterogeneous elements,
or as having their homogeneous
elements put together in an alien
fashion :— amoral, amusive , back¬
wardation , bi-daily, bureaucracy,
cablegram,, climactic, coastal, coloura¬
tion, dandiacal, floatation, funniment,
gullible , impedance, pacifist, racial,
sendee, speedometer. An ill-favoured
list, of which all readers will con¬
demn some, & some all. It will not
be possible here to lay down rules
for word-formation, which is a com¬
plicated business ; but a few re¬
marks on some of the above words
may perhaps instil caution, & a
conviction that word-making, like
other manufactures, should be done
by those who know how to do it;
others should neither attempt it for
themselves, nor assist the deplorable
activities of amateurs by giving cur¬
rency to fresh coinages before there
has been time to test them.
A great difficulty is to distinguish,
among the classical suffixes & pre¬
fixes, between those that are, though
originally foreign, now living Eng¬
lish, & those that are not. Of the
former class -able & dis- have
already been mentioned as exam¬
ples ; to the latter - ation , - ous , -ic t
& a- (not), may be confidently
assigned. But others are not so
HYBRID DERIVATIVES
242
HYBRID DERIVATIVES
easy to class ; how about -nee (- ance
& - ence ) ? An electrician, in need
of a technical term, made the word
impedance. 4 I want a special word ’
we may fancy him saying * to mean
much the same as hindrance, but
be sacred to electricity ; I will make
it from impede ; hinder, hindrance ;
impede, impedance If he knew
nothing about word-formation, that
was natural ; but also he might
easily know something of it, without
knowing enough. 1. 4 Impede & -nee
are both from Latin ; then it cannot
be wrong to combine them ’ ; so he
would say ; the defect in it is that
they must be rightly put together ;
he ought to have written irnpcdicnce
(cf. expedient). 2. 4 If -ance is a
living suflix, it can be put straight
on to a verb that is now, even if not
by origin, English ; & hindrance,
forbearance, furtherance, & riddance,
all from English verbs, are enough
to prove -ance a living suflix.’ The
fallacy lies in the last sentence ; it
is true that -ance was, but not true
that it is, a living sullix ; suffixes,
like dogs, have their day, & to find j
whether -ance' s day is now we need
V'
only try how we like it with a few
English verbs of suitable sense, say
& toppance (cl.quittance), hurriance (cf.
dalliance), divclluncc (cf. abidance),
kecpancc (cf. observance).
Another suffix that is not a living
one, but is sometimes treated as il
it was, is -al ; & it will serve to
illustrate a special point. Among
recent regrettable formations are
coastal, crcedal, racial, & tidal.
Now, if -al were to be regarded as
a living suffix, it would be legitimate
to say that coast & creed arc now
English words, & could have the j
sullix added straight to them ; but j
if it is tried with analogous English
words (shore, hill, belief, trust), the
resulting adjectives shoral, hillal,
belief al, & trustul, show that it is
not so. The defence, then, would
be different—that coast & creed are
of Latin origin, & so fit for the Latin
suffix. But then comes in the other
trequirement—that if both elements j
are Latin, they should be properly
put together ; coastal(is ) & creed -
al(is) are disqualified at sight for
Latin by the -oa- & -ee-; costal &
credal would have been free from
that objection at least. The fault
in racial is not that the Latin word
is made unrecognizable by the
spelling, but that there is no Latin
word from which race is known to
come. Words like coastal may be
described as not hybrids but spurious
hybrids ; & whether the qualifica¬
tion a 22 ravates or lessens the ini¬
quity is a question too hard for a
mere grammarian ; at any rate, the
making of words that proclaim
themselves truly or falsely as hy¬
brids by showing a classical suffix
tagged on to some purely English
vowel combination is a proof of
either ignorance or shamelessness.
The best collection of such curiosities
is perhaps the words ending in
-meter, among which are crcamo-
meter, floodometcr, & speedometer, all
with impossible English vowels.
The wordmakers have missed an
opportunity with meter; there is
the English meter (from to mete) as
in gas-meter & zealer-meter, as well
as the unconnected Greek metron ;
why could they not have given us
flood-meter, cream-meter, & speed-
meter, instead of our present mon¬
strosities ? The classical connecting
vowel -o- is quite out of place at the
end of an English word ; gasometer
gave the analogy, but gas, being
a word native in no language, might
fairly be treated as common to all,
including Greek, whereas flood &
speed, with their double vowels, were
stumped as English.
It will not be worth while to pursue
the matter further, nor to explain
in detail why each word in the above
list is a correct or incorrect forma¬
tion, since complete rules cannot be
given. The object of the article is
merely to suggest caution. When
any word in its dictionary place
is referred here without comment
(see Hybrid derivatives), it is to be
understood that it is, in the author 8
IZE
243
HYPHENS
opinion, improperly formed for a
reason connected with the making
of words from different languages,
but not necessarily specified in so
slight a sketch as this. The words
in the list that have not been
already referred to are now repeated
with the briefest possible indication
of the objections that are rightly or
wrongly made to them : Cl., E, F,
Gk, L,^ classical, English, French,
Greek, Latin ; h. = hybrid ; w. f. =
wrongly formed. Amoral , Gk+L
h.; amusive, non-L+L h. ; back¬
wardation, E+L h. ; bi-daily , L+E
h.; bureaucracy , spurious h. ; cable¬
gram, E-j-Gk h.; climactic, w. f. ;
colouration, spurious h. ; dandiacal,
E+Cl. h.; floatation & funniment,
E+Lh.; gullible, E+L h. ; pacifist,
w. f. • sendee, E+F h.
hybridize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
hyena, -aena. The OED gives pre¬
cedence to the first ; see also m, ce.
hygiene, hygienic. Pronounce hl'-
jien, hijKS'nik. As the form of
hygiene often puzzles even those who
know Greek, it is worth while to
mention that it is the French trans-
(artTof’Lah Gk hu8ieine {tckhni)
hyp^Eage. See Technical terms :
pronounce -aji.
hyperbaton. See Technical TERMS.
-ta, -n$.
hyperbole See Technical terms.
Pronounce hlper'boll.
hypermetre. See Technical terms .
c h. aos prevailing
reparf f; n Wn J? rs or Pinters or both
St?! ® 1 ? E ?* Ush Vacation.
“2.1“S er im p° r -
to set about
this article
newspape
hynhpno^ l i 8e ° r Wron g
“yphens makes the word
may well begin
ent
some thing differ-
what the writers intend pH
answer
criticism to say that actual mis¬
understanding is unlikely ; to have
to depend on one’s employer’s
readiness to take the will for the
deed is surely a humiliation that no
decent craftsman should be willing
to put up with :—
(In a. List of Beauty Recipes) 5. An
infallible wrinkle-remover. 6. A
superfluous hair-remover (i.e. a hair-
rcmover that no-one wants)./27ie
financial record of the Lloyd George-
Winston Churchill Government (i.e.
of the Government composed of
Lloyd, Churchill, & George Win¬
ston)./Mr Scott Dickson, the ex-Tory
Solicitor-General for Scotland (i.e.
the Solicitor-General who formerly
was but no longer is a Tory )./The
Unionist Housing of the Working-
Classes Bill was read a second time
yesterday (i.e. the way the Unionists
house the Working-Classes Bill ;
poor ill-housed Billy l)./Grieving, as
a Nonconformist, over the sins of his
fcllow-Free Churchmen (i.e. of his
Churchmen who are unhampered
by companions)./(Heading) PEACE
MEETING BIOT (i.e. the way
peace deals with riot ; what is
meant is riot at a peace-meeting)./
Even the most bigoted anti-trade
unionist (i.e. the unionist who is
most opposed to trade)./27te Chan¬
cellor plans to reconstruct the Billow
{Conservative-National-Liberal) Block
(i.e. that of Conservatives, Nationals,
& Liberals ; what is meant is that
of the Conservatives & the National
Liberals)./Las* April the Acting-
British Consul at Shiraz was at¬
tacked (i.e. the Consul who was
pretending to be British). /And Sir
IIenniker-Heaton is more fortunate
than many of those who cry in the
wilderness (If Henniker is Christian
name, no hyphen ; if it is surname,
a Christian name is wanted ; see
hon.)./ If lay-writers can publish
what they please , are ruwal officers to
remain compulsorily silent ? (i. e.
writers of lays)./(A Reichstag party)
intent on introducing an anti-English
& strong Navy agitation into the
elections (i.e. a strong agitation
HYPHENS, 1
244
HYPHENS, 3 B
about the Navy ; but what is meant
is an agitation for a strong Navy).
Let us next put down a few speci¬
mens with corrections. It should
first be observed that the most
frequent cause of wrong hyphening
is the treating of two or more
normally spaced words as though
they were one word & could be,
though so spaced, a single item in
a hyphen-compound ; the least that
can be done to double-barrelled
adjectives, even when they stand
alone, is to hyphen them ; Mr Lloyd
George (without a hyphen) forms the
Lloyd-George Government (with
one) ; the need is still greater when
further complications come, but
the result is then unsatisfactory—
the Lloyd-George-Winston-Churchill
Government. Obviously connexions
of different power are needed; a
short & a long hyphen (-, —), or
a single & a double one (-, =), would
do (the Lloyd-George—Winston-
Churchill Government, the Lloyd-
George — Winston-Churchill G.) ; but
this is an innovation that would
hardly find acceptance ; & is better
than — or - (the Lloyd-George &
Winston-Churchill G.) ; better than
either is some evasion, the George-
Churchill G.,orthe G. of Messrs Lloyd
George & Churchill. Specimens
The mid-nineteenlh century politicians
(politicians of the mid - nineteenth
century). /British Columbia peaches
(British - Columbia peaches). / The
Sidney Webb-Bernard Shaw-Fabian
Society type of State interference
(State interference according to the
ideas of Messrs Sidney Webb & Ber¬
nard Shaw & the Fabian Society)./
The silk stocking-tax (the silk-
stocking tax)./The Free Trade-Pro¬
tectionist controversy (the controversy
between Free Trade & Protection ;
or why not the Free-Trade contro¬
versy ?). / The South African-born
Indians (Indians born in South
Africa). /Dean Stanley -street (Dean-
Stanley Street). / Abingdon - street
(Abingdon Street). / The Sombre
Canal-Scheldt front (the Sambre-
oanal & Scheldt front). / Mr Cyril
Maude was entertained at luncheon
yesterday by his fellow-theatrical
managers (fellow theatrical mana¬
gers).
The object so far has been to enlist
the reader’s interest by setting be¬
fore him cases in which no technical¬
ities are necessary, in which common
sense is all that is wanted, & that,
when thus collected, will surprise
him by the evidence they afford that
common sense is in fact far from
common. But there are questions
about hyphens less easy of solution
than those already glanced at, &,
before coming to them, we must
look for some principles.
1. A hyphen is a symbol conveying
that two or more words are made
into one ; the union may be for the
occasion only (as in most of the
examples above), or permanent (as
in fire-irons, committee-man) ; the
commonest form of temporary union
is that in which a phrase (say Home
Rule) is to be used attributively, i.c.
as an adjective to another noun ; to
this end it must be marked as one
word by the hyphen {the IIome-Rule
Bill).
2. The hyphen is not an ornament;
it should never be placed between
two words that do not require unit-
ing & can do their work equally well
separate ; & on the other hand the
conversion of a hyphened w r ord into
an unhyphened single one is desir¬
able as soon as the novelty of the
combination has worn off, if there
are no obstacles in the way of awk¬
ward spelling, obscurity, or the like.
3. The proper functions ol tne
hyphen may be thus classified .
A. To convert two or more separate
words into a single one acting as <?ne
adjective or noun or other part oi
speech. Such unions of the tem¬
porary kind are Ilousing-of-Uie-
working-classes as an epithet ot mu,
& strong-Navy as epithet of agitation ,
permanent ones are ne'er-do-weel,
stick-in-the-mud, & what y-hts-name,
serving as noun, adjective, P
noun.
B. To announce that a compound
245
HYPHENS, groups
expression consisting of a noun
qualified adjectivally by the other
element means something different
from what its elements left separate
would or might mean; in this
function the hyphen is a recognition
in print of what has already hap¬
pened in speech, i. e. that the com¬
pound has kept only one accent, &
that on the first element, whereas
the elements had originally two, of
which the stronger was usually on
the second (compare the accentua¬
tion of Thrushes are not black birds
with that of Thrushes are not black¬
birds or blackbirds). If this modi¬
fication of accent has not occurred,
the hyphen is out of place & the
words should be separate. The
expressions coming under this head
are chiefly those of which the second
element is a noun & the first is an
adjective (as in black-bird, red-coat)
raff n a ^ r ^ u ^ ve noun (as in water-
C. To render such compound ex¬
pressions as a verb & its object or
other appurtenances, or a noun & its
adjective, amenable to some treat¬
ment to which it could not other-
/ ub .j ected . Thus Court
case * //i lf ^ 1S t0 have a P ossessi ve
case (the Court-martial's decision
7# m ^ st be one wor d ; Ions
oltL C T h f 0me ' • handle *>y meat w
hand? Jr’ ? an be inverted into
fit toVcei^e S n ° Uns ’ ° r Verbs ’
in a Se lLT y be ^quired of them
with the wX by / * eing combi ned
we get lanai)™ 11 ^ 0 sln S^ e words ; so
renting rveishtr’ S ^ m6 I ea<en > heart-
iSTby*' bomb -P™°f, spitfire, &
of t h T ch that adjectives,
Jhce, i. |. y 0 ne bnJh” ^ S T a red hot
not to be so *Xr tb . d & hot )» are
«ae eni»h~? PP b «d* but are to form
conveying a compound
a Ted ~hot poker) ; such
are dark-blue, worldly-wise, mock-
heroic, bitter-sweet , forcible-feeble.
E. To attach closely to an active or
passive participle an adverb or pre¬
position preceding or following it
that would not require hyphening
to the parent verb (you put up, not
put-up, a, job, but the result is a
PUt- u P job). The question whether
this hyphening is to be done or not
is answered, as in B, by the accen¬
tuation ; the hyphen is wrong un¬
less the compound will have only
one accent, & that on the first
element ; thus oft-repeated will
usually be hyphened, & ill served
usually not.
If the above statements & classi¬
fication are adequate, we should
now be able to pass judgement not
only on the temporary combinations
with which the article started, but
on the more difficult questions of
permanent compounds. The guid¬
es principles will be : No hyphening
of words that will do as well separ¬
ate ; no hyphening of words in the
B or E class if they retain the
normal accentuation ; no hyphening
together of double-barrelled expres¬
sions that themselves lack internal
hyphens ; the difference between
hyphening & full coalescence, in
permanent compounds, a matter of
expediency merely. It must be
admitted on the one hand that the
results will often differ from current
usage, but on the other that that
usage is so variable as to be better
named caprice. Illustrative words
will be roughly grouped, with occa¬
sional quotations to show that
imaginary offences are not being
set up in order to be knocked down,
& the beginning of each group will
be marked with an asterisk.
*Ex-, ante-, pre-, anti-, post-, &c.,
are often wrongly prefixed to un¬
hyphened double expressions. The
difficulty is real, but should always
be circumvented ; e. g., the first
quotation should be corrected to
opened the campaign against Home
Rule.
Quotations : Mr Austen Chamber -
HYPHENS, groups
246
HYPHENS, groups
lain opened the anti-Home Rule
campaign./The anti-high tariff Press
in Germany./In comparison with the
pre-Boer war figures./The ex-Chief
Whip’s association with the consti¬
tuency. / ACTION BY AN EX¬
LORD MAYOR./TVte ex-Navy Lea¬
gue President.
The solution, however, described
above as unsatisfactory, which
would give anti-high-tariff, pre-
Boer-war, ex-Chief-Whip, &c., would
not be as bad in this Latin-preposi-
tion group as elsewhere.
*Blue - stocking, black - cap, red
herring. Many wrong hyphenings
occur of words that correspond in
form to the simplest B variety
(adjective-fnoun), but lack one or
both of the qualifications : ruling
class, easy going (as noun, = freedom
from obstacles), clean living (as
noun, = clean life), wooden leg, &
steel cap, have not even the required
specialization of sense, & red herring,
Holy Ghost, golden syrup, full back,
full stop, full pitch, though they can
claim this, have not the single
accent. Compare them with the
legitimate blackguard, black-cap,
backwater, & blue-stocking.
Quotations : That touch of human¬
ity which provides easy-going for
whatever ship of venture he may be
piloting./Charging the German ruling-
class with the guilt of the war./Peter's
wooden-leg had a bad habit of break¬
ing down./To promote clcan-living &
laws of health.
* Great coat, good will. These ex¬
pressions, which have very definite
specialized senses by the side of their
general ones, are violations, if
hyphened, of the accent rule for
B words, which holds for the over¬
whelming majority ; they should
therefore in the specialized senses
always be made into single words
without hyphens— greatcoat,goodwill.
* Court Martial, Governor General,
Solicitor General, Princess Royal,
time being . Expressions of this type
(noun followed by its adjective)
require no hyphen, except in the
oossessive case, the mark of which
cannot be affixed to the adjective
until it is made one with the noun.
It should be noticed that Major-
General &c., when used as prefixes
to names, are on a different footing
& take the hyphen, not under B
(when the accent would be anomal¬
ous) but under C. The needless
hyphen in Court-Martial is partly
due to reaction from the verb made
from it, which has to be fused,
under C, into one word with or
without the hyphen.
Quotation: A beaten enemy who must
for the time-being accept everything.
*Lord Mayor, Lady Superior, lady
help, deputy Speaker, rogue elephant,
cock robin, actor manager, trial heat,
are examples of unqualified candi¬
dates for the B hyphen, differing
from the previous groups in having
the noun defined not by an actual
adjective but by a noun synonym
serving as one ; they all lack the
accent qualification, & some of them
the other as well, & should not be
hyphened. Compare with them the
words bullcalf, turkey-poxdt, & object-
lesson, also composed of synonyms,
but having the required accent.. As
before, there are cases of specialized
meaning without change of accent,
e.g. fcllozv man, man child, headmaster,
headquarters ; these should not be
hyphened, but either kept separate
or, if that seems impossible (as
in headquarters), fully united. The
difference should be noticed be¬
tween fellow man &c., which can¬
not claim their hyphen under B, &
fellow-feeling (from to feel like a
fellow), which can claim it under C.
*Rule of thumb. In this the noun
is defined not by an adjective but
by a phrase (of thumb) ; the accen¬
tuation again forbids the hyphen ;
the expression might be hyphened
under C for use as an adjective
( rule-of-thumb procedure), but not as
a noun under B. Concessions, how
ever, have to be made to longer
expressions of similar type in whic
the orthodox accent becomes un¬
manageable, as cat-o'-nine-tails, wiu-
o'-the-wisp.
groups
247
HYPHENS, summary
Quotation: Who warned us not to
apply a rule-of-thumb to the delicate
& responsible work of a judge.
*Business man, hay fever, summer
time, winter garden, sea change, sea
monster, glass case. In these un¬
qualified candidates for B the place
of the adjective is taken by an
attributive noun ; they all fail to
pass the accent test. As to summer
time, the kind here meant is Mr
Willett’s, which is one thing, while
God’s summer-time or summertime
is another; the distinction is not
only not useless, but not even
arbitrary, corresponding as it does
to the two different ways in which
sensible people pronounce the words.
Similarly, the glass case meant is
a glazed case, while glass-case means
or would mean a case to hold glass.
Compare with the words in this list,
besides the genuine summer-time &
glass-case, missel-thrush (i.e. mistleto-
thrush), oak-apple, pew-rent, income-
tax, Stock-Exchange.
Quotations : The business-men who
clamour that imports shall not be
allowed./Is now a warm supporter of
summer-ti me./If our clocks had re¬
mained at summer-time.
*Sub judice, ex officio, bona fide,
bona fides, ex parte, ex postfacto, felo
■h I 6 ' .^bese should never be
yphened except when the phrase
uappens to come under C & to
^eqmre conversion in a particular
^Jtence into an adjective ; that is
bona fides , very
judiCe & f el ° de se >
ex £?’ nearly alwa y s with
offido nr» ^ ttS °j Committee ex
offiSn’* D ? pared Is an ex-
Asthpsp ^ er ’ s ^ OWs the difference.
am cust^f 8 ’ & others them,
the hvnw anIy pnnted »n italics,
with even r ? a ^ y be dispensed
the ls ri g ht > so that
(see bona f° r n °n-Iatinist
i» nmCnUl the point, which
sub-judice, has been
*From hand to mouth, in no wise,
at any rate, above ground, up to date.
Hyphening in such phrases is wrong
& most unsightly ; in no-wise &
m nowise, at anyrate, from hand-to-
mouth, are not unusual blunders ; &
the fact that up to date is commonly
turned into an adjective under C,
& does then require hyphens, reacts
upon the original phrase, which has
no right to them, just as the verb
to court-martial reacts upon the
parent noun Court Martial.
Quotations : The unburied past that
still lay above-ground ./Reforms
which will bring the railways up-to-
dat e./Thc Government, if it thinks
only of these, will live from hand-to-
mouth.
* Put-up, sought-after , ill-served, oft-
repeated, well-done. Hyphenings of
this type are resorted to oftener than
they should be. The guiding prin¬
ciple is stated under E ; a few
examples (a) of such compounds
that should not be hyphened, (b) of
some that should be either hyphened
or fused, & (c) of some that may be
hyphened if it is intended that the
first element shall be overwhelm¬
ingly accented but not otherwise,
will perhaps carry conviction about
the truth of this rule :—(a) News¬
papers ill served with news ; Such
badly contrived measures ; A faith¬
fully kept promise ; Hilarity put on
for the occasion ; A principle never
lived up to : (b) Much sought-after
opportunities ; The above-mentioned
facts ; A put-up job ; His oft-
repeated advice ; Such an outstand¬
ing personality (to be hyphened by
those who accent the out, & fully
united by those who accent the
stand) ; The on-coming flood ; The
outgoing Ministry : fc) Well done or
well-done beef ; Little needed or little-
needed economies; A never to be
forgotten or never-to-be-forgotten day.
Quotation : Indian newspapers are
so ill-served with local news that . . .
Any reader who has been interested
by the various questions that have
arisen in this lengthy article may
like to glance over a list of the
HYPHENS, summary
248
HYSTERON PROTERON
specimens of wrong hyphening con¬
tained in it ; the order is that in
which they have occurred above, so
that what was said about them may
be referred to without much diffi¬
culty ; they are all printed in the
wrong form, standing here in the
pillory : Superfluous hair-remover ;
The Lloyd George-Winston Churchill
Government ; The Unionist Housing
of the Working-Classes Bill ; His
fellow-Free Churchmen ; Peace
Meeting Riot ; The bigoted anti¬
trade unionist ; The Conscrvativc-
National-Liberal Block ; The Act-
ing-British Consul ; Sir Henniker-
Heaton ; Lay-writers ; A strong
Navy agitation ; The mid-nineteenth
century politicians ; British Colum¬
bia peaches ; The Sidney Webb-
Bernard Shaw-Fabian Society type ;
The silk stocking-tax ; The Free
Trade-Protectionist controversy ;
South African-born Indians ; Dean
Stanley-strect ; Abingdon-street ;
The Sambre Canal-Scheldt front ;
His fellow-theatrical managers ; The
anti-IIome Rule campaign; the
anti-high tariff Press ; The pre-Boer
war figures; The ex-Chief Whip;
An ex-Lord Mayor ; The cx-Navy
League President ; Red-herring ;
IIoly-Ghost ; Golden-syrup ; Full¬
back ; Full-stop ; Full-pitch ; Easy¬
going (n.) ; The ruling-class ; A
wooden-leg; Clean-living (n.) ;
Great-coat; Good-will ; Court-
Martial ; Governor-General ; Solici¬
tor-General ; Princess-Royal ; The
time-being ; Lord-Mayor ; Lady-
Superior ; Lady-help ; Deputy-
Speaker ; Rogue-elephant ; Cock-
robin ; Actor-manager ; Trial-heat ;
Fellow-man ; Man-child ; Head¬
master ; Ilcad-quarters ; Rule-of-
thumb ; Business-man ; Hay-fever ;
Summer-time (WTllett’s) ; Winter-
garden ; Sea-change ; Sea-monster ;
Glass-case ; Sub-judice ; Ex-officio
(adv.) ; Bona-fide (adv.): Ex-parte
(adv.) ; Ex-post-facto ; Felo-de-se ;
From hand-to-mouth ; In no- wise ;
At anyrate ; Above-ground ; Up-
to-date (adv.) ; Ill-served.
Finally, for readers who may like
to play at addition & subtraction of
hyphens, or who doubt whether so
simple a matter is worth an intel¬
ligent person’s attention, here are
some unsorted specimens :—We
shall place our orders with your
good-selves./The price of fixed inter¬
est bearing securities./To declare
martial-law in Constantinople./A
small minority of mechanically pro¬
pelled vehicle users./The middle-
class began to find that . . ./The
publication is an ill-service to the
cause./One good arising from that
ill-wind. / Language of this kind
comes with specially ill-grace from
. . ./We have not made use enough
of labour economizing appliances./
With the dying off of the older non-
English educated generation./He
saw the prisoner in Oxford & Cam-
bridge-terrace./With regard to the
Chancellor of the Exchequership./
The Dardanelles-Sea of Marmora-
Bosphorus line is more important./
The ill-effects of the kinema upon
child-life.
hypocorisma.SccTncnNiCALTEinis.
hypothecate. 1 . II. makes - cable ,
•tor ; see -able 1, -on. 2. II. means
only to mortgage or pledge. In the
following extract— The Nahua race,
which, b'j tradition , served the Aztecs
in much the same xvay as to origin
as the hypothecated Aryans serve
ourselves — it is used as a verb corre¬
sponding to hypothesis ; if an allied
verb is really necessary, hypothesize
(or -tizc) is the right form, though it
is to be hoped that we may generally
content ourselves with assume.
hypothesis. PL - theses , pron. -ez.
hypothetic(al). The longer is much
commoner ; otherwise there seems
to be no distinction of meaning or
usage ; see -ic(al).
hysteric(al). The short form has
almost gone out of use as an adjee-
tive, surviving, perhaps, on ‘X , 0
reasons of euphony, as m xvi
hysteric laugh ; see -ic(al).
hysteron proteron. See Technical
TERMS.
249
IC(AL)
I
f. 1, Between you db I is a piece of
fois fi grammar not sanctioned, like
the contrary lapse It is me, even by
colloquial usage ; a similar lapse is
Been in It was a tragedy of this kind
which brought home to my partner db
I the necessity for . . .
2. 1, like we, is liable to be used in
successive sentences with different
meanings. In the extract below, the
first two Is mean the average moral¬
ist, while the third means the
reviewer of Dr Westermarck’s book.
It is an insidious trap, but more
often baited with we, which fre¬
quently means in one sentence the
editor of his paper, & in the next
the country or the Party or any
other of the many bodies of which
he is a member : In this respect Dr
Westermarck has given a less adequate
account of the moral sentiment than
Adam, Smith, who declares that our
ideas oj merit & demerit have a double
origin, not only in sympathy with the
resentment of the sufferer, but in want
sympathy with the motives of the
doer. ' I condemn theft partly because
I dislike thieving db sympathize with
the sufferer’s claim to keep his pro -
ff*. I cannot help thinking that,
though every now db then he does
justice to sympathy with the direct
motives or impulses from which action
P 7 Westermarck overlooks
*hem in favour of retributive sympathy
with the recipient. ^
The .Plurals with this ending
r ln three P° ints * See also
PLU ® ALS * !• As plural of
y ords in -o or -e (confetti.
out I
Jtfeek words in
•us or -os ( bacilli,
J®**® Latin
tong“%^ b .^ re ■**. to s»y
-1 saiety lies in -uses.
4i
permissible_
& better in most. 2 .
words ^ in -us are g
by*those
know little or no Latin. Such are
hiatus, meatus, afflatus, octopus,
corpus, virus, & callus, the Latin
plurals of which end variously or
do not exist ; safety for the non-
Latinist again lies in -uses. 3. Ignor¬
amus, mandamus, & mittimus, though
now English nouns, are in Latin not
nouns at all, but verbs, = we do not
know, we command, we send ;
having become nouns only in English,
they can have only the English
plurals ignoramuses , mandamuses,
mittimuses.
iambics, iambus. See Technical
iamb(us). The long form (pi.
-buses or -bi) is recommended as both
more usual & handier,
ibidem. Pronounce ibl'dCm.
-IBLE. See -ABLE, -IBLE, &C.
-IC. For -ic & -ics, see -ics.
-IC(AL). A great many adjectives
appear with alternative forms in -ic
& -ical. Often the choice between
them on any particular occasion is
indifferent, so far as the writer’s
immediate object is concerned. To
those who can afford time to think
also of the interests of the English
language it may be suggested that
there are two desirable tendencies to
be assisted.
The first of these is Differentia¬
tion. There are many pairs in -ic
& -ical, each form well established
& in constant use, but with a differ¬
ence of meaning either complete or
incipient. The final stage of differ¬
entiation is seen in politic & political ,
which are not even content, as
usual, to share an adverb in - ically ,
but make politicly by the side of
politically. Between economic &
economical the distinction is nearly
as clear, though the seal has not
been set upon it by a double pro¬
vision of adverbs ; most writers are
now aware that the two words mean
different things, & have no difficulty
in choosing the one required. This
can hardly be said of comic(aT), the
short form of which is often made
250
to do the other’s work. And so the
differentiations tail off into mere
ineipiency. Every well established
differentiation adds to the precision
& power of the language ; every
observance of an incipient one helps
it on the way to establishment, &
every disregard of it checks it
severely ; it is therefore clear that
writers have a responsibility in the
matter.
The second laudable tendency is
that of clearing away the unneces¬
sary. When two forms coexist, &
there are not two senses for them
to be assigned to, it is clear gain
that one should be got rid of. The
scrapping process goes on slowly by
natural selection ; sometimes the
determining cause is apparent, as
when hysteric, cynic, & fanatic, give
way to hysterical, cynical, & fanatical,
because they have themselves ac¬
quired a new function as nouns ;
sometimes the reasons are obscure,
as when electric & dynamic supersede
the longer forms while hypothetic &
botanic are themselves superseded.
But that one or other should prevail
is a gain ; & it is a further gain if
the process can be quickened. With
this end in view, it is stated in this
dictionary, about many -ic(al) words,
which appears to be the winning
side, that writers may be encouraged
to espouse it.
Some words bearing on these points
are (omitting -ic, -ical ) :—botan-,
casuist-, com-, con-, cub-, cyn-,
diabol-, dynam-, econom-, electr-,
fanat-, geograph-, geometr-, hypo-
thet-, hyster-, mag-, philosoph-,
polit-, ident-, lyr-, sto-, period-,
trag-, typ-.
ice, n. Ice cream, ice pudding,
should not be hyphened ; see
Hyphens.
ice, v., makes iccable ; see Mute e.
-ics. 1. - ics ) ('ic. Among the
names of sciences, arts, or branches
of study, are a few words in - ic that
rank as real English ; the chief are
logic, magic, music, & rhetoric ; but
the normal form is -ics, as in
acoustics, classics, dynamics , ethics,
mathematics, physics, politics, tactics.
The substitution of -ic for -ics
(dialectic, ethic, gymnastic, linguistic,
metaphysic, &c.) in compliance with
French & German usage has the
effect, whether it is intended or not,
of a display of exotic learning, &
repels the possibly insular reader
who thinks that ‘ English is good
enough for him ’. It should be
added, however, that the - ic & -ics
forms can sometimes be usefully
kept for separate senses ; thus,
dialectic meaning the art of logical
disputation, dialectics would mean
rather a particular person’s exhibi¬
tion of skill in it ; but it is not with
many words, nor on many occasions,
that this need arises, & it is not
usually with this end in view that
the -ic words are made.
2. Grammatical number of -ics.
This is not so simple a matter as
it is sometimes thought. The
natural tendency is to start with
a fallacy : We say Mathematics is
(& not are) a science ; therefore
mathematics is singular. But the
number of is there is at least in¬
fluenced, if not (whether legiti¬
mately or otherwise) determined,
by that of a science. The testing
should be done with sentences in
which there is not a noun comple¬
ment to confuse the issue :— Classics
are, or is, now taking a back seat;
Conics is, or are, easier than 1 ex¬
pected ; What are, or is, his mathe¬
matics like ? ; Politics are, _ or is,
most fascinating ; Your heroics are,
or is, wasted on me ; Atldetics are,
or is, rampant in the big schools;
Tactics are, or is, subordinate to
strategy. The rules that seem to
emerge are : (1) Singular for the
name of a science strictly so used ;
Metaphysics, or Acoustics, deals with
abstractions, or sound. (2) Plural
for those same names more loosely
used, e.g. for a manifestation of
qualities ; often recognizable by the
presence of his, the, &c .: IHs
mathematics are weak ; Such ethics
are abominable ; The acoustics of the
ICTUS
251
IDIOSYNCRASY
hall are faulty. (3) Plural for names
denoting courses of action or the
like: Heroics are out of place ;
Hysterics leave me cold. (4) The
presence of a singular noun com¬
plement often makes the verb singu¬
lar : Mathematics , or even Athletics,
is his strong point.
ictus. See Technical terms.
idea. 1. Humperdinck had the
happy idea one day to write a little
fairy opera. The question between
to write & of writing is discussed
under Gerund 3.
2. Idea'd is preferable to ideaed;
see -ed &’d.
idealogue, idealogy, idealogical, are
‘ erroneous forms ’ (OED) for ideo¬
logue &C. ; cf. MINERALOGY.
id6e fixe. See French words.
identic(al). The short form has
been so far ousted by the long as to
be now a mere archaism except in
the language of diplomacy ( identic
note, declaration , action, &c.). Cf.
-ic(al).
identify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
id est. See i. e.
Ideologue, -logist, -logy, &c. So
spelt, not ideal-. The words are
formed from Gk idea, & the Greek
combining vowel is -o- for substan¬
tives of all declensions.
idiocy, -tcy. The -t- is wrong,
idiom. This dictionary being much
concerned with idiom & the idiom¬
atic, some slight explanation of the
terms may perhaps be expected.
For some synonyms, see jargon.
* A manifestation of the peculiar ’ is
the closest possible translation of the
Greek word. In the realm of speech
this may be applied to a whole lan¬
guage as peculiar to a people, to a
dialect as peculiar to a district, to
a technical vocabulary as peculiar
to a profession, & so forth. In this
book, ‘an idiom ’ is any form of
expression that, as compared with
other forms in which the principles
of abstract grammar, if there is such
a thing, would have allowed the
idea in question to be clothed, has
established itself as the particular
way preferred by Englishmen &
therefore presumably characteristic
of them. 4 Idiom ’ is the sum total
of such forms of expression, & is
consequently the same as natural or
racy or unaffected English ; that is
idiomatic which it is natural for a
normal Englishman to say or write ;
to suppose that grammatical Eng¬
lish is either all idiomatic or all
unidiomatic would be as far from
the truth as that idiomatic English
is either all grammatical or all un¬
grammatical ; grammar & idiom
are independent categories ; being
applicable to the same material,
they sometimes agree & sometimes
disagree about particular specimens
of it ; the most that can be said is
that what is idiomatic is far more
often grammatical than ungram¬
matical ; but that is worth saying,
because grammar & idiom are some¬
times treated as incompatibles ; the
fact is that they are distinct, but
usually in alliance. To give a few
illustrations : You would not go for
to do it is neither grammatical nor
idiomatic English ; 1 doubt that they
really mean it. The distinction leaps
to the eyes, & A hardly earned income,
are all grammatical, but all for
different reasons unidiomatic; It
was not me, Who do you take me for ?,
There is heaps of material, are idiom¬
atic but ungrammatical ; He was
promoted captain. She all but cap¬
sized, Were it true, are both gram¬
matical & idiomatic. For examples
of special idioms see Cast-iron
idiom.
idiosyncrasy, -cratic. The right
spelling (- sy, not -cy) is of some
importance, since the wrong distorts
the meaning, for all who have a
tincture of Greek & so might other¬
wise grasp it, by suggesting a false
connexion with autocracy & the
many words in -cracy. Those words
are from Greek krdtos power ; this is
from Greek krasis mixture. Its mean¬
ing is peculiar mixture, & the point
IDIOSYNCRASY
252
ID OLA FORI
of it is best shown in the words that
describe Brutus : His life was gentle,
& the elements So mixed in him that
Nature might stand up And say to
all the world ‘ This was a man
One’s idiosyncrasy is the way one’s
elements are mixed, & the nearest
synonyms for it are individuality &
character ; both of these, however,
having positive implications not
present in idiosyncrasy, the con¬
tinued existence of the latter in its
proper sense is very desirable, & it
should be kept to that sense. Thus
it is reasonable to say that a person
has no character or no individuality,
but a person without an idiosyn¬
crasy is inconceivable. Since idio¬
syncrasy means all the ingredients
of which a unit is composed, & their
proportions & reactions—a valuable
compound notion that we may be
thankful to find compressed into a
single word—, it is a pity that it is
often used as a polysyllabic sub¬
stitute for various things that have
good simple names of their own ;
it is both pretentious & absurd to
say that so-&-so is one of your
idiosyncrasies when you mean one
of your habits, ways, fads, whims,
fancies, or peculiarities. See Popu¬
larized technicalities. In the
quotations following (one with the
mis-spelling), read characteristic, fads,
peculiarities, vagaries, antipathy :—
It is an idiosyncrasy of this grumbler
that he reads his own thoughts into the
minds of others./For one reason or
another—lack of money, lack of men,
sometimes the idiosyncracies of com¬
mittees—the library has been far less
useful than it might have been to the
serious student./I do not find him,
though he is very quick in observing
outward idiosyncrasies, a truthful
or an interesting student of the
characters, the minds & hearts, the
daily actions 6s reactions , of men &
women./Moreover, it [a liturgy] is
desired as a protection against the
idiosyncrasies of the minister, whether
in his doctrine or its expression./
There are several kinds of food freaks ;
some people have an idiosyncrasy to
all fish , particularly shellfish 6s
lobsters.
idiosyncratic is the adjective of
idiosyncrasy — unfortunately, be¬
cause it encourages by an accident
the confusion between -crasy &
-cracy. If idiosyncrasy is a word
that has a real value, but should be
much less used than it is, idiosyn¬
cratic, its hanger-on, should be kept
still more severely in its place ; the
quotations show that there is a dan¬
ger of its getting more vogue than
it deserves ; what the reader feels
is not that his author has used the
word in a wrong sense—he has not—,
but that he would have done better
to circumvent, somehow, the need
of it :— We continue to read for much
the same reason as incites a Purple
Emperor to feed on carrion, a cat on
mice, a queen bee on nectar, the South
Wind on a bank of violets ; we are in
pursuit of the idiosyncratic (of what
appeals to us)./What we cannot help
learning of their maker, or discoverer
—his philosophy, his idiosyncratic
view of things—is there, not because
he wittingly put it there, but because
he could not keep it out (personal.
Here, at any rate, the writer could
have kept idiosyncratic out )./To be
thinking 6 pondering, roving 6s ex¬
ploring between the lines of a book is
a less arduous 6s fussy, a quieter 6s
more idiosyncratic enterprise (eclec¬
tic ? self-pleasing ?)., file never hesi¬
tates at any joke, however idiosyn¬
cratic (however little amusing to
anyone but himself?).
idlesse. See Wardour Street.
idola fori, idols of the market
(place). This learned phrase, in
Latin or English, is not seldom used
by the unlearned, who guess at its
meaning & guess wrong. It is a
legitimate enough phrase in writing
meant for the educated only, but
hardly in the ordinary newspaper,
where it is certain not to be under¬
stood by most readers, & where it
therefore tends to be given, by
Slipshod extension, the false sense
that those who have never been told
IDOLA FORI
253
I.E.
what it means may be expected to
attach to it; that false sense is
vulgar errors or popular fallacies,
one of which names should be used
instead of it, since it in fact has
a much more limited meaning than
they, & one not obvious without
explanation. See Popularized
TECHNICALITIES.
It is the third of Bacon’s four
divisions of fallacies, more often
mentioned than the other three
because its meaning seems, though
it is not in fact, plainer. There are
the idols (i.e. the fallacies) of the
tribe, the cave, the market, & the
theatre, which are picturesque names
for (1) the errors men are exposed
to by the limitations of the human
understanding (as members of the
tribe of man) ; (2) those a person is
liable to owing to his idiosyncrasy
(as enclosed in the cave of self) ;
(3) those due to the unstable relation
between words & their meanings
(which fluctuate as the words are
bandied to & fro in the conversa¬
tional exchange or word-market) ;
& (4) those due to false philo¬
sophical or logical systems (which
hold the stage successively like plays).
The tribe is the human mind, the
cave is idiosyncrasy, the market is
talk, & the theatre is philosophy ;
who would guess all that unaided ?
who, on the contrary, would not
guess that an idol of the market¬
place was just any belief to which
the man in the street yields a mis¬
taken deference ? The odd thing is
that no better instance could be
found of an idol of the market than
the phrase itself, oscillating between
its real meaning & the modern 'piis-
use, so that the very person who
pours scorn on idola fori is often
propagating one in the very act of
ridiculing the rest; well, ’tis sport
to have the enginer hoist with his
own petard. The mistake is common
enough, but is not easily exhibited
except in passages of some length,
so that one must here suffice ; the
tendency to exalt the man of action
above the man of theory may be
ill-advised, but it has nothing to do
with shifting acceptations of words,
& is not an idolum fori :— With us
the active characters, the practical men,
the individuals who, whether in public
or in private affairs, ‘ get on with the
job ’, have always held the first place
in esteem ; the theorists & philo¬
sophers a place very secondary by
comparison. It is not easy to account
for this common estimate. For one
thing, as soon as inquiry is made into
it, the belief proves to be without
foundation—just one of the idols of
the market place.
idolatress. See Feminine desig-
idyl(l). The OED gives precedence
to the form with -ll. It also recog¬
nizes only one pronunciation, i-, not
i- ; on this, however, there is room
for difference of opinion. (1) It is
certain that many people say i'dil ;
(2) with idol & idle, both commoner
words, ready to confuse the hearer,
a separate pronunciation is all to the
good, if there is nothing against it ;
& (3) it has been pointed out in the
article False quantity that the
length of the first syllable in the
Greek is nothing against its being
shortened in the English word.
1. e., id est. 1. To write, or even
to say, this in the full instead of
in the abbreviated form is now so
unusual as to convict one of affecta¬
tion.
2. i. e. means that is to say, &
introduces another way (more com¬
prehensible to the hearer, driving
home the speaker’s point better, or
otherwise preferable) of putting
what has been already said ; it does
not introduce an example, & when
substituted for e.g. in that function,
as in the following extract, is a
blunder :— Let your principal stops
be the full stop & comma, with a
judicious use of the semicolon & of
the other stops where they are abso¬
lutely necessary (i.e. you could not
dispense with the note of interroga¬
tion in asking questions).
3. It is invariable in form ; the
IF & WHEN
254
IF & WHEN
changing of it to ea sunt &c.— which
deals with persons (ea sunt, all pre¬
sent tfc future members) —is due to
the same misconception (explained
under follow) as the incorrect as
follow ; cf. also inter alia.
4. It is naturally preceded by a
stop ; whether a comma follows it
or not is indifferent, or rather is
decided by the punctuation-pitch of
the writer or the passage.
if & when. Any writer who uses
this formula lays himself open to
entirely reasonable suspicions on the
part of his readers. There is the
suspicion that he is a mere parrot,
who cannot say part of what he has
often heard without saying the rest
also ; there is the suspicion that he
likes verbiage for its own sake ;
there is the suspicion that he is a
timid swordsman who thinks he will
be safer with a second sword in his
left hand ; there is the suspicion
that he has merely been too lazy to
make up his mind between if &
when. Only when the reader is sure
enough of his author to know that
in his writing none of these proba¬
bilities can be true does he turn to
the extreme improbability that here
at last is a sentence in which if <£
when is really better than if or when
by itself.
This absurdity is so common that
it seems worth while to quote a num¬
ber of examples, bracketing in each
either ‘ if & ’ or ‘ & when ’, & asking
whether the omission would in any
way change the meaning or diminish
the force of the sentence :— The
Radicals do not know quite clearly
what they will be at (if &) when the
fight is renewed./The Spectator’s
Great Threat—that (if tfc) when
Unionists get back to power & find
an Irish Parliament in Dublin they
will refuse to go on providing money
for pensions./A clear warning to the
electors that if they voted Liberal they
could not afterwards complain (if &)
when a Home Rule Bill was carried./
If (& when) we in this country depart
from Free Trade India cannot fairly
be deprived of the right of Protection./
For if (<& when) Ulster fights Ulster
will certainly be in rebellion./lie
endeavours to prove that the Govern¬
ment 4 cannot be neutral' if (& when)
a Woman Suffrage Referendum is
proposed in the House of Commons ./
But if (<& when) the notices are ten¬
dered it will be so arranged that they
all terminate on the same day./We
were under an honourable obligation
to help France , if (& when) the time
came for her to assert her claims./He
told the Ilford Farmers' Association
last year that if (db when) members of
Parliament were paid that Association
would benefit./In Morocco , what you
jnofess to give us will only belong to
us if (cfc when) we take it from the
Moroccans./They must, of course , be
certain that they are getting what they
are bargaining for, but (if <&) when
they have made sure of that, they
would be wisely advised to pay the
price.
It was admitted above that cases
were conceivable in which the if
& the when might be genuinely &
separately significant. Such cases
arise when one desires to say that
the result will or does or did not only
follow, but follow without delay ;
they are not in fact rare, & if a really
good writer allows himself an if &
ivhen, one such must have presented
itself; but in practice he hardly
ever does it even then, because any
strong emphasis on the absence of
delay is much better given by other
means, by the insertion of at once
or some equivalent in the result
clause. So true is this that, when
the devotees of if & when have had
the luck to strike a real opportunity
for their favourite, they cannot
refrain from inserting some adverb
to do over again the work that was
the only true function of their &
when ; in the quotations, these
adverbs that make & when otiose
are in roman type :—The electors
knew perfectly well that if & when
the Parliament Bill was placed on the
Statute-book it would immediately
be used to pass Irish Home Rule,/If
IGNITE
255
ILLITERACIES
db when the Unionist Party win a
General Election we are to have at
once a general tariff on foreign manu¬
factured goods./It is true that if db
when an amendment giving women
the vote is carried this amendment is
thenceforward to become part db
parcel of the Bill.
When or if is not so purposeless as
if db when ; or if does serve to
express that the writer, though he
expects his condition to be realized,
has his doubts :— An official pro¬
nouncement as to what particular
items of Lloyd George legislation it is
proposed to repeal , when, or if, the
opportunity arrives.
Unless & until is open to the same
objections as if db when , but is much
less common.
ignite makes ignitable; see Mute e.
ignoramus. PI. -uses, not -i ; see
-i 3, & Latin plurals.
ignoratio elenchi. See Technical
TERMS.
ignore makes ignorable ; see Mute e.
ilex. PI. ilexes ; see -ex, -ix, 3.
ilk means same ; it does not mean
family or kind or set or name. Of
that ilk is a form constructed for the
case in which proprietor & property
have the same name ; the Knock-
winnocks of that ilk means the
Knockwinnocks of Knockwinnoclc.
See Popularized technicalities.
The common maltreatments of the
phrase, some of which are illustrated
below, are partly unconscious & due
to ignorance of the meaning of ilk,
& partly facetious ; indulgence in
such Worn-out humour is much
less forgivable than for an English¬
man not to know what a Scotch
word means : —The Walkers are a
numerous race ... one of the ilk has
suggested that an ancestor probably
walked to the Crusades./Printed the
ear after the death of Thomas
. d L™ the rei i n °J Daniel of
mat tl&./Robert Elsmere, the fore-
VgKjt 80 ™? n y. books ‘ of that
./This publication was under¬
taken b
thaiUk
ilk do not seem to understand that the
money that farmers db other producers
make is . . .
illegible)(unreadable. The i. is not
plain enough to be deciphered ; the
u. is not interesting enough to be
perused.
ILLITERACIES. There is a kind of
offence against the literary idiom
that is not easily named. The usual
dictionary label for some specimens
of it at least is vulg. ; but the word
vulgar is now so imbued on the one
hand with social prejudices & on the
other with moral condemnation as
to be unsuitable ; the property com¬
mon to these lapses seems to be that
people accustomed to reading good
literature do not commit them & are
repelled by them, while those not
so accustomed neither refrain from
nor condemn them ; they may per¬
haps be more accurately as well as
politely called illiteracies than vul¬
garisms ; their chief habitat is in the
correspondence columns of the press.
A few familiar types may be here
collected for comparison, with just
enough in the way of illustration to
enable each usage to be recognized ;
actual quotations will be found
under many of the words mentioned
in their dictionary places :—
Like as conjunction (if I could
think like you do).
However , whatever, whoever , &c.,
interrogative (However did you find
out ? ; Whatever can this mean ?).
Same, such, & various, as pronouns
(Will submit same, or the same, for
approval; Have no dealings with
such ; Various have stated).
Frequent use of split infinitives
(Am ready to categorically affirm).
Re in unsuitable contexts (The
author's arguments re predestination).
Write with personal object only
(Though she had promised to write
him soon).
io
-tcinqiuuer to ^x aia not
think to tell them when I was there).
Negative after should not wonder
(I shouldn't wonder if it didn't come
true vet).
ILLOGICALITIES
25G
ILLOGICALITIES
Present &c. after as if & as though
(It looks as if we are winning or shall
win).
Me &c. for my &c. in gerund con¬
struction ( Instead of me being dis-
iiiisscd).
Between ... or for bclwcen . . . &
(The choice is between glorious death
or shameful life).
sllmost quite, rather unique, more
preferable.
.Aggravating for annoying.
Individual for person.
Any very bad hyphening ( the
ruling-class, my wooden-leg),
liev. Jones ; the hon. Smith.
Illogicalities. The spread of
education adds to the writer’s bur¬
dens by multiplying that pestilent
fellow the critical reader. No longer
can we depend on an audience that
will be satisfied with catching the
general drift & obvious intention of
a sentence & not trouble itself to
pick holes in our w'ording; the
words used must nowadays actually
yield on scrutiny the desired sense ;
to plead that anyone could see what
you meant, or so to write as to need
that plea, is not now permissible ;
all our pet illogicalities will have to
be cleared away by degrees.
If Milton might be excused or even
commended for calling Eve fairest
of her daughters, the modern news¬
paper man must not expect pardon
for similar conduct. Sir Ernest
CasseVs Christmas gift to the hospitals
of £50,000 is only the latest of many
acts of splendid munificence by which
he has benefited his fellows before now.
If it is the latest of them, says the
pestilent one, it is one of them ; if
one of them, it was given before
now ; but it is in fact given now,
not before now ; which is absurd.
Take, again, the following comment
on a quotation the commentator
thinks unjustified : Were ever finer
lines perverted to a meaner use ? We
know well enough what he is trying
to do—to emphasize the meanness
of the use— ; it is in expressing the
emphasis that he has gone wrong ;
it has escaped him that Never were
lines perverted to a meaner use is made
weaker, not stronger, if changed to
never were fine lines &c., & that again
is further weakened, not strength¬
ened, by a change of fine to finer ;
everything that narrows the field of
rivals for the distinction of meanest
perversion, as fine & finer do pro.
gressively, has an effect contrary to
what was intended ; it may be
worth while to insert fine in spite of
that, since it adds a qualification of
importance ; but the change to finer
weakens the force without adding to
the accuracy. Richard III says
Was ever woman in this humour won?;
to have said Princess, or prouder
Princess, instead of woman would
have made the marvel less & not
greater.
Another common, & more conspicu¬
ous, illogicality is the unintended
anticlimax. Masters, it is already
proved that you are little better than
false knaves, & it will go near to be
thought so shortly. Dogberry felt no
uneasiness about putting it that way,
& some writers seem to agree with
him :— A scepticism about the result
of military operations which must
have had & probably has had a damp-
ing effect upon the soldier (If it must
have had, it certainly, not probably,
has had)./// will, 1 think, delight the
reader as if it were something told by
Meadows Taylor; indeed the mys¬
terious ‘ sadhu ’ who figures in it, &
the account of the fight with the yellow
leopard, are not unworthy of the
suggested comparison (Not unworthy,
quotha ? but indeed led us to expect
more than worthy, a climax instead
of an anticlimax).
The abandonment of blind con¬
fidence in much less is another com¬
pliment that will have to be paid to
the modern reader’s logic. It is
still usual to give no hearing to
much more before deciding for its
more popular rival; sometimes a
loose but illogical excuse is to be
found in the general effect of the
context, sometimes even that is
wanting ; these two varieties appear
ILLTH
257
IMBIBE
in the quotations : — The machine
must be crushed before any real re¬
forms can be initiated, much less
carried./lt is a full day's work even
to open, much less to acknowledge, all
the presents. See much 2.
A stray variety or two may now
bring this subject, which might be
treated at much greater length, to
an end : The Dukes of Grafton in the
old days were almost invariably Lords-
Lieutenant cf Suffolk db Northamp¬
tonshire, but though the deceased held
neither office his influence in North¬
amptonshire db West Suffolk was
considerable (i.e., previous Dukes
were Lords Lieutenant, but this one
had much influence ; have Lords
Lieutenant, then, no influence ?)./
The schedule we shall have to face
will be a much longer one than it
would have been if we had undertaken
the work this year, db longer still than
it would have been if we had been able
to do the work last year. We may
deeply sympathize with a writer
who has brought himself to the pass
of having to choose between saying
still more longer & being illogical,
but we cannot let him off that more./
That would quite easily db fairly
redress what he admitted to be the
only grievance he could see in Estab¬
lishment. The he is a supporter of
the Established Church ; he would
maintain, not admit, that it is the
only grievance, & should have said
6 what he admitted to be a grievance.
though it was the only one he could
see \
Other examples or remarks will be
found on because, but 3, -er &
-est 7, 8, Haziness, reason,
though, too, yet, & passim.
illth. See -th nouns.
Illuminate makes -nable, -tor : see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
illumine &c. See lu.
See delusion for the
tufferences between the two words.
Illustrate should make illustrable , &
;5 0u gjh that f orm is ca u ed obs b
2®. ?, ED see «is better than
“tratable ; see -able. Agent noun
-trator. The pronunciation I'lwstrat
(as opp. ilu'strat) has been slowly
arrived at, but is now general; see
Recessive accent. For illustrative
the OED gives ilu'strativ only ; but
the fixing of l'lustrat may before
long produce l'lwstrativ.
im-. For spelling of words with
variants in era-, see em- & im-. The
following, not there mentioned,
should have im-, & not the rarely
used era- : imbrue, imbrute, impale,
imparadise, impark, impawn, im¬
peril.
image, vb., makes imageable ; see
Mute e.
imaginary)(imaginative. The mean¬
ings of the two are quite distinct,
& never interchangeable. That is
imaginary which exists only in some¬
one’s imagination ; he, or his powers
or products, is imaginative who is
able or apt to form mental pictures.
Any confusion between the two is due
to the fact that there are things to
which either can be applied, though
in different senses, & with some such
things the distinction is not always
apparent. The difference between
an imaginary & an imaginative
person is clear enough, but that
between imaginary & imaginative
distress is elusive ; the begging
impostor exploits the former ; the
latter is created & experienced
(Such a price The Gods exact for
song, To become what we sing) by
the tragic or lyric poet. The place
is described with such wealth of detail
as to lead one to the conclusion that it
must have existed ; but, of course, on
the other hand, it may have been
purely imaginative ; justifiable, or
not ?
imagine makes imaginable ; see
Mute e.
imago. PI. imagos or imagines,
pronounce -ez ; see Latin plurals.
ima(u)m. The form without the u
is recommended ; pron. imah'm.
imbed, em-. Em- better ; see em-*
& IM-.
Imbibe makes -bable, see Mute e.
See also Formal words.
IMBROGLIO
258
IMMUNIZE
imbroglio. Pronounce -olyo ; pi.
-os, see -o(e)s 4.
imbrue, imbrute, em-. The im-
forms are better ; see im-,
imbue makes imbuable; see Mute
e. For construction, see infuse.
imitate makes imitable , imitator ;
see -able 1, -OR
immanent. The word is something
of a stumbling-block ; the unlearned
hearer or reader is not sure whether
it & imminent are the same or
different ; the Latin scholar feels
that he does not recall immaneo in
his Cicero, & wonders whether (-ant
& -ent often playing hide-&-seek
with each other) mdno may be the
source instead of maneo. Under
these circumstances it is thought by
some that the divines & philosophers
who chiefly affect the word should
be asked whether they would not
gain in intelligibility what they
might lose in precision by choosing
according to context between in¬
dwelling , pervading, pervasive, per¬
meating, inherent, & other words
that do not mystify us. 4 All which
though I most powerfully & potently
believe, yet I hold it not honesty to
have it thus set down ’, & shall not
venture to label immanent & im¬
manence Superfluous words. The
OED’s note on the use of immanent
may be useful to those who, not
reading philosophic & religious
books, find it an enigma when it
makes one of its occasional appear¬
ances in the newspaper : 4 In recent
philosophy applied to the Deity
regarded as permanently pervading
& sustaining the universe, as dis¬
tinguished from the notion of an
external transcendent creator or
ruler \ See Popularized tech¬
nicalities.
immense. Both the common slang
use in the senses excellent or amus¬
ing, & the odd freak illustrated in
the extract below, are instances of
Novelty-hunting, though the first
has lost its freshness & grown stale,
as such perversions do whereas the
second has not yet got beyond the
circles in which the detection of
generally unappreciated infinities
makes one a luminary :— These
memoirs yield what is probably an
immensely true account of Nelson's
career.
immerse makes immersable ; see
Mute e.
immesh. Use en- ; see em- & im-.
immobilize has -zable ; see Mute e.
immortal, as a compliment to an
author or one of his productions or
personages, requires to be used with
caution. Its real use is to make
sure that a reader who may or may
not be an ignoramus shall realize
that the person or book referred to
is well known in the literary world,
& that without telling him the fact
in too patronizing a manner. But,
delicate as the device may originally
have been, it is now too well known
to escape notice ; & whether the
reader will be offended or not de¬
pends on the exact depth of his
ignorance. There are few who will
not be angry if they are reckoned
to require 4 the immortal Shakspere
or 4 Don Quixote ’, or 4 Pickwick
Papers ’ ; those who can put up
with 4 the immortal Panurge ’, or
4 Dobbin ’, or 4 Mrs Poyser will be
rather more numerous ; & so on in
many gradations. The author of
the following was probably ill in¬
spired in immortalizing Cervantes ;
but not so ill as if he had done the
same—& he might have—for Don
Quixote :— Lovers of Don Quixote
will remember that the immortal
Cervantes fought with great courage in
this battle.
immortalize makes -zable ; see
Mute e.
immovable, not -veable ; see Mute
e. Though the differentiation
between immov- & irremov- is fully
established, blunders sometimes oc¬
cur ; The President, save for success¬
ful impeachment, is immovable by
Congress./By suspending conscrip¬
tion & restoring the immovability of
the judges.
imm uniz e has -zable; see Mute e.
IMPALE
259
IMPLEMENT
Impale, em-. Im- better ; see im-.
impanel, em-. Em- is better ; see
EM- & IM-. Past &c., -Ued, -lling ;
see -LL-, -l-.
imparadise. Impark, em-. Im- is
better; see im-.
imparisyllabic. See Technical
TERMS.
impassable, impassible. The two
are different in derivation, spelling,
pronunciation, & meaning. The
first is ultimately from Latin pando
stretch, the second from Latin
patior feel; in the first the second
syllable is (at least in Southern use)
pronounced pahs, while in the other
it is always p&s ; the first means that
cannot be passed, the second that
cannot feel.
impasse. See French words. The
word is now becoming very common,
but is still so little really at home
with us that it is often printed
impassi in newspapers.
impawn, em-. Ini- better; see im-.
impayable. There is perhaps no
other word that is so indisputably
an undesirable alien in English as
this. It has^ a false air, since it is
a ^ n i°^ * m P oss ible English formation,
of being intelligible at first hearing
to an Englishman ; but if we did
make the word, we should certainly
not mean by it what the French
word means ; & in point of fact the
vast majority of people who hear it
are compietely puzzled by it. In¬
credible as, under these circum¬
stances, it seems, we have the pre¬
cise notion ready to our hands in
plain current English; when someone
floes a thing absurd enough to en¬
large our idea of what humanity is
capable of in perverse or obstinate
*>. U y> we express our
g atitude for this enlightenment by
that m e or 1118 action is
priceless . The sentiment may be
ymcal, & the idiom may be, after
OED of ^payable; the
» that it is harder tell
"hether it is native or not; but at
any rate everyone has heard it, &
understands it without assistance
from the French. It may be worth
while to give the synonyms used in
French dictionaries to convey the
particular sense of impayable that is
here referred to ; Littr<$ has extra¬
ordinaire, trds-plaisant, trts-bizarre ,
& Larousse ridicule ou comique.
A newspaper example is : — The re¬
sults were discouraging in each case,
but the Tariff-reformers are impay¬
able, & have still a thousand argu¬
ments to prove that if the Tariff dose
had only been stronger, disaster would
have been turned into victory on either
or each of these occasions.
impeachment. For own the soft i.,
see Irrelevant allusion.
impedance. For the formation,
see Hybrid derivatives. In the
interests of both Electricity & Eng¬
lish, the word should be strictly
confined to the former.
impede makes impedable ; see
Mute e.
impel makes -lied, -liable, -lling ;
see -LL-, -L-.
impenitence, -cy. There is no
perceptible difference of meaning ;
-ce is recommended ; see -ce, -cy.
imperil, not em- ; see im-. Past
&c. -lied, -lling ; see -ll-, -l-.
impersonate makes -nable, -tor;
see -able 1, -OR.
impetigo. Pronounce impiti'go.
PI. -gines, pronounce -jinez.
impetus. PI. -fuses, not -ti ; see -us.
impinge makes -ging ; see Mute e.
implement, n. & v. See Noun &
verb accent. The verb, meaning
to carry out (a contract &c.), is
chiefly Scotch. Newspaper uses like
the following cannot be acquitted
of the charge of pedantry : But it
comes after long cfc disastrous delays
which have greatly lowered the prestige
of the Allies <& diminished their chance
of getting their peace terms imple¬
mented by any authority that can speak
f or Russia./Increased taxation will be
inevitable if Labour's promises to the
electorate are to be implemented.
A correspondent has favoured me
with the following quotation : (David
IMPLICATE
260
IMPRACTICAL
Irving : Elements of English Com¬
position, 11th Ed. 1841) To imple¬
ment, signifying to fulfil, is likewise
derived frojn the barbarous jargon
of the Scotish (sic) bar.
Implicate makes -cable ; see -able 1.
implicit. l.)(cxplicit ; i.)(implied ;
i. faith &c. The human mind likes
a good clear black & white contrast ;
when two words so definitely pro¬
mise one of these contrasts as ex¬
plicit & implicit, & then dash our
hopes by figuring in phrases where
the contrast ceases to be visible—
say in 4 explicit support ’ & ‘ im¬
plicit obedience with absolute or
complete or full as a substitute that
might replace either or both—, we
ask with some indignation whether
after all black is white, & perhaps
decide that implicit is a shifty word
with which we will have no further
dealings. It is in fact noteworthy
in more than one respect.
First, it means for the most part
the same as implied, &, as it is
certainly not so instantly intelligible
as that to the average man, it might
have been expected to be so good
as to die. That it has nevertheless
survived by the side of implied is
perhaps due to two causes : one is
that explicit & implicit make a
neater antithesis than even ex¬
pressed & implied (all the conditions
whether explicit or implicit ; but all
the implied conditions ; implied is
much commoner than implicit when
the antithesis is not given in full) ;
& the other is that the adverb,
whether of implicit or of implied, is
more often wanted than the adjec¬
tive, & that impliedly is felt to be
(see -edly 5) a bad form ; im¬
plicitly, preferred to impliedly, helps
to keep implicit alive.
Secondly, there is the historical
accident by which implicit, with
faith, obedience, confidence, & such
words, has come to mean absolute
or full, whereas its original sense was
undeveloped or potential or in the
germ. The starting-point of this
usage is the ecclesiastical phrase
implicit faith, i.e. a person’s accept¬
ance of any article of belief, not on
its own merits, but as a part of, as
‘ wrapped up in ’, his general accept¬
ance of the Church’s authority ; the
steps from this sense to unquestion¬
ing, & thence to complete or abso¬
lute or exact, are easy ; but not
everyone who says that implicit
obedience is the first duty of the
soldier realizes that the obedience
he is describing is not properly an
exact one, but one that is based on
acceptance of the soldier’s status.
See Popularized technicalities.
impliedly is a bad form ; see -edly
(5).
imply. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
impolitic makes the unusual ad¬
verbial form -icly, not -ically.
import. See Noun & verb accent.
importune, v. The stress is vari¬
able, & the OED allows it on either
the second or the third. Of the
numerous verse quotations, there
are twelve clear for impor'tune, &
four for importu'ne ; Shakspere,
Spenser, Chapman, Gray, & Byron,
all favour the former.
impose makes -sable ; see Mute e.
impost. For synonymy see tax.
impost(h)ume. The h, which is not
pronounced, & often not written, is
better away, though the word is too
well established to have its other
corruptions removed & its sound
altered. It should be, & was,
apostem, from Greek aposlema ab¬
scess ; the h comes in by confusion
with posthumous, in which it is due
to a theory, though a false one, of
the etymology.
impractical, un-. The second is
better; see in- & un-, & prac¬
ticable. The constant confusion
between practicable & practical is
a special reason for making use of
im- & un- to add to the difference
in the negatives : Its inability to
address itself to the questions of the
hour produces the impression that the
Labour movement is all impracticable
agitation (read unpractical ).
IMPRECATE
261
-IN & -INE
imprecate makes -cable ; see -able 1.
Impregnate makes - notable (excep¬
tionally, see -atable), since im¬
pregnable would be inconvenient.
Impresario. Pronounce -zar'lo, not
•sar'io ; pi. -os, see -o(e)s 4.
imprescriptible is one of the words
that are often used without a clear
conception of their meaning. That
right or property or grant is i. which
is 4 not subject to prescription ’.
What then is prescription ? If we
exclude doctors’ prescriptions, most
people take it to mean 4 uninter¬
rupted use or possession from time
immemorial, or for a period fixed
by law as giving a title or right ;
hence, title or right acquired by
virtue of such use or possession :
sometimes called positive prescrip¬
tion *—OED. But clearly * not
subject to prescription ’ in this sense
does not give us the meaning we
want, but something very like the
opposite of it. The reading of the
riddle requires a piece of legal
knowledge that most of us have
not, viz, that there is another kind
of prescription 4 now commonly
called negative prescription *, de¬
fined as 4 Limitation or restriction
of the time within which an action
or claim can be raised ’—OED.
An imprescriptible right, then, is
a right not subject to negative pre¬
scription, i.e., a right that is not
invalidated by any lapse of time.
impress, n. For synonymy see sn
impressible, impressionable. It
singular that the second foi
adapted from the French, shoi
have displaced the first, wh
n*ight have done the work qu
well, although the French v<
»mpressionner has failed to prodi
acurrent English verb to imvressii
Whatever the reason, impressiona
is undoubtedly the established for
«impressible rare.
imprint.
CENT.
See Noun & verb ac
impromptu, n. Pi. -us.
•lSS°i rlate makes 'P Hable > see
improve makes improvable ; see
Mute e.
improvisator. Pronounce Imprfi'-
vizator. Italian form -wisatore
pron. -ahtor'i, fern, -wisatrice pron.
-ahtre'cha, pi. -ori pron. -or'e, -id
pron. -e'che.
improvise, not -ize, see -ise ; i.
makes -isable, see Mute e.
impuissant. For pronunciation see
PUISSANT.
in. The combinations inasmuch as,
in order that or to, in so far, in that,
& in toto, are taken separately in
their alphabetical places.
inacceptable. XJn- is better; see
in- & UN-.
inadequate. Since otherwise the
number of troops available might be
inadequate to those which might be
brought into the field against her.
Though it is true that adequate &
inadequate originally meant made &
not made equal, & therefore might
be & were followed by to with any
suitable noun or infinitive, modern
usage has restricted the words to
the notion (un)equal to require¬
ments, so effectually that it may
now be regarded as unidiomatic
to express the particular demand ;
vague additions like to the need, to
the occasion, to the task, are still
possible, though felt to be pleo¬
nastic ; but specifications like that
m the above extract, or like His
revenues were found inadequate to his
expences (Gibbon) or Is language
adequate to describe it ? (W. Collins)
are abandonments of the differentia¬
tion that has taken place between
adequate & equal, inadequate & un¬
equal. His resources were inade¬
quate, or inadequate to the occasion ,
but not inadequate to those of his
opponent, nor to take or taking the
town.
inadvertence, -cy. The first is re¬
commended ; see -ce, -cy.
inadvisable, inalterable. XJn- is
better ; see in- & un-.
-IN & -INE. The distinction in
Chemistry between the two ter¬
minations is outside the scope of
IN & -UN
262
IN & -UN
this dictionary. But in certain
words, e.g. gelatine, glycerine, mar¬
garine, the -ine of popular use
violates that distinction. Neverthe¬
less, the correct spellings gelatin &c.
should be left to technical writers or
kept for scientific moments, & the
-ine forms used without hesitation
when we are not thinking in terms
of Chemistry—unless, indeed, the
word pedantry has no terrors for us.
IN- & UN-. There is often a teas¬
ing uncertainty—or incertitude—•
whether the negative form of a word
should be made with in- (including
il -, irn-, ir-), or with un-. The
general principle that un - is English
«fc belongs to English words, & in¬
is Latin & belongs to Latin words,
does not take us far. The second
part of it, indeed, forbids inwhole-
some (since wholesome has certainly
no Latin about it) & thousands of
similar offences ; but then no-one
is tempted to go astray in this
direction. And the first part, which
is asked to solve real problems—
whether, for instance, unsanitary or
insanitary is right—seldom gives
a clear answer ; it forbids undubit-
able, uneffable, unevitable, & other
such words of which the positive
form does not exist as an English
word ; but about sanitary & the
rest it says you may consider them
English words & use un-, or Latin
words & use in-. Fortunately the
number of words about which
doubts exist is not large ; for the
great majority usage has by this
time decided one way or the other.
Fashion has varied : ‘ The practice
in the 16th & 17th c.’ says the OED
‘ was to prefer the form with in-, e.g.
inaidable, inarguable, inavailable, but
the modern tendency is to restrict
in- to words obviously answering to
Latin types, & to prefer un- in other
eases, as in unavailing, uncertain,
undeoout \ A few extracts follow
exhibiting the more common or
important of the doubtful words,
each in what is here considered the
less desirable form; the number
printed after some of these is that
of the times that I happen to have
seen the form in newspapers while
attending to the point :~The amount
must be determined not by impractical
discussions over restitution (7 )./He
has selected five of Gissing's novels
for generous, but by no means indis-
criminating, praise (4 )./We agree
with Mr Balfour in thinking it
inadvisable to set up any form oj
Second Chamber which . . . (2). /Your
modern diplomatist works this sup¬
posed incontrollable popular feeling
for all it is worth (2)./Whose faded
stare silenced his son-in-law by its
inexpressive fixity./Complaints that
the present Finance Bills are inac-
ceptable./TFe can only regret that his
ideas are indigested ./Every place at
which war-ships, completed or incom-
pleted, are lying./Her letters , still
extant although inedited.
Before a fuller list of doubtful
pairs, with recommendations, is
attempted, some suggestive con¬
trasts may serve to show the con¬
flicting tendencies that are at
work :— unjust but injustice, unable
but inability, unquiet but inquietude ,
uncivil but incivility, show the in¬
fluence of markedly Latin as opposed
to nondescript endings in producing
in-. Undigested but indigestible,
unanimated but inanimate, undis¬
tinguished but indistinguishable, un¬
lettered but illiterate, unlimited but
illimitable, unredeemed but irredeem¬
able, unreconciled but irreconcilable,
illustrate the aversion of -ed to in -;
unceasing but incessant, undiscrimin¬
ating but indiscriminate, do the same
for -ing. Unapproachable but inac¬
cessible, undestroyable but indestruc¬
tible, undissolvable but indissoluble ,
unbelievable but inconceivable, un-
provable but improbable, bring out
well the tendency for in- to be
restricted to the forms that are
closest to Latin even in the very
openminded -ble group (on which
more will be found under -able 3);
& uncertainty but incertitude does
the same for nouns. Lastly, unac¬
countable but insurmountable, &
IN APPEASABLE
263
INCARNATION
unmdodious but inharmonious , are
examples of apparent caprice fixed
by usage.
A list is now given of the words
about which doubt is most likely,
with a statement of the prefix recom¬
mended for each ; the recommenda¬
tions are sometimes supported by
special reasons, but sometimes mere¬
ly based on a general impression that
one form is more likely than the
other to prevail:—
acceptable
un-
advisable
un-
alterable
un-
appeasable
un-
apt
A
un-
p
artificial j
un-
in-
communicative
un-
completed
un-
consolable
in-
controllable
un-
decipherable
un-
digested
un-
discriminating
un-
distinguishable
in-
edited
un-
efiaceable
in-
escapable
un-
essential
un-
expressive
un-
frequent
in-
navigable
un-
practical
un-
recognizable
un-
responsive
un-
retentive
ir-
substantial
un-
supportable
in-
susceptible
in-
In- form labelled rare
in OED
As acceptable
Delatinized by - eas *
Inept is the Latin
in sense natural
in sense unskilful
The only indisputable
in - ed word is in¬
experienced
Established
Much delatinized
As completed
Wordsin-inyabhorin-
Established
See completed ; French
inedit has kept the
in- form in being
Established
Much delatinized
Danger of confusion
with inexpressible
Most -ent words so
As acceptable ; & con¬
fusion w. impractic¬
able
Danger of confusion
with irresponsible
Most words in re- so
Established
Most -ible words so
inappeasable. ZJn- is better ; see
in- & UN-.
inaptitude). Unapt is better (but
inaptitude ); see in- & un-.
"artificial, un-. See in- & un-.
inasmuch as has two meanings :
S- original, now rarely met
wta» i.e. to the same extent as or to
whatever degree or so far as ( God is
only God inasmuch as he is the Moral
Governor of the world) ; & the other
worn down, with the notion of a
correspondence between two scales
gone, & nothing left but a four-
syllable substitute for since ( 1 am
unable to reply that I am much the
better for seeing you, inasmuch as
I see nothing of you) ; this is the
ordinary modern use, & its only
recommendation as compared with
since is its pomposity. On the other
hand the old sense has been sup¬
planted by so far as & in so far as,
& is now unfamiliar enough to be
misleading when a literary-minded
person reverts to it. At any rate,
Mr Chamberlain's proposals, inas¬
much as they were intended to secure
continued loyalty <Sc union amongst
the Australian people, were considered
altogether unnecessary. Do we gather
that the proposals were in fact
rejected, & the reason for this was
that their intention was so-&-so ?
or that, whether rejected or accepted
on other grounds, that intention
was not held to justify them ? in
other words, does inasmuch as mean
since, or so far as ? we cannot tell,
without extraneous information. A
word that in one sense is pompous,
& in another obscure or ambiguous,
& in both has satisfactory substi¬
tutes, is better left alone.
inaugurate makes -ator ; see -or.
incage, en-. The second is better ;
see em- & im-.
incapacitate, incarcerate, make
-itable, - rable , -ator; see -able 1, -or.
^ incarnate. Pronounce the verb
I'nkarnat, & the adjective inkar'nit.
For adj. in - able , see -atable.
incarnation. This unfortunately is
not the prisoner's first lapse from
honesty, for when the Chief Constable
of Peterborough said * he was the
very quintessence of cunning db the
incarnation of a book-thief ’, he was
not speaking without knowledge.
Either the C.C. has been misreported
or he was playfully suggesting that
a book-thief is not a human being,
INCASE
264
INCLUDE
but a fiend or possibly a Platonic
Idea ; for so eminent a person must
be aware that incarnation of what
is incarnate already is as idle as
painting the lily, & much more
difficult. Some of us, however, do
need to be reminded that while
a person may be an incarnation of
folly, or Folly clothed in flesh, it is
meaningless to call him the incarna¬
tion of a fool, because all fools are
flesh to start with & cannot be
fitted with a new suit of it. See
Popularized technicalities.
incase. En- better ; see em- & im-.
incense makes -sable ; see Mute e.
incensedly. A bad form; see -edly.
inceptive, inchoative. See Tech¬
nical terms.
incident adj.) ( incidental . Two
tendencies may be discerned ; one
is for the shorter form with its less
familiar termination to be displaced
by the longer ; thus we should more
usually, though not more correctly,
now write incidental in such contexts
as (shortened from OED examples):
All the powers incident to any govern¬
ment ; Those in the highest station
have their incident cares & troubles ;
The expedition & the incident aggres¬
sive steps taken ; The incident mis¬
takes which he has run into ; A bank
note, more than sufficient to defray
any incident charges. The other
tendency, cutting across the first, is
a differentiation of meaning, based
on no real difference between the
two forms, but not the less useful on
that account ; while incidental is
applied to side occurrences with
stress on their independence of the
main action, incident implies that,
though not essential to it, they not
merely happen to arise in connexion
with it but may be expected to do
so. A consequence of this distinction
is that incident is mostly used in
close combination with whatever
word may represent the main action
or subject, & especially with to as the
link ; Youth & its incident perturba¬
tions, or The enthusiasms incident to
youth. It would be well if the
swallowing up of incident by inci¬
dental could be checked, & a con¬
tinued existence secured to it at
least in the special uses indicated.
Half the money has gone in incidental
expenses, & Our failure brought us an
incidental advantage ; but Office &
the incident worries, & The dangers
incident to pigsticking.
incidentally is now very common
as a writer’s apology for an irrele¬
vance. Naturally, those who find it
most useful are not the best writers.
incinerate makes -rable, -ator; see
-able 1, -OR.
incise, not -ize ; see -ise.
incise, incite, make -sable, -table ;
see Mute e.
incline. See Noun & verb accent.
For 4 seriously incline ’, see Hack¬
neyed PHRASES.
inclose. En- better; see em- & im-.
include makes -dable ; see Mute e.
include) (comprise. As used in the
newspapers, these may be called
a pair of Working & stylish words.
The one used in ordinary life is
include ; the inferior kind of journa¬
list therefore likes to impress his
readers with comprise. The frequent
confusion between comprise & com¬
pose ( comprised mainly of recruits ), is
an indication that include, which
writer & compositor alike know all
about, would be in general a safer
word. Given the two, however,
it would be possible to turn our
superfluity to much better purpose
than as a chance for the stylish
journalist. When two words have
roughly the same meaning, examina¬
tion will generally reveal a distinc¬
tion ; & the distinction in meaning
between the present two seems to
be that comprise is appropriate when
the content of the whole, & include
when the admission or presence of
an item, is in question ; good writers
say comprise when looking at the
matter from the point of view of the
whole, include from that of the part.
With include, there i3 no presump¬
tion (though it is often the fact) that
all or even most of the components
INCOGNITO
265
INCOMPETENCE
are mentioned ; with comprise , the
whole of them are understood to be
in the list. The Guards, for instance,
include the Coldstreams or the Life
Guards, but comprise the Life
Guards, Horse Guards, Dragoon
Guards, & Foot Guards. Comprise
is in fact, or would be if this partly
recognized distinction were deve¬
loped & maintained, whereas include
is not, equivalent to be composed of.
The following extracts show com¬
prise in contexts where include
would be the right word:— The
German forces . . . exceed twenty-three
corps; this number does not com¬
prise the corps operating in the
Masurian Lakes./The Commission
points out that the ample crop of
information it has gathered only com¬
prises irrefragably established facts.
incognito. The inflexions are of no
great importance, being now little
used, but should be done right if at
all. Of the personal noun incognito ,
incognita, incogniti , are the mas¬
culine, feminine, & plural, = man,
woman, people, of concealed iden¬
tity. The abstract noun, = anonym¬
ity &c., is incognito only, with
possible plural incognitos ( never
dropping their incognitos , or usually
incognito ). The adverb or predica¬
tive adjective ( travelling i.) is usually
-to irrespective of gender & number ;
if declined, it is like the personal
noun.
incognizable &c. For pronuncia¬
tion see COGNIZANCE.
Incommunicative. Un- is better :
see in- & un-.
. Incompatibles. Under this hea
mg are collected some phrases ea<
consisting of ill-assorted elemenl
1 hey differ greatly both in degree
badness & m kind ; neither point
here discussed, & each phrase is s
aown m as few words as will enab
the usage to be identified. Discu
sion of any particular misuse will 1
found on reference to one or oth
Si.: he J enns , com P osin g the phras
The object of this list it first to gi-
the reader, when i—
conspectus of mistakes similar to the
one he was investigating, & secondly
to give the mistakes themselves an
extra advertisement. The reader
confronted with these things baldly
set down, stripped of the surround¬
ings that would in many of them
distract attention from the actual
fault, will naturally doubt whether
they really appear in print ; but the
doubt will be set at rest by a few
minutes devoted to looking up the
words italicized :—almost quite ;
without scarcely ; scarcely .. . than ;
finally scotched ; decimate by 50 % ;
rather unique ; somewhat amazing ;
quite all right ; more preferable ;
prefer to die than yield ; ago since ;
he aims to secure it ; neither of them
were there ; ought to be availed of;
between death or disgrace ; methods
honest or otherwise ; both complex as
well as simple causation ; but that
however is doubtful ; on a conserva¬
tive estimate ; it depends whether
we get rain ; disagree from ; did not
have time ; I doubt that it ever
happened ; six feet between each
post ; a comparatively few ; hardly-
earned wages ; with a view of decid¬
ing ; a line worth while pursuing ;
people seemed to have been bolder
in those days ; will write you soon ;
shouldn’t wonder if it wasn’t true ;
lest it will come true ; do like he
does ; the major portion ; mutual
friend ; neither good or bad ; ob¬
livious to; onto ; makes one forget
his manners ; in order that the
peace will be a lasting one ; was
promoted to admiral ; the reason is
because God willed it ; I regard it
monstrous ; the Hon. Smith ; • Rev.
Smith ; I would like ; those sort of ;
butter must be substituted by mar¬
garine ; were issued with two gas¬
masks each ; superior than ; those
persons interested ; tinker with the
constitution ; no reason for undue
alarm ; very changed.
Incompetence, -cy. The form re¬
commended is -ce, cf. competence ;
in legal use, however, - cy seems to
be preferred.
INCOMPLETED
266
INCULCATE
incompleted. Un- is the right
form ; see in* & un*.
incondite. Pronounce Inko'ndlt.
The word is of the learned kind, &
should be avoided except in what is
addressed to a definitely literary
audience. It may not be out of
place to mention that conditus com¬
posed, not conditus seasoned, is the
Latin source, & that artless , rude,
rough, unpolished , come near the
sense.
INCONGRUOUS VOCABULARY. Aus-
tria'Hungary was no longer in a
position, an' she would, to shake off
the German yoke. Be in a position io
is a phrase of the most pedestrian
modernity ; shake off the yoke,
though a metaphor, is one so well
worn that no incongruity is felt
between it & the pedestrianism ;
but what is on 1 she would doing here ?
why not the obvious even if she had
the desire ? or, if an' she would is
too dear to be let go, why not
Austria noiv could not, an' she
would ? The goldfish an' cannot
live in this sentence-bowl unless we
put some water in with it, & gasps
pathetically at us from the mere dry
air of he in a position. Only a child
would expect a goldfish to keep his
beauty out of his right element ;
& only the writer who is either very
inexperienced or singularly proof
against experience will let the
beauties of a word or phrase tempt
him into displaying it where it is
conspicuously out of place. Minor
lapses from congruity are common
enough, & a tendency to them mars
the effect of what a man writes
more fatally than occasional faults
of a more palpable kind, such as
grammatical blunders ; but they do
not lend themselves to exhibition in
the short form here necessary ; a
few of the grosser & more recurrent
incongruities, connected with parti¬
cular words, must suffice by way of
illustration ; the words out of their
element are printed in roman type,
& under most of them, in their
dictionary places, will be found
further examples :— M. de Bille has
spent eighteen years in London as
Denmark’s Minister (see ’s incon-
gruous )./Christmas books are put in
hand long ere the season comes round’/
It is really very difficult to imagine
that the reply of the ballot can be
aught but an answer in the affirma¬
tive./Having in mind the approaching
General Election, it appears to me
that the result of same is likely to be
as much a farce as the last./There are,
it may be noted, fewer marquises than
any other section of the peerage save
dukes./The Covenanted Civil Service
with its old traditions db its hereditary
hatred of interlopers, be they mer¬
chants, journalists, doctors, &c. (be
they is nothing if not stiff, dec.
nothing if not slack).
inconsiderateness, -eration. For
the distinction, see considerate-
NESS.
inconsolable, un-. In - is better;
see in- & un-.
incontinently, = straightway, is ar¬
chaic & now literary only. Its
connexion with incontinent — libidi¬
nous, which is apt to suggest wrong
guesses, is not a close one ; the
OED explains that it is from Latin
in continenti tempore (in unbroken
time), so that the in- of incontinently
is the preposition meaning in,
whereas that of incontinent is the
prefix meaning not.
incontrollable. Un- is better ; see
in- & UN-.
incorporate makes -rable, -tor ; see
-able l, -OR.
increase. See Noun & verb ac¬
cent.
incredible. See Positive words.
incrust, en-. Encrust, encrustment,
but incrustation ; see em- & ra-.
incubate makes -tor, see -or ; for
adj. in -able, see -atable.
incubus. PI. -bi, or -buses.
inculcate makes -tor (see -or) ; for
adj. in -able, see -atable. A curious
mistake often occurs, shown in
the three quotations following:— A
passer-by saved him , formed a close
friendship with him, db inculcated
INCULPATE
267
INDIFFERENCE
him with his own horrible ideas about
murdering women. / An admirable
ttaining-place wherein to inculcate
the young mind with the whys &
wherefores of everything which con¬
cerns personal safety./The Germans
are chiefly busy in inculcating Ameri¬
cans with the idea that British
Marinismus is more dangerous than
German Militarismus. Whether the
explanation is that inculcate is one
of the words liable to the maltreat¬
ment called Object-shuffling (i.
one with a doctrine being substituted
for i. a doctrine upon one), or
whether the compositor has each
time found inoculate & printed
inculcate, is impossible to determine ;
if the latter, writers should take
warning that inoculate is a word to
keep an eye on (or inoculate in a new
sense) in proofs. See Misprints.
inculpate. See -atable.
incur makes -rred, -rring ; see -r-
-rr-. I'or incurring see Pronun¬
ciation s.f.
indecipherable. XJn- is better ; set
IN- & UN-.
indecorous. Accent the third syl¬
lable (Indikor'ws).
indefeasible) (indefectible. The
distinction between the two, not
always very carefully observed, may
perhaps best be kept in mind by
associating them respectively with
defeat & deficit. That is indefeasible
which is not liable to defeat, i.e.
to being impaired or annulled by
attack from outside ; the word is
therefore applied to rights, titles,
possessions, & the like. That is
indefectible which is not liable to
deficit, i.e. to failing for want of
internal power ; the word is there-
lore applied to qualities such as
w 1 ^5 SS> ^ race > vigour, resolution,
afiection, or abundance ; the sense
faultless, suggesting the noun defect
rather than deficit , & not quoted
iq+l 111 the OED from before the
i»tn c., seems to be a modern change
?l™ ean i ng ^ & . one not to be coun¬
tenanced . Neither word lends itself
10 the sort of everyday use seen in :
And yet Mr. Barnstaple had the most
subtle 6s indefeasible doubt whether
indeed Serpentine was speaking.
indent. See noun & verb accent.
independence, -cy. The -cy form
retains only some special senses—
Congregationalism, an independent
State, & an independent income—;
& in these, though still preferred to
- ce , is now usually displaced by
Congregationalism , sovereign or inde¬
pendent State, & competency.
indescribable. So spelt; see Mute e.
index. For pi. see -ex, -ix. 4. &
Latin plurals. For synonymy see
SIGN.
Indian. For the 1. weed see Sobri¬
quets.
indicate makes -cable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
indication. For synonymy see sign.
indicative. The grammatical term
is pronounced indl'katlv ; in other
uses i'ndikativ is not uncommon,
indict, -able, -ment. Pronounce
-it-. Indict means accuse, & indite
compose or write,
indifference, -cy. Though the -cy
form tends to disappear in all senses,
its slower disappearance in one sug¬
gests a distinction that might use¬
fully be maintained. That sense is
the one corresponding to the objec¬
tive sense of indifferent ; a person
is indifferent (subjectively) who
feels no preference for either of a
pair of things over the other; things
are indifferent (objectively) for
neither of which a preference is felt ;
the relation of the person to the
things is indifference ; the relation
of the things to the person is still
often, & might well be always, called
indifferency. The following quota¬
tions from the OED show the word
so used, & readers will perhaps
agree that it is better in these
contexts than indifference : — You
have arrived at an equivalence 6s
indifferency of all actions./Cere¬
monies . . . how indifferent soever
they are in themselves , when they are
once commanded, the indifferency
ceases./I still believe in the indiffer -
INDIGESTED
268
INDIRECT QUESTION
ency of customs , so long as they do
not make void the Divine word. See
-ce, -cy, & Differentiation.
indigested. TJn- is the right form ;
see in- & un-.
indirect object. See Technical
terms.
INDIRECT QUESTION is the gram¬
marian’s name for a modification of
what was originally a question, such
that it does not stand by itself as
a sentence, but is treated as a noun,
serving for instance as subject or
object to a verb outside of it. Thus :
direct question. Who are you ? ;
indirect question, I asked who he was,
or Tell me who you are , or Who you
are is quite irrelevant. Two points
arise, one of grammar, & one of
style.
1. It must be remembered that
an indirect question is in grammar
equivalent to one noun in the
singular ; the number of its internal
subject has no influence on the
number of the external verb ; to
disregard this fact, as when rest is
written instead of rests in the follow¬
ing extract because terms happens to
be plural, is an elementary blunder—
What terms Bulgaria may be ulti¬
mately given rest with the Peace
Conference.
2. The point of style is of much
greater interest. How far is it
legitimate to substitute in an in¬
direct question the order of words
that properly belongs to direct
questions ? The lamentable craze
for Inversion among writers who
are fain to make up for dullness of
matter by verbal contortions is no
doubt responsible for the prevailing
disregard of the normal order in
indirect questions ; for inversion,
i.e. the placing of the subject later
than its verb, is a mark of the
direct, but not of the indirect ques¬
tion. Take these five types :—
A. How old are you ?
B. Tell me how old you are
or Tell me how old are you ?
C. He wondered how old she was
or He wondered how old was she?
D. He doesn’t know how old I am
or He doesn’t know how old am I?
E. How old I am is my affair
or How old am I is my affair.
A is the direct question ; in B, C,
D, & E, the first form contains the
normal, & the second the abnormal
form of the indirect question. It
will be seen that the abnormal form
is progressively disagreeable as we
recede from interrogative governing
verbs, until in E it might fairly be
thought impossible. To contortion¬
ists, however, all things are possible ;
readers possessed of the gram¬
matical sense, or of literary taste,
will find the following examples of
the abnormal order repugnant in
the same degree as the types to
which the letters B, E, &c., assign
them ; it is only the encroachments
of inversion in general that palliate
this special abuse in indirect ques¬
tions. I have been asked by the
Editor to explain what are the duties
of the Army towards the civil power ,
how is it constituted, to whom does it
owe allegiance, by whom is it paid,
cC- what is the source of its authority
(B. The reason why the first & last
clauses here are less distasteful than
the others is explained later).///
shows inferentially how powerless is
that body to carry out any scheme
of its own (D. Normal order—how
powerless that body is)./ Experience
has taught in what a restricted region
can the State as trader or owner act
to the general advantage (D. Normal
order—the State can act to the
general advantage as trader )./How
bold is this attack may be judged from
the fact that . . . (E. Normal order—
How bold this attack is)./Why
should we be so penalized must ever
remain a mystery (E. Normal order
—Why we should).
The further remarks promised on
the first example are these : three
of the five indirect-question clauses
in that are clear eases of abnormal
order —how is it instead of how it is,
to whom does it owe instead of to
whom it owes, & by whom is it paid
i nstead of by whom it is paid ■-
INDISCREET 269 INDIVIDUAL
but about the other two, which are a couple of passages in which
whether designedly or not act as
advance-guard & rearguard covering
those between & almost preventing
us from discovering their character,
it is not so easy to say whether they
are abnormal or not. That is a
characteristic of the special type of
question consisting of subject, noun
complement, & the verb be ; in the
answer to such questions, subject &
complement are transposable. Ques¬
tion, What are the duties ? ; answer,
indifferently, These are the duties , or
The duties are these ; to the first
form corresponds in the indirect
question Explain what are the duties ,
& to the second. Explain what the
duties are ; & it can therefore hardly
be said that one is more normal than
the other. But to questions made
of other elements than subject +be
-1-noun complement, e.g. How is it
constituted ?, the two answers (It is
constituted thus, & Thus is it con¬
stituted) are far from indifferent;
one is plainly normal & the other
abnormal. This minor point has
been discussed only because sen¬
tences like Explain what are the
duties might be hastily supposed to
justify all other uses of direct-
question order in indirect-question
constructions.
Indiscreet, indiscrete, should be
distinguished in accent—Indiskre't,
Indl'skret; cf. discrete.
indiscriminating. I7n- is the right
form ; see in- & un-.
indistinguishable, un-. The first is
recommended ; see in- & un-.
indite. See indict ; i- makes
mditable , see Mute e.
individual, n. The remarks to be
made concern the noun only, not the
adjective. * Individual , which al-
made the fortune of many
a Victorian novelist, is one of the
modern editor’s shibboleths for de¬
tecting the unfit *; so it has been
said, but editors seem to relax their
vigilance occasionally, & the word
Shps through on its sad old errand
of soliciting a smile in vain ; here
the choice of it can have been
dictated by nothing but Worn-out
humour :— It is a most spirited
episode , with a supernatural ending
according to Tom Causey ; this wily
individual is the hero of some highly
diverting stories./Taking a leaf out of
the book of the individual who some
years ago put forth his recollections
under the title ‘ Reminiscences of a
Young Man ’.
The test for the right use of the
word as opposed to the ‘ colloquial
vulgarism ’ (OED) is the question
whether the writer means or not to
contrast the person he calls an
individual with society, the family,
or some body of persons ; if he does,
he may say individual with a clear
conscience ; if not, he must expect
us to like his evocation of this ghost
of 19th-century jocularity as little
as we enjoy the fragrance of a blown-
out candle that just now gave us
light, or of the smoking-room visited
early next morning. A pair of
examples will make the difference
clear ; in the first, the individual is
directly contrasted with, though a
member of, the House of Commons,
& is therefore rightly so called ; in
the second it is true that there is
a body of persons in question, but
the individual is so far from being
contrasted with this body that he
is it ; the right way to have written
the sentence is added in brackets,
& the efficiency with which his does
all the work of of this longsuffering
individual (19th-century perfume
excepted) reveals the writer’s style
as one not to be imitated :— The
House of Commons settled down very
quietly to business yesterday after¬
noon ; all trace of the preceding
sitting's violent protestation appeared
to have been obliterated from the
political mind ; the only individual
who attempted to revive the spirit of
animosity was Mr - ./We are little
inclined to consider the urgency of the
case made out for the patient agricul¬
turalist ; it would seem at first sight
as if the needs of this long-suffering
INDORSATION
individual were such as could be
supplied by . . . (as if his needs
could).
indorsation, but endorsement ); see
EM- & IM-.
induce makes -cihle ; sec -able 2.
induct makes -tor ; see -or.
induction) (deduction. The first is
the drawing, from observed or
known cases, of the conviction that
something established of them is
true either of all similar cases, or of
any particular similar case, that may
afterwards be met with. The child
who, having observed that all the
persons known to him have two
legs, confidently expects two legs
on the newborn brother he has not
yet seen, has made an induction.
Deduction is the drawing from a
general principle, however derived,
of the conviction that a particular
fact is true because if it were not
the general principle, which has been
accepted as undeniable, would not
be true. The child who, being told
that if you take a seed & sow it you
may expect thirty fold or so of what
you took it from to spring up, sows
a caraway seed & awaits the thirty
copies of the seedcake from which
he saved it is acting on a deduction.
Whether the conclusion reached by
induction or deduction is true de¬
pends on many conditions, which it
is the province of Logic to expound ;
but the broad difference between the
two is that induction starts from
known instances & arrives at a
generalization, or at the power of
applying to new instances what it
has gathered from the old, while
deduction starts from the general
principle, whether established by
induction or assumed, & arrives at
some less general principle, or some
individual fact, that may be regard¬
ed as being wrapped up in it &
therefore as having the same claim
to belief as the general principle
itself.
indue. En- better ; see em- & im-.
indulge. 1. 1. makes indulgeable ;
see Mute e. 2. But here & there
u _INEVITABLE
flashes out a phrase or a sentence that
strikes the note of emotion & pride in
the achievements of our armies which
the most reticent of men may indulge.
That passes the limit of what even
this very elastic verb can be stretched
to. You may i. your emotion, or i.
in emotion, or i. yourself in emotion;
further, you may i. in, or i. yourself
in, a note of emotion ; but you
cannot i. a note, whether of emotion
or of anything else, but only strike
or utter or blow it ; & no-one who
knows any grammar would deny
that which represents note , not
emotion dc pride. The object of i.
as a transitive verb must be either
a person or at least something that
can be credited with a capacity for
being pleased or gratified ; a pas¬
sion, a fancy, an emotion, may be
gratified, but not a note. The mis¬
take is less a misunderstanding of
the meaning of i. than an example
of Haziness, note of emotion being
confused with emotion, & the con¬
fusion escaping notice under cover
of which.
industrialize makes - izable , -ization ;
see Mute e.
-ine. For glycerin(e) &c. see -in &
-INE.
inebriate makes -riable ; see -able 1
inedited, un-. The second is re¬
commended ; see in- & un-.
ineffaceable, un-. The first is re¬
commended ; see in- & un-.
ineffective, -fectual, -ficacious,
-ficient. For distinctions see effec¬
tive.
inescapable, inessential. Un- is
better ; see in- & un-.
inevitable(ness), -bly. To those of
us who read reviews of books &
picture-shows & acting & music it
has been apparent for some time
that these words have been added
to what may be called the apparatus
criticus, making up, with distinction,
charm, meticulous, intrigue v.t.,
banal, sympathetic, & a few other
Literary critics’ words, the re¬
viewing outfit. A search through
all the English & French dictioD-
INEVITABLE
271
INFER
aries within reach shows them all
ignorant of the specialized modern
use ; the OED in particular, dated
1901 for the letter I, has no inkling
of it. An example or two may
therefore be welcome :— And even
when a song is introduced, such as
Ariel's Where the bee sucks there
suck I , its effect is so great because
it seems dramatically inevitable./The
mere matters of arrangement, of line
therein, show how great was his power,
how true his perception ; he has the
inevitableness of the Japanese./In¬
evitably he led up to the unanswerable
case for giving to all women the vote,
& one felt he spoke, as he declared he
did, with all sincerity, with all his
heart, of what he believed in./Both
themes are well, that is to say inevit¬
ably, worked out./Miss - may not
always sing inevitably cfe spontaneous¬
ly, simply for the love of beauty.
Better examples than these might
be desired for the purpose of ex¬
tracting the words’ sense ; they are
the ones that happen to be at hand,
recorded possibly for the very reason
that they were open to objection.
What the literary critic does mean
by inevitable is perhaps this : sur¬
veying a work of art, we feel some¬
times that the whole & all the parts
are sufficiently consistent & har¬
monious to produce on us the effect
of truth ; we then call it, for short,
convincing ; thus & thus, we mean,
it surely may have been or may be ;
nothing in it inclines us to doubt;
to be convincing is a step short of
being inevitable ; when the whole
& the parts are so far in a concatena¬
tion accordingly that instead of
Thus <fk thus it may have been we find
ourselves forced to Thus & thus it
must have been or was or is, when
the change of a jot or tittle would be
plain desecration, when we know
that we are looking at the Platonic
idea itself & no mere copy, then the
tale. or the picture or the music
attains to inevitableness. This is an
outsider’s guess at the meaning;
whether the guess is a good one or
not, the meaning seems to be one
deserving expression in a single
word—but only on the condition
that that word shall be strictly
confined to the works or parts of
works that are worthy of it. Now
it is, in fact, so often met with that
one is compelled to infer the exist¬
ence of a great deal more inevit¬
ability in twentieth-century art of
all kinds than one at all suspected ;
so many things seem inevitable to
the reviewer in which the reader
could contemplate extensive altera¬
tions without a pang. The question
is whether convincing or true to
nature, phrases for whose inter¬
pretation we should not search the
dictionaries in vain, would not be
nearer the critic’s private meaning
than inevitable, & indeed whether he
does not choose inevitable just be¬
cause the reader would understand
the other words too easily & miss
being impressed by his command of
mysterious terms.
inexactitude. For terminological i.
= lie, see Polysyllabic humour
inexpressibles. See Polysyllabic
humour.
inexpressive, un-. The second is
recommended ; see in- & un-.
infantile) (-ine. The OED does not
lay down any distinction, giving as
its sole definition of-ine ‘ = infantile’.
But its quotations for the two words
do on the whole bear out one that
might well (see Differentiation)
be encouraged, something like that
between childish & childlike, though
less established : -ile means of or in
infancy, & -ine infantlike or as of an
infant. If this is accepted, each of
the following quotations from the
OED would be the worse if -ile &
-ine were to change places :— The
interest which his story first impressed
upon her infantile imagination./The
countenance is so innocent infan¬
tine, you would think this head
belonged to a child of twelve. It may
be said roughly that -ile records a
fact, & -ine an impression.
infatuate makes -uabie; see -able 1 .
infer makes -rred &c.; see -R-, -rr-.
INFERABLE
272
INFLICT
inferable, -rible, -rrable, -rrible.
The first (with stress on in-, not -er-)
is recommended, on the pattern of
preferable, referable, transferable ;
-rrible , the chief rival of -rable, is
described by the OED as a ‘ mon¬
grel ’ between inferible & inferrable,
neither of which has found favour.
See also confer(r)able.
inferno. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
inferrable. See inferable.
infinite(ly). There are naughty
people who will say i. when they
only mean great or much or far.
Their offence is here dealt with by
a triple bench ; the first member
is a correspondent of a well-known
journal ; the second is its editor,
a meek man, it should seem ; the
third is he who should have shared
the writing of this book with me,
among whose papers I find the cut¬
ting with his comment appended :—
1. Sir,—May I appeal to your love
of accurate English against the
common use in writing, as in speak¬
ing, of the word 4 infinitely ’ as
equivalent to 4 considerably ’ or
4 indefinitely ’ ?—you write that 4 oil
is infinitely less bulky than coal in
proportion to the energy derived
from it ’. You write that 4 the
habitual loafer does infinite mis¬
chief ’. In the first case you intend
4 considerably ’ & in the second case
you can only mean that the mischief
is indefinite, sometimes great, some¬
times no worse than this letter from
your obedient servant, AN HABI¬
TUAL LOAFER OF NECESSITY.
2. We stand corrected. Our use
w r as a vulgarism. And yet we must
not run into a taboo of this noble
word. Swinburne uses it finely,
accurately, & therefore without
vulgarity, in the line 4 In the infinite
spirit is room for the pulse of an
infinite pain ’. There the use is
exact, because it does not imply
mere magnitude.—Ed.
3. Rot. Infinite is no more a vul¬
garism than any other deliberate
exaggeration. And indefinitely is a
totally wrong substitute; I have
known at least one person habitually,
use it, with ludicrous effect.
It was naughty of that Editor,
though, to say infinite & then take
his punishment lying down.
INFINITIVE. 1. For unidiomatic in¬
finitives after nouns that prefer the
gerund, as in the extract, see
Gerund. The habit of mapmakers
to place lands & not seas in the fore¬
front has obscured the oneness of the
Pacific. 2. See Split infinitive.
infinitude does not appear to be
now entitled to any higher rank than
that of a Needless variant of
infinity. It might well have been,
but can hardly now be, differentiated
with the sense quality of being infin¬
ite. Milton & Sterne, however, will
keep it in being for poets to fly to
& stylists to play with when infinity
palls on them. An escape from -ity
is sometimes welcome : It is just
this infinitude of possibilities that
necessitates unity & continuity of
command.
infirmity. 4 The last i. of noble
minds ’ is a Misquotation.
inflame. lnflam(e)able, formed
from the English verb, & used in
16th-17th centuries, has been dis¬
placed by inflammable adapted from
French or Latin. Inflammable &
inflammatory must not be confused
(see Pairs & snares) as in Sir
Edward Carson declares before an
inflammatory audience that in the
event of the Parliament of these realms
doing certain things that arc distasteful
to him he will call out his Volunteers.
inflate makes -atable ; see -able 1.
inflection, -xion. The second is
better ; see -xion. See also Tech¬
nical TERMS.
inflict is, owing especially to con¬
fusion with afflict, peculiarly liable to
the misuse explained in the article
Object-shuffling. The right con¬
structions are : he inflicted plagues
on them, he afflicted them with
plagues, plagues were inflicted on
them, they were afflicted with
plagues. Examples of the blun-
INFOLD
273
der :— At least the worst evils of the
wage system would never have inflicted
this or any other present-day com¬
munity./The misconception db dis¬
cussion in respect of the portraits of
Shakespeare with which the world is
in such generous measure inflicted
are largely due to , . ./Lively young
girls are inflicted with stout leather
hand-bags.
infold. En- better; see em- & im-.
informedly. A bad form; see -edly.
infringe. 1. 1. makes infringeable,
but infringing ; see Mute e. 2. I.)
(i. upon. Many of those who have
occasion for the word must ask
themselves before using it what its
right construction is: do you i.
(or i. upon ) a rule ? do you i. (or
i. upon) a domain ? is the verb, that
is, transitive, or intransitive, or
sometimes one & sometimes the
other ? Latin scholars, aware that
both frango & infringo are transitive
only, will probably start with a pre¬
judice against upon ; but Latin is
not English, as some of them know.
A study of the OED examples leaves
no doubt about which construction
has predominated from the 16th to
the 19th century; there are 25
quotations for the transitive verb
to four for on or upon ; but 20th-
century newspaper columns give a
very different impression, viz that
infringe can no longer stand at all
without upon :— The Lords would
have the choice of either a General
Election or a Referendum for any
Rill that even inadvertently infringed
on their powers./Is it wise to i. upon
their rights db susceptibilities ?./You
are infringing on our prerogative db
trespassing on some of the ground
that we intend taking up later./It is
suddenly desired to i. upon db restrict
my Sovereign rights./Terms which
have unfortunately been infringed on
by the Bolsheviks.
The view here taken of what has
been happening is that (1) an imper¬
fect knowledge of Latin has sug¬
gested that infringo means break in
•“intrude, whereas it does m ea n
break in = damage or violate or
weaken ; (2) it has therefore been
identified in sense with trespass &
encroach & assimilated to them in
construction, this being further
helped by confusion with impinge
upon ; (3) pretentious writers like
to escape from encroach & trespass,
familiar words, to i., which will
better impress readers with their
mastery of the unfamiliar. And the
advice tendered is (1) to conceive i.
as a synonym rather of violate &
transgress than of encroach & tres¬
pass ; (2) to abstain altogether from
i. upon as an erroneous phrase ; (3)
to use i. boldly w r ith right, rule,
privilege, patent, sovereignty, boun¬
dary, restriction, constitution, or the
like, as object ; & (4) when the
temptation to insert on or upon
becomes overpowering, as it chiefly
does before words like domain &
territory, to be contented with
trespass or encroach rather than say
i. upon.
Infuriate makes -riable ; see -able 1 .
infuse. 1= Infusable) (infusible.
Fusible being the word for that can
be fused, & infusible being therefore
(see -able 3 a) the word for that
cannot be fused, it is convenient as
well as allowable (see -able 2 s.f.)
to make from the verb infuse not
infusible but infusable. Infusable,
then, =that can be infused ; infusi¬
ble = that cannot be fused.
2. Infuse) {imbue. Infuse is one of
the verbs liable to the Object¬
shuffling mistake. You can i.
courage into a person, or imbue or
inspire him with courage, but not
infuse him with courage. Examples
proving the need of the caution :—
The work he did at one school has
been repeated at others, until young
Australia has been infused with the
spirit of games./One man, however,
it has not affected ; say, rather, it has
infused him with its own rage against
itself./He infused his pupils with
a lively faith in the riches that were
within.
-ING. 1. I would also suggest that.
-ING 3 2
while admitting the modernity, the
proofs offered by him as to the recent
date are not very convincing./We
regret to announce that Mr - died
at - today, following an operation
for appendicitis. For liberties of
this kind taken with the participle,
see Unattached.
2. For the difference between par¬
ticiples in -ing & the gerund, see
Gerund.
3. On the Press Association's Old¬
ham representative informing a
leading Liberal of . . ., he replied . . .
For such mixtures of participle &
gerund, see Fused participle.
4. In all probability he suffers some¬
what, like the proverbial dog, from his
having received a bad name. For the
need or no need of his & other
possessives in such contexts, see
Gerund 4.
5. Dying at their posts rather than
surrenderfing). / But America is doing
more than furnishing us with loans./
We are bound to suspect that Italy is
doing something more than raise
a diplomatic question./The wearing
down phase by phase has been an in¬
tegral part of the plan, & it has enabled
the attack to be kept up as well as insur¬
ing against hitches. /As well as closing
the railway, it should make the
Danube impracticable for traffic.
Tender grammatical consciences
are apt to vex themselves, sometimes
with reason & sometimes without,
over the comparative correctness of
the -ing form of a verb & some
other part, especially the infinitive
without to, in certain constructions ;
specimens are printed above. It is
well, on the one hand, not to fly in
the face of grammar, but eschew
what is manifestly indefensible ; &,
on the other hand, not to give up
what one feels is idiomatic in favour
of an alternative that is more
obviously defensible. We can surely
all condemn the last two examples
without a regret. As tvell as is not
a preposition, but a conjunction ;
it therefore cannot govern the
gerunds insuring & closing, as be¬
sides would have done ; if as well
as is to be kept, insuring must
become insured to match enabled, &
closing close to match make ; that
the latter change is not possible
with the sentence in its present
order is irrelevant ; so much the
worse (unless besides is written) for
the present order. The gram¬
matical conscience was there asleep ;
in the America & Italy examples
we see it awake once for certain,
for furnishing represents second
thoughts ; raise may represent first
thoughts, if conscience slept, or
third thoughts if conscience let
raising have its say & then went
deliberately back to the idiomatic
raise. Everyone’s first idea in these
sentences would be raise, furnish ;
‘ But why infinitive ? ’ says Con¬
science 4 we must write out the
sentence at length, clearing away
doubts of the exact sense of do, the
part of speech of more, &c.; & we
get—America is executing (doing)
an achievement that is wider (more)
than furnish us is wide ; obviously
furnish is impossible ; go to ! write
down furnishing, which works out ’.
So far second thoughts. Third
thoughts succeed in constructing
a defence for raise or furnish, thus:
I will raise the question ; I will do-
more-than-raise-the-question ; in this
the hyphened group is one verb, &
the part of it that takes inflexions
(as Court Martial has pi. Courts
Martial) is do : 1 am-doing-morc-
than-raise-the-question. The sum¬
ming-up is : raising is easily defen¬
sible but unidiomatic ; raise is less
easily defensible, but idiomatic ; &
raise has it.
Some confirmation of the defence
set up for raise may be extracted
from the first specimen propounded
above : dying rather than surrender-
{ing). There are misguided persons
who would actually write surrender¬
ing there ; but they are few, the
rest of us feeling that we must either
find a justification for surrender or
else write it without justification;
this feeling is strengthened if we
happen to remember that we should
INGEMINATE
275
INNER
have no such repugnance to rather
than surrendering after a participle
if the relation to be expressed were
a quite different one ; compare
acquiring rather than surrendering
with dying rather than surrendering ;
one must have its -ing, & the other
must not. Well, the justification is
the same as with raise : I will die
rather than surrender ; it is true that
the form of surrender there is decided
by will, like that of die, so that,
when will die is changed to dying ,
surrender is left depending on air ;
but meanwhile die-rather-than-sur-
render has become a single verb of
which die is the conjugable part:
they died rather than surrender ;
dying rather than surrender.
Ingeminate. The often used phrase
ingeminate peace means to say
Peace, peace 1 again & again (Latin
geminus double); the following
sentence looks as if i. were in danger
of confusion with germinate or
generate or some such word : —We
have great hopes that the result [of a
discussion on a Royal Commission’s
report] will be to i. peace db to avoid
the threatened recurrence of hostilities.
ingenue. See French words.
ingraft. En- better ; see em- & im-.
ingrain(ed), not en- ; see em- & im-.
ingratiate has one sense & one
construction only in modern Eng¬
lish ; it is always reflexive & means
only to make ( oneself) agreeable ;
even in older English, the use shown
below is, to judge from the OED,
unexampled : He set himself ener¬
getically to the art of ruling his island
& ingratiating his new subjects./
Even if it dues i. the men, it will only
be by alienating the women.
Inhale makes -table ; see Mute e.
inherit makes -tor, with fern.
inheritress or (in technical use) -trix
(for pi. see -trix).
initiate. 1. 1. makes initiable,
-otor; see -able 1, -or. 2. I. is
liable to the Object-shuffling
mistake; you i. persons or minds
m knowledge, not knowledge into
persons or minds as in ; The Russian
Review, a quarterly which is doing
so much to i. into the minds of the
British public what is requisite for
them to know about the Russian
Empire. Instil is perhaps the word
meant.
initiative. 1. After take the i., the
construction is in doing, not of
doing as in :— The Diet should leave
to the Tsar the i. of taking such
measures as may be necessary ./ M.
Delcass6 took the i. of turning the
conversation to Moroccan affairs.
2. The sense of i. has been nar¬
rowed down by modern usage.
Taking * the first step ’ as the
simple-word equivalent, we might
understand that of the first step as
opposed to later ones, or of the lead
as taken by one person & not
another or others ; the latter is the
only current sense, & it appears in
all the special uses ; (a) the military,
where the i. is the power of forcing
the enemy to conform to your first
step, so deciding the lines of a cam¬
paign or operation ; (b) the political,
where the i., technically so called,
is the right of some minimum num¬
ber of citizens to demand a direct
popular vote on any constitutional
question ; (c) the two phrases in
which i. is chiefly used, ‘take the i.’,
i.e. act before someone else does so,
& * of (or on) one’s own i.’, i.e.
without a lead from someone else.
inject makes injector ; see -or.
injure makes injurable ; see Mute e.
inlay. See Noun & verb accent.
inmesh. En- better; see em- & im-.
inmost. See -most.
innate & instinct (adj.) have com¬
plementary uses, e.g. Courage is
innate in the race, & A race instinct
with courage. To exchange the
words ( The leisurely solidity, the
leisurely beauty of the place, so
innate with the genius of the Anglo-
Saxon) is the same sort of mistake
as Object-shuffling.
innavigable, un-. The second is
recommended _ see in- & un-.
inner. For the inner man, see
Hackneyed phrases.
INNERMOST
276
IN SO FAR
Innermost. See -most.
innings. The pi. inningses is col¬
loquial only, innings (originally
plural) being used for either number
— an innings , or several innings.
innocence, -cy. The latter is an
archaism, chiefly kept alive by
Ps. xxvi. 6.
innocent of, in the sense without
(windows innocent of glass) is a speci¬
men of Worn-out humour. 4 She
might profitably avoid such distor¬
tions as 44 windows i. of glass ” &
trays 44 guiltless of any cloth ” ’—
savs a Times review.
V
innovate makes -tor ; see -or.
innuendo. For pi., -os is recom¬
mended. The OED gives prece¬
dence to -oes, & a count of the
plurals in its quotations shows
-oes 4, -os 2, -o's 2 ; but see -o(e)s G
on the principle.
inobservance, but unobservant , are
perhaps best ; see in- & un-.
inoculate makes -table, -lalor ; see
-able 1, -or. For danger of mis¬
prints, see INCULCATE.
in order that is regularly followed
by may & might ; i. o. t. nothing
may, or might, be forgotten. In
archaic writing, the subjunctive
without a modal verb may be used
instead ; i. o. t. nothing be forgotten.
In some contexts, but not in most,
shall & should may pass instead of
may & might ; i. o. t. nothing should
be forgotten ; but certainly the
second, & perhaps the first also, of
the shall examples below is un-
idiomatic. The other examples,
containing can & could, will & would,
are undoubtedly wrong :— The effort
must be organized & continuous
i. o. t. Palestine shall attract more <&
more of the race./To influence her in
her new adolescence i. o. t. we shall
once more regain the respect & ad¬
miration we enjoyed under the old
Russia./Those who have supported
Mr Chamberlain's programme in its
entirety are now prepared to waive
a portion of it i. o. t. by so doing they
can assist the complete union of the
Unionist Party./Farmers object to
portions of their farms being taken
i. o. t. small holdings can be created./
It will conclude before lunch-time
i.o. t. delegates can attend a mass
meeting in London./If the 2/- per
quarter duty had been kept on wheat
i. o. t. the farmers could have pur¬
chased the offals at a reasonable price
. . ./To supplement the work of the
doctors on the panel i. o. t. every
insured person in London will be
able to obtain the very best medical
attention./Insisted on the need of
a special method of representation
i. o. t. the aviator would be able to
grasp the correct measure of the
obstacles to free progression.
These solecisms are all due to
Analogy, in order that being fol¬
lowed by what could properly have
followed so that.
in petto. See Foreign danger.
inquire. See Formal words.
inquire, -ry, en-. In- is better;
see em- & im-.
insanitary. The established form ;
but see unsanitary.
inscribe makes -bable ; see Mute e.
insinuate makes -uable, -ator ; see
-able 1, -OR.
in so far. He must have a long
spoon that sups with the devil; &
the safest way of dealing with in so
far is to keep clear of it. The
dangers range from mere feebleness
or wordiness, through pleonasm or
confusion of forms, & inaccuracy
of meaning, to false grammar. The
examples are in that order, & the
offence charged against each is
stated in a word or two, & left
undiscussed for the reader to decide
upon ; if he is sufficiently inter¬
ested to wish for fuller treatment,
he should turn to far 4, 5, where
different uses of so far are considered;
the prefixing of in is for the most
part not dictated by reasons either
of grammar or of sense, so that much
of what is there said applies to in so
far also :—
lie did not, with such views, do much
to advance his object, save in so far
that his gracious ways everywhere
insouciance
277
INSTITUTE
won esteem db affection (Wordy.
Read though for save i.s.f. that)./
The question ... is not in any way
essentially British, save i. s. f. as
the position of Great Britain in
Egypt makes her primarily respon¬
sible (Wordy. Read except that for
save i.s.f. as)./ Some of the defects
are inevitable, at least i. s. f. as that
no one can suggest an improvement
(Pleonastic. Omit in & as)./The
large majority would reply in the
affirmative, i. s. f. as to admit that
there is a God (Confusion between
so far as to & i. s.f. as they would)./
No such department under present
conditions is really requisite, i. s. f. as
the action of the Commander-in-Chief
is thwarted in cases where he should
he the best judge (Wrong sense. Read
since for i. s.f. as)./ The officials
have done their utmost to enforce
neutrality, db have i. s. f. succeeded as
the Baltic fleet keeps outside the three-
mile limit (Wrong sense. Read have
so far succeeded that)./These resources
have pulled him through i. s. f. as
they have made his name popular,
hut an artist db a realist have been
lost (Wrong sense. Read so far that
for i. s. f. as)./It has the character of
a classic i. s. f. as the period it
covers (Ungrammatical. In so far as
is not a preposition, & cannot govern
period).
insouciance, -ant. See French
words ; the adjective, however, is
usually, & the noun often, anglicized
in pronunciation to Insdo's-.
rating of the same, is more clearly
established whenever the outgo is very
direct db visible, such as in the
instance of highly priced city lands.
In the first, in the instance of should
be simply on ; & in the second such
as in the instance of should be as on.
There is some danger that, as
writers become aware of the sus¬
picions to which they lay themselves
open by perpetually using case, they
may take refuge with instance, not
realizing that most instances in
which case would have damned them
are also cases in which instance will
damn them. The crossing out of
one & putting in of the other will
not avail ; they must rend their
heart & not their garments, & learn
to write directly instead of in
periphrasis. Instance has been
called case’s understudy; in the
articles case, & Elegant varia¬
tion, will be found many examples
of the substitution.
instance, v., makes - ceable ;
Mute e.
instant, proximo, & ultimo, ap¬
pended to numbers from 1st to 31st
& meaning of this, next, last, month,
are usually written & even said in
the abbreviated forms inst., prox.,
& ult. Why it should be laid down,
as it is in some printing manuals,
that the abbreviations should not be
printed, but the full forms, is a
mystery.
instigate makes -gable, -tor ; see
inspan makes -nned &c.; see -n-,
-NN-.
inspect makes -tor, -tress ; for the
latter see Feminine designations.
inspire makes -table ; see Mute e.
instance. The abuse of this word
m lazy periphrasis has gone far,
though not so far as that of case.
Here are two examples :— The taxa¬
tion of the unimproved values in any
area, omitting altogether a tax on
improvements, necessarily lightens the
burden in the instance of improved
properties./The stimulation to im¬
prove land , owing to the appreciable
-ABLE 1, -OR.
instil(l). The OED gives prece¬
dence to -il. In any case, -lied, -lling ;
see -LL-, -L-. The word is liable to
the Object-shuffling confusion.
The Tsar's words will undoubtedly
instil the Christians of Macedonia
with hope. You can inspire men
with hope, or hope in men ; but you
can only instil it into them, not
them with it. See Analogy.
instinct) (intuition. See intuition.
institute makes - tutable , -tutor.
institute) (institution. The two
nouns have run awkwardly into &
INSTRUCT
278
INTENDED
out of one another. The neat
arrangement would have been for
-ution to mean instituting, & -ute
a thing instituted ; but -ution has
seized, as abstract words will, on so
many concrete senses that neatness
is past praying for. Institution is
in fact the natural English word
capable of general use, & - ute a
special title restricted to, & pre¬
ferred for, certain institutions. An
• ute is deliberately founded ; an
-ution may be so, or may have
established itself or grown. A man
leaves his fortune to institutions,
but perhaps founds a parish or a
mechanics’ -ute, i.e. an -ution de¬
signed to give instruction or amuse¬
ment to a special class of people.
Whether a particular -ution founded
for a definite purpose shall have
-ute or -ution in its title is a matter
of chance or fashion— The Royal
-ute of Painters in Water Colours,
but The -ution of Civil Engineers ;
The Royal -ution, but The Imperial
-ute. A child is to be got into some
-ution, & is placed in the National
-ute for the Blind or the Masonic
-ution for Boys.
Cricket, five-o’clock tea, the House
of Lords, Eton, the Workhouse,
a hospital, the National Gallery,
marriage, capital punishment, the
Law Courts, are all -utions & not
-utes.
instruct makes -tor, -tress ; see
Feminine designations.
insubstantial. Un- is better ; see
IN- & UN-.
insufficient. But Austria also ex¬
cludes altogether a food-product like
incat, of which she produces insuffi¬
cient. This noun use ( = not enough
or too little) is worse than the corre¬
sponding use of SUFFICIENT.
insulate makes -lablc, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
insupportable, un-. The first is
recommended ; see in- & un-.
insure. See ensure. 1. makes
-rable ; see Mute e.
insusceptible, not un-. See in- &
UN-, & -ABLE 3 a.
intaglio. Pronounce -3/lyo. PI.
-os, see -o(e)s 4. Intaglio is opposed
to relief as a name for the kind of
carving in which the design, instead
of projecting from the surface, is
sunk below it (carved in i .); & to
cameo as the name for gems of the
same kind but carved in i. instead
of in relief.
integrate makes -grable, -tor; see
-able 1, -OR.
intelligent) (intellectual. While an
intelligent person is merely one who
is not stupid or slow-witted, an
intellectual person is one in whom
the part played by the mind as
distinguished from the emotions &
perceptions is greater than in the
average man. An intellectual person
who was not intelligent would be,
though not impossible, a rarity;
but an intelligent person who is not
intellectual we most of us flatter
ourselves that we can find in the
looking-glass. Intelligent is usually
a patronizing epithet, while intel¬
lectual is a respectful one, but seldom
untinged by suspicion or dislike.
intelligentsia, -tzia. Both forms
are current.
intended, n. It is curious that
betrothed people should find it so
difficult to hit upon a comfortable
word to describe each other by.
4 My intended ’, 4 my engaged
4 my fiancee) 4 my sweetheart \
4 my love(r) ’—none of these is much
to their taste, too emotional, or too
French, or too vulgar, or too evasive.
The last two objections are in fact
one ; evasion of plain words is
vulgarity, & 4 my intended ’ gives
the impression that the poor tilings
are shy of specifying the bond
between them, an ill-bred shyness ;
so too with 4 my engaged ’, & in
Jiance(e) they resort to French in¬
stead of to vague English for their
embarrassing though futile disguise.
Is it too late to suggest that ‘my
betrothed which means just what
it should, i.e. pledged to be married,
& is not vulgarized but only out ot
fashion, & would be a dignified word
INTENSIVE
for public use, should be given
another chance ?
intensive. Just as definitive &
alternative are ignorantly confused
with definite & alternate , & appar¬
ently liked the better for their mere
length, so intensive is becoming a
fashionable word where the meaning
wanted is simply intense. It must
be admitted that there was a time
before differentiation had taken
place when Burton, e.g., could write
A very intensive pleasure follows the
passion ; it there means intense,
but the OED labels the use obsolete,
& its latest quotation for it is from
over two centuries ago ; the modern
relapse had not come under its
notice in 1901, when it issued letter
I. Intensive perished as a mere
variant of intense, but remained
with a philosophic or scientific
meaning, as an antithesis to exten¬
sive ; where extensive means with
regard to extent, intensive means
with regard to force or degree : The
record of an intensive as well as
extensive development./Its intensive,
like its extensive, magnitude is small.
This is the kind of word that we
ordinary mortals do well to leave
alone; see Popularized techni¬
calities. Unfortunately, a par¬
ticular technical application of the
philosophic use emerged into general
notice, & was misinterpreted-—inten¬
sive method especially of cultiva¬
tion. To increase the supply of
wheat you may sow two acres
instead of one—increase the extent
—or you may use more fertilizers
& care on your one acre—increase
the intensity— ; the second plan is
intensive cultivation, the essence of
it being concentration on a limited
area. Familiarized by the news-
papers with intensive cultivation,
which most of us took to be a fine
name for very hard or intense work
* u e ^ armers J w c all became eager
to show off our new word, & took
to saying intensive where intense
used to be good enough for us. The
war gave this a great fillip by finding
279 INTENT
the correspondents another peg to
hang intensive on— bombardment.
There is a kind of bombardment
that may be accurately called inten¬
sive ; it is what in earlier wars we
called concentrated fire, a phrase
that has the advantage of being
open to no misunderstanding ; the
fire converges upon a much narrower
front than that from which it is
discharged ; but as often as not the
intensive bombardment of the news¬
papers was not concentrated, but
was intense, as the context would
sometimes prove ; a bombardment
may be intense without being inten¬
sive, or intensive without being
intense, or it may be both.
It may now interest the reader to
decide in each of the following
extracts whether intensive is the
necessary word, or the barely de¬
fensible but ill chosen word, or the
altogether wrong one:— A work
which in its historic unity, intensive
vision, & practical points of seaman¬
ship, recalls the immenseness of
Hakluyt./The period would be one of
intensive preparation, in which the
energies of all the populations would
be devoted to the one end of ensuring
that when the day of trial came they
should have the few hours' advantage
that might decide the fate of the
world./With the departure of Mr
Lloyd George dfc President Wilson
a period of intensive work will begin
in Commissions with a view to having
as much material as possible ready./
A small party rigidly selected from
men who think furiously & inten¬
sively may have an effectiveness in
propaganda out of all proportion to
its direct influence./There are several
allusions to 1 dashing about in a car *
as an intensive form of domestic
bliss./The audience joined in the
chorus & sang it over db over again
amid the most intensive excitement.
Intensive, gram. See Technical
TERMS.
intent, a. The case has its moral
for librarians all over the country ;
all hoods make not monks, nor are all
INTENTION
280
INTERLOPE(R)
• «
visitors to Libraries on serious studies
intent. When i. in its inverted con¬
struction (on mischief i., instead of
i. upon mischief ) is mixed up with
words so pedestrian & far from
archaic as visitors to libraries, a tepid
half-hearted jocularity results ; see
Incongruous vocabulary.
intention. 1. Ordinary use. 2.
First, second, ii. 1. A defining
phrase is so often appended to i.
that the question between gerund
& infinitive, treated generally under
Gerund 3, is worth raising specially
here. Choice between the two is
freer for i. than for most such nouns,
& it can hardly be said with con¬
fidence that either construction is
ever impossible for it. It will per¬
haps be agreed, on the evidence of
the illustrations below, offered as
idiomatic, that when i. is used in the
singular & without the, his, an, any,
or other such word, to do is better,
but otherwise of doing :—Intention
to kill is the essential point./You
never open your mouth but with
i. to give pain./He denied the i. of
killing./He concealed his i. of escap¬
ing./Some i. of evading it there
may have been./I have no i. of
allowing it./Have you any i. of
trying again ?/I have every i. of re¬
turning. /He renounced all i. of re¬
taliating./Not without ii. of finding
a loophole.
2. First, second, i. These phrases
have special senses in medicine & in
logic, apt to puzzle the layman & to
be confused with each other. In
medicine, first i. denotes (OED)
‘ the healing of a lesion or fracture
by the immediate re-union of the
severed parts, without granulation
& second i. ‘ the healing of a wound
by granulation after suppuration ’.
In logic, first ii. are (OED) ‘ primary
conceptions of things, formed by the
first or direct application of the
mind to the things themselves ; e.g.
the concepts of a tree, an oak ’ ; &
second ii. ‘ secondary conceptions
formed by the application of thought
to first intentions in their relations
to each other ; e.g. the concepts of
genus, species, variety, property, acci¬
dent, difference, identity ’.
inter, v., makes -rred, -rring; see
-R-, -RR-.
inter alia is Latin for amongst
others when ‘ others ’ are things.
If the others are persons, alia must
be changed to alios or rarely alias
(the OED quotes, from 1G70, The
Lords produce inter alios John Duke
of Lancaster) ; but when persons are
meant, it is much better nowadays
to use English. The writer of the
following sentence was either igno¬
rant both of inter alia & of Latin, or
else pedantic enough to expect us
to know that the Latin for costs is
the masculine sumptus :—She zoill
pay twenty thousand million marks
within two years (covering , inter alios,
the costs of the armies of occupation
& of food dc raw material allowed by
the Allies).
intercalary. Pron. inter'kalari.
intercalate makes -calable, - tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
intercept makes -tor.
interchange. See Noun & verb
accent. The verb makes -geable ;
see Mute e.
interdependence, -cy. No differ¬
ence in sense ; -ce is recommended ;
see -ce, -cy.
interdict. See Noun & verb ac¬
cent ; i. makes -tor.
interest, vb. On interesting, the
OED, after giving the sound as
l'nteristing, adds * formerly, & still
dialectally, interesting ’. All the
longer inflexions— interestedly, dis¬
interested, &c.—& even the simple
verb, are often said by more or less
illiterate speakers with the accent
on -€st-.
interfuse makes -sible.
interior, internal, intrinsic. See
exterior.
interlocutor. See collocutor.
interlope(r). In the noun as well as
the verb, the OED stresses -lo- &
not in-. But in the noun at least,
commoner than the verb, Recessive
accent seems to have brought us to
♦
INTERLUDE
281
IN THAT
Interloper by this time ; this was
the more likely to happen because
lope is not a recognized verb.
interlude. See -lu-.
intermediary, n., is, even in its
concrete sense of a go-between or
middleman or mediator, a word that
should be viewed with suspicion &
resorted to only when it is clear that
every more ordinary word comes
short of the need. In its abstract
sense of medium or agency or means,
it is worthy only of the Polysyl¬
labic HUMOURist; & the OED’s
only two quotations for it (repre¬
senting, alas ! a much larger body
than would be guessed by anyone
whose business it was not to observe
such things) are clearly in that
spirit: —Mysteriously transmitting
them through the intermediary of glib
Jew hoys with curly heads./We are
the only European people who teach
practical geometry through the recon¬
dite intermediary of Euclid’s Ele¬
ments.
intermezzo. Pronounce -dzo. PI.
-os or -i ; see -o(e)s 6.
intermit makes -tied, - tting , -ssible ;
see -T-, -TT-.
internal. See interior.
internecine has suffered an odd
fate; being mainly a literary or
educated man’s word, it is yet
neither pronounced in the scholarly
way nor allowed its Latin meaning.
It should be called Inter'nisin, & is
called Interne'sin ; see False quan¬
tity. And the sense has had the
Kilkenny-cat notion imported into
it because mutuality is the idea
conveyed by inter- in English ; the
Latin word meant merely of or to
extermination^ (cf. intereo perish,
mtercido slay, interimo destroy) with¬
out implying that of both parties,
lhe imported notion, however, is
what gives the word its only value,
fflnce there are plenty of substitutes
tor it in its true sense— destructive ,
slaughterous , murderous, bloody, san¬
guinary, mortal, & so forth. The
scholar may therefore use or abstain
the word as he chooses, but it
will be vain for him to attempt
correcting other people’s conception
of the meaning. See Popularized
TECHNICALITIES.
interpellate, -ation. The two words
are little used now except in the
technical sense proper to parliamen¬
tary proceedings, & especially those
of the French Chamber. They are
therefore felt to be half French
words, & so the unnatural pronun¬
ciation given by the OED (Inter-
pS'lat, InterpSla'shn) is perhaps
accounted for. Normal English
would be Inter'pelat, Interpela shn.
The OED renderings, whether really
current or not, have the advantage
of distinguishing the sound from
that of interpolate, -ation —a need
illustrated by: M. Barthou inti¬
mated that, on the return of M.
Millerand from London, he would
interpolate him on the question.
interpellate, interpolate, make -lable,
-tor ; see -able 1, -or.
interpose makes -sable ; see -able 1 .
For interposal see -al nouns.
interpretative, not interpretive, is
the right form, -ive adjectives being
normally formed on the Latin p.p.
stem, i.e. here interpretat- ; coercive
is similarly irregular, but estab¬
lished. Read -ative in :— They should
be at the same time illustrative &
interpretive./The literal & the inter¬
pretive are difficult to reconcile in a
single statement.
interregnum. PI. -urns or -a ; see
■um. For the facetious use, = gap,
see Pedantic humour.
interrogate makes -gable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
interstice. Pronounce inter'st Is.
intestinal. The OED pronounces
Intestinal, not IntSsti'nal; the
Latin i is long, but on this point see
False quantity s.f.
in that is a conjunction that has
gone a little out of fashion & does
not slip from our tongues nowadays.
It is still serviceable in writing of
a formal cast, but, like other
obsolescent idioms, is liable to ill
INTIMATE
282
INTRANSITIVE P.P.
treatment at the hands of persons
who choose it not because it is the
natural thing for them to say, but
because, being unfamiliar, it strikes
them as ornamental. So :— This
influence was so far indirect in that
it tvas greatly furthered by Le Sage./
The legislative jury sat to try the
indictment against Mr Justice Grant¬
ham in that during the Great Yar¬
mouth election petition he displayed
political bias. In the first, two ways
of saying the thing are mixed (teas
so far indirect that, & was indirect in
that) ; & in the second in that is
used in a quite suitable context, but
wrongly led up to ; a man is guilty
in that he has done so-&-so, but
an indictment against him is not
in that anything. After the less,
the more, the clause that responds
to the should not begin with in that,
but with plain that ; omit the in
in :— Nor are they any the less
pleasing in that the colourings are of
the rich not gaudy type./Whose pre¬
sence is none the less welcome in that
he serves to provide the only element
of humour.
intimate, v., makes -mable, -tor ;
see -able 1, -OR.
intimidate. 1. I. makes -dable, -lor;
see -able 1, -or. 2. Similar threats
were uttered in the endeavour to i.
Parliament from disestablishing the
Irish Episcopal Church. From is
idiomatic after deter & discourage,
but not after i. or terrify ; see
Analogy.
into) (in to. The two words should
be written separately when their
sense is separate. The doors of the
great Opera-house let out the crowd;
when we went into the opera, the
streets had been swept, but when we
came out the snow was inches deep
again. Opera-house shows that
opera means not the building, but
the performance, & you do not go
into that, but go in to it. Correct
similarly :— Lord Rosebery took her
into dinner./All the outside news
came into us immediately.
Intone makes -nable ; see Mute e.
in toto means not on the whole, but
wholly, utterly, entirely, absolutely,
& that always or nearly always with
verbs of negative sense— condemn ,
decline, deny, reject, disagree, i.t.
The following is nonsense : Nor do
we produce as much in toto as we
might if we organized.
intoxicate makes -cable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
intransigent dates in England from
about 1880 ; but, being now estab¬
lished, it should neither be pro¬
nounced as French nor spelt -eant
any longer.
INTRANSITIVE P.P. This article is
less severely practical than most in
the book, & is addressed to those
few enthusiasts only who find gram¬
matical phenomena interesting apart
from any rules of writing that may
be drawn from them. As gram¬
matical terminology is far from fixed
in English, it must be premised that
p.p. (past participle) is here taken as
the popular name for the single¬
word participle that does not end in
-ing, i.e., by the p.p. of hear is meant
heard, not hearing nor having heard
nor being heard. All verbs, with
negligible exceptions such as must
& can, have this p.p., though in
many it is used only as an element
in making compound parts like has
climbed or will have died. That
function of the p.p. is familiar to
everyone & needs no comment.
Further, the p.p. of all transitive
verbs can be used as an adjective
(a broken jug). What is not so fully
realized is the part played by the
adjectival p.p. in many intransitive
verbs. It is in the first place much
commoner than is supposed. Most
of us, perhaps, would reply if asked
that p.p. adjectives were all pas¬
sive, i.e. were only made from
transitive verbs. A moment’s search
is enough to correct that notion—
fallen angels, the risen sun, a vanished
hand, past times, the newly arrived
guest, a grown girl, a gone coon,
absconded debtors, escaped prisoners,
the deceased lady, the dear departed,
INTRENCH
283
INTROMIT
coalesced stems, a collapsed lorry, we
are agreed, a couched lion, an eloped
pair, an expired lease.
Secondly, when a verb is both
transitive & intransitive, it is often
difficult to say whether in some
particular phrase the p.p. is active
or passive, & the answer may
affect the sense ; e.g., a deserted
sailor , if deserted is passive, is one
who has been marooned, but, if it
is active, is one who has run from
his ship; an angel dropped from
heaven has possibly been passive,
but more likely active, in the
descent; a capsized boat may have
capsized or have been capsized ;
my declared enemy is more often one
who has declared enmity than one
I have declared an enemy ; a flooded
meadow shows a passive p.p., a
flooded river perhaps an active one ;
a well grown tree means one tiling in
the virgin forest, & another in a
nursery garden.
Thirdly, to realize the frequency of
the intransitive p.p. will sometimes
throw light on expressions whose
origin is otherwise not quite obvious:
a determined or decided man is per¬
haps one who has determined or
decided, not been determined ; a
person is ill advised who has advised,
i.e. taken thought, badly, not one
who has had bad advice given him ;
he is well read who has read well ;
he is drunk who has drunk ; - spoken
in soft-spoken &c. is more intelligible
if it is regarded as active, & cf. well-
behaved ; mistaken clemency seems
to be clemency that has erred ; an
aged man may be one who has aged,
since the verb age, = grow old, dates
from before 1400; the dissipated
may be those who have wasted their
substance, & the experienced those
homing experienced things rather
than those possessed of experience.
Intrench* En- is better ; see em-
& IM-.
Intrigue, v, t. The meaning ‘ puz-
zte, perplex * is given by the OED,
out illustrated by only a single
recent quotation, & labelled * now
rare ’. Would that were still true!
the one quotation (19th-century) is
from a newspaper from which I have
before me sixteen 20th-century
cuttings with the word & sense.
The other chief dictionaries either
ignore the sense or treat it con¬
temptuously—English dictionaries,
that is, for it is naturally well enough
known to the French ; but it is one
of the Gallicisms, & Literary
critics’ words, that have no merit
whatever except that of unfamiliar¬
ity to the English reader, & at the
same time the great demerit of being
identical with & therefore confusing
the sense of a good English word.
Besides puzzle & perplex, there are
fascinate, mystify, interest, & pique, to
choose from. Will the reader decide
for himself whether the Gallicism is
called for in any of the following
places ?—A cabal which has intrigued
the imagination of the romanticists./
The problem, however, if it intrigues
him al all, is hardly opened in the
present work./Nor is this the only
problem raised by this intriguing
exhibition./Thus it is we read of
Viper—that delightful dog—mouthing
a hedgehog, much intrigued with his
spines./Mr Phillpotts, besides im¬
posing these negative discomforts upon
minds content that he should be
content with Dartmoor, intrigues them
with speculations as to what will
follow this conclusion./But her per¬
sonality did not greatly intrigue our
interest./When theologian, scientist,
& philosopher have intrigued our
minds with the subtlety of their argu¬
ments./The many whose imagina¬
tions have been intrigued by the
fascinating personality of Borrow./
The latter appointment would have
intrigued us more in normal times
than at this moment./Roumania is not
altogether intrigued with the conception
of herself as the vassal of France.
intrinsic. See exterior.
introduce makes -cible ; see -able 2.
introit. Pronounce Intro'it.
intromit makes -tied, -tting, -missiblc J
see -T-, -TT-.
INTROSPECT
284
INVEIGLE
Introspect makes -tor.
introvert makes -versible ; -able 2.
intrude makes intrusible ; -able 2.
intrust. En- better; see em- & im-.
intuition & instinct. The word
intuition being both in popular use
& philosophically important, a slight
statement of its meaning, adapted
from the OED, may be welcome.
The etymological but now obsolete
sense is simply inspection (Latin
tueor look): A looking-glass becomes
spotted & stained from their only
intuition (i.e., if they so much as
look in it). With the schoolmen it
was The spiritual perception or
immediate knowledge ascribed to
angelic & spiritual beings, with
whom vision & knowledge are iden¬
tical : St Paul's faith did not come
by hearing, but by intuition & revela¬
tion. In modern philosophy it is
The immediate apprehension of an
object by the mind without the
intervention of any reasoning pro¬
cess : What we feel & what we do,
ive may be said to know by intuition ;
or again (with exclusion of one or
other part of the mind) it is Imme¬
diate apprehension by the intellect
alone, as in The intuition by which
we know what is right & what is
wrong, or Immediate apprehension
by sense, as in All our intuition takes
place by means of the senses alone.
Finally, in general use it means
Direct or immediate insight : Rash¬
ness if it fails is madness, & if it
succeeds is the intuition of genius.
How closely this last sense borders
on instinct is plain if we compare
A miraculous intuition of what ought
to be done just at the time for action
with It was by a sort of instinct that
he guided this open boat through the
channels. One of the OED’s defini¬
tions of instinct, indeed, is : ‘ intui¬
tion ; unconscious dexterity or
skill ’ ; & whether one word or the
other will be used is often no more
than a matter of chance. Three
points of difference, however, sug¬
gest themselves as worth keeping in
mind : (1) an intuition is a judge¬
ment issuing in conviction, & an
instinct an impulse issuing in action;
(2) an intuition is conceived as
something primary & uncaused, but
an instinct as a quintessence of
things experienced in the past
whether by the individual or the
race ; & (3) while both, as faculties,
are contrasted with that of reason,
intuition is the attribute by which
gods & angels, saints & geniuses, are
superior to the need of reasoning, &
instinct is the gift by which animals
are compensated for their inability
to reason.
intwine, intwist. En- is better;
see em- & im-.
inundate. See -atable.
inure, enure. Both the connexion
between the verb’s different senses
{The poor, inured to drudgery &
distress ; The cessions of land enured
to the benefit of Georgia), & its
derivation, are so little obvious that
many of us, at any rate when minded
to use the less common sense, feel
some apprehension that we may be
on the point of blundering, & that,
again, there is a tendency to spell
in- & en - for the two meanings as
if they were different words. The
origin is the obsolete noun ure {We
will never enact, put in ure, promulge,
or execute, any new canons), which
is from French oeuvre, which is from
Latin opera work. To inure a person
you set him at work or practise
him ; a thing inures that comes into
practice, or operates, in such & such
a direction. Variant spellings are
therefore unnecessary, & in- is pre¬
ferred by the OED.
invade makes -dable ; see Mute e.
invalid. The word meaning not
valid is pronounced Inv&'lld. For
the noun & adjective meaning sick
(person), & the verb made from
these, the pronunciation recommend¬
ed is i'nvaled, but neither the place
of the stress nor the sound of the
second i is yet fully fixed.
invalidate makes -dable, -tor; see
-able 1, -OR.
inveigle. The OED pronunciation
285
INVERSION
is Inve'gl without the alternative of
-va'gl.
invent makes -tor.
inventory. Pronounce i'nventorl.
INVERSION. By this is meant the
abandonment of the usual English
sentence order & the placing of the
subject after the verb as in Said he,
or after the auxiliary of the verb
as in What did he say ? & Never
shall we see his like again. Inversion
is the regular & almost invariable
way of showing that a sentence is
a question, so that it has an essential
place in the language ; & there are
other conditions under which it is
usual, desirable, or permissible. But
the abuse of it ranks with Elegant
variation as one of the most
repellent vices of modern writing.
Inversion & variation of the un¬
called-for kinds are like the fashion¬
able high heels placed somewhere
below the middle of the foot—ugly
things resorted to in the false belief
that artificiality is more beautiful
than nature— ; but as heels of the
right kind are useful or indispens¬
able, so too is inversion. Its con¬
ditions & motives are various, &
cannot be set forth in a sentence ;
it seems better to postpone analysis,
& to try first to persuade the reader,
by an exhibition of specimens, that
inversion is often practised when it
serves no useful purpose, that such
inversion is ugly, & that resort to it
is a mark of the unskilful writer.
Here, then, are some bad inversions ;
the uninverted form is indicated by
a word or two in brackets, & the
reader is invited to decide for him¬
self whether it would not have been
^ese instances clearly better:—
Then to the resident Medical Officer of
the Brompton Hospital for Consump-
f or an au lhoritative opinion on
the subject went the inquirer (The
inquirer then went, as the beginning
of the sentence) ./Sufficient is it to
terminate the brief introduction to this
notice by stating ... (It is sufficient)./
Appropriately does the author pre¬
lude his recollections with the story
of . . . (The author appropriately
preludes)./<S'ome«;Aa< in the nature of
a blow is it, therefore, to find that . . .
(It is therefore somewhat). /Hard
would it be to decide which of his
many pursuits in literary study he
found most absorbing (It would be
hard )./By diligent search in sunny
cfc sheltered places could some short-
stalked primroses be gathered (prim¬
roses could be gathered)./Little by
little are these poor people being
hemmed in & ground down by their
cruel masters (people are being)./
Gloomy though is the precedent, the
only thing left for a War Lord to do
is to follow the example of Ahab at
Ramoth Gilead (the precedent is)./
These were persons to be envied, as
might be someone who was clearly
in possession of a sixth sense (as
someone might be)./With good peri¬
pheral railways, such as have our
invaders, the front can be strengthened
at any point (our invaders have)./
A frigate could administer roughly
half the punishment that could a 74
(a 74 could )./Carrying far more than
can the steam-driven vessel (vessel
can)./He looked forward, as do we
all, with great hope db confidence to .. *
(we all do )./He laid down four
principles on which alone could
America go further (America could)./
‘ I couldn't help liking the chap ’
would shout Lingard when telling the
story (Lingard would shout )./Not
only is it so necessarily bounded by
that moving veil which ever hides the
future, but also is it unable to pene¬
trate more than a paltry hundred
thousand years or so into the darkness
that now enshrouds the past (it is
unable). /An undefeated Prussia is
ultimately the end of England, db, in
particular, is it the end of fortune db
security for ... (it is the end).
Whether all of these inversions are
bad, as they were said to be, or not,
they can hardly fail to convince any¬
one who reads them one after
another that inversion is not an
achievement to be aimed at for its
own sake, as some of these writers
evidently take it to be, but a means
INVERSION
286
NORMAL TYPES
to be employed only when it is
needed. Such a reader may now be
willing to examine the occasions
that demand it. The result will be
something of this kind :—
Inversion is the deferring of the
subject till after (especially in older
English) the verb, or till after
(especially in modern English) the
verb’s auxiliary only ; What saith
he ?, What does he say ?, are both
inversions, the uninverted forms
being he saith, he says.
In questions & commands, as con¬
trasted with the commoner form of
sentence, the statement, inversion
is the rule : Doth Job fear God for
nought ?/Hear thou from heaven thy
dwelling-place. The subject being
usually omitted in commands, these
do not much concern us ; but in
questions the subject regularly fol¬
lows the verb or its auxiliary except
when, being itself the interrogative
pronoun or adjective, it has to stand
where that pronoun almost invari¬
ably stands (Browning’s Wanting is
—what ? supplies an exception) :
Who did it ? What caused it ? In
the other exceptional sentence-form,
the exclamation, inversion is not
indeed the rule as in questions, but
is, & still more used to be, legitimate:
How dreadful is this place!/What
a piece of work is a man !/O bonnie
was the rosy brier !/Few & evil have
the days of the years of my life been./
Bitterly did he rue it.
Inversion, then, is the natural
though not universal order of words
in sentences other than statements ;
in exclamations particularly, when
they do not contain a special ex¬
clamatory word such as how or
what, the inversion is what an¬
nounces their nature ; & one form
of bad inversion arises from inability
to distinguish between an exclama¬
tion & a mere statement, so that the
latter is allowed the order that
marks the former (Hard is it to
decide, on the pattern of Hard, very
hard, is my fare !). To these forms
of sentence must be added the
hypothetical clause in which the
work ordinarily done by if is done
in its absence by inversion : Were 1
Brutus./Had they known in time.
Interrogative, Imperative, Exclam¬
atory, & Hypothetical Inversions
form a group in which inversion
itself serves a purpose. With state¬
ments it is otherwise ; inversion is
there not performed for its own
significance, but comes about owing
to the writer’s wish to place at the
beginning either the predicate or
some word or phrase that belongs to
it. He may have various reasons
for this. The usual reason for
putting the whole of the predicate
at the beginning is the feeling that
it is too insignificant to be noticed
at all after the more conspicuous
subject, & that it must be given
what chance the early position can
give it; hence the There is idiom;
not No God is, but There is no God .
That is Balance Inversion in its
shortest form, & at greater length
it is seen in : Through a gap came
a single level bar of glowing red sun¬
light peopled with myriads of gnats
that gave it a quivering solidity ; if
came through a gap is experimentally
returned to its place at the end of
that, it becomes plain why the
writer has put it out of its place at
the beginning. Another familiar
type is Among the guests were A, B,
C . . .Z.
Often, however, the object is not to
transfer the predicate bodily to the
beginning, but to give some word or
words of it first place. Such a word
may be meant to give hearer or
reader the connexion with what
precedes (Link Inversion), to put
him early in possession of the theme
(Signpost Inversion), or to warn him
that the sentence is to be negative
(Negative Inversion) :— On this de¬
pends the whole course of the argu¬
ment./By strategy is meant something
wider./Never was a decision more
abundantly justified. On this, by
strategy, never, are the causes of
inversion here ; each belongs to the
predicate, not to the subject; &
when it is placed first it tends to
INVERSION
287
AFTER RELATIVES
drag with it the verb or auxiliary,
so that the subject has to wait ;
tends, but with different degrees of
force, that exercised by a negative
being the strongest. We can if we
like, instead of inverting, write On
this the whole course of the argument
depends , or By strategy something
wider is meant, but not Never a de¬
cision was more abundantly justified ;
& Not a word he said is a very out-
of-the-way version of Not a word did
he say.
If we now add Metrical Inversion,
our catalogue of the various kinds
may perhaps suffice. Where the
Bible gives us As the hart panteth
after the water brooks, & the Prayer
Book Like as the hart desireth the
water-brooks, both without inver¬
sion, the hymn-books have As pants
the hart for cooling streams. That is
metri gralid, & it must not be for¬
gotten that inversion is far more
often appropriate in verse than out
of it for two reasons—one this of
helping the versifier out of metrical
difficulties, & the other that inver¬
sion off the beaten track is an
archaic & therefore poetic habit.
A very large class of bad inversions
will be seen presently to be those in
subordinate clauses beginning with
as ; they arise from failure to realize
that inversion is archaic & poetic
under such circumstances, & non¬
inversion normal; it is therefore
worth while to stress this contrast
between As pants the hart & both the
prose versions of the same clause.
To summarize these results :
Interrogative Inversion : What
went ye out for to see ?/Doth Job fear
God for nought ?
Imperative Inversion : Hear thou
from heaven thy dwelling-place.
Exclamatory Inversion : How
dreadful is this place !/What a piece
of work is a man I/O bonnie was the
rosy brier !/Few <& evil have the days
of the years of my life been./Bitterly
did he rue it./Bang went saxpence !
Hypothetical Inversion : Were 1
Brutus, dk Brutus Antony.
Balance Inversion: There is no
God./Through a gap came [an elabo¬
rately described ray ]./Among the
guests were [long list].
Link Inversion : On this depends
the whole argument./Next comes the
question of pay.
Signpost Inversion : By strategy is
meant something wider.
Negative Inversion : Never was a
decision more abundantly justified./
Not a word did he say.
Metrical Inversion : As pants the
hart for cooling streams.
We may now proceed to consider
with the aid of grouped specimens
some of the temptations to ill-
advised inversion. It may conciliate
anyone who suspects that the object
of this article is to deprive him
altogether of a favourite construc¬
tion, if it is at once admitted that,
though bad inversion is extremely
common, non-inversion also can be
bad. It is so rare as to call for
little attention, but here are two
examples:— But in neither case Mr
Galsworthy tells very much of the
intervening years./Least of all it is
to their interest to have a new Sick
Man of Europe. In negative sen¬
tences there is the choice whether
the negative shall be brought to the
beginning or not, but when it is so
placed inversion is necessary ; read
does Mr G., & is it.
INVERSION AFTER RELA¬
TIVES & COMPARATIVES
The problems offered are interest¬
ing, but most difficult to grapple
with by way of argument. The line
here taken is that the sort of inver¬
sion now being dealt with, however
devoutly one may believe it to be
mistaken, can hardly be proved
illegitimate, at any rate without
discussion of more tedious length
than could be tolerated. On the
other hand, it is hardly credible,
after a look through the collection
shortly to follow, that the writers
can have chosen these inversions
either as the natural way of express¬
ing themselves or as graceful decora-
INVERSION
288
AFTER RELATIVES
tion ; so unnatural & so ungraceful
are many of them. It follows that
the motive must have been a severe
sense of duty, a resolve to be correct,
according to their lights, at any
sacrifice. And from this again it
follows that no demonstration that
the inversions are incorrect is called
for ; the task is only to show cause
why non-inversion should be per¬
mitted, & these idolaters will be free
of the superstitions that cramped
their native taste. The quotations
are arranged in batches, with a
number attached to that one in each
batch which is to be discussed below.
The reader will perhaps be kind
enough to translate each specimen
into the uninverted order & pass
a preliminary judgement upon it.
1. A frigate could administer roughly
half the punishment that could a 74./
With good peripheral railways, such
as have our invaders, the front can
be strengthened.
2. It costs less than did administra¬
tion under the old companies./Ships
ivithout funnels, carrying far more
than can the steam-driven vessel.
3. It is unlikely that a conflict can
be localized, as were the previous
struggles in 1908 & 1909. /lie looked
forward, as do we all, with great hope
<£’ confidence to Monday's debate./It
represents the business interests of
Germany as does no other organiza¬
tion./. . . his fondness for the game,
which he played as should an Aber¬
donian. /These were persons to be
envied, as might be someone who
was clearly in possession of a sixth
sense./The French tanks have had
their vicissitudes, as have had ours.
4. Each has proven ably that the
others kind of Protection would be
quite as ruinous as w r ould be Free
Trade./ We are unable to . . . without
getting as excited over the question of
funds as is a cat on a hot iron./lie
was as far removed as are the poles
asunder from the practices which
made the other notorious./The lawn-
tennis championships will be attract¬
ing as much attention as has the golf
championship. / Thirteen divisions
taken from reserve is now as serious
as would have been some fifty
divisions four months ago./Judge
Parry's interest in ephemeral drama
is known, of course, as well as are liis
views on the law of . . .
5. Bad as has been our record in the
treatment of some of the military
inventions of the past, it may be
doubted whether the neglect of the
obvious has ever been more conspicu¬
ously displayed than in . . ./And,
hopeless as seem the other divisions
of Belfast, progress is being made in
them.
6. It is not all joy to be a War Lord
in these days, & gloomy though is the
precedent, the only thing left for a
War Lord to do is to follow the
example of Ahab at Ramoth Gilead.
7. The work stands still until comes
the convenient time for arranging an
amicable rupture of the old engagement
cfc contracting of the new.
Comments on these groups.
1. Comparesomeeverydaysentence:
You earn twice the money that 1 do,
never that do 1. The misconception
is perhaps that the putting of the
object first (here that) should draw
the verb ; but this is not true of
relative clauses ; the people that 1
like, not that like 1.
2. A simple parallel is 1 spend less
than you do, for which no-one in talk
would substitute than do you. Many,
however, ■would write, if not say,
I spend less than do nine out of ten
people in my position. The differ¬
ence must lie in the length of the
subject, & the misconception must
be that it is a case for balance inver¬
sion, i.e. for saving the verb from
going unnoticed ; but so little does
that matter that if the verb is
omitted no harm is done ; did m
the quotation should in fact either
be omitted or put in cither of its
natural places, after administration,
or after companies.
3. As, in such sentences, is a rela¬
tive adverb ; it & the unexpressed
so to which it answers are equivalent
to (in the way) in which, & what was
INVERSION
289
PARAGRAPHIC
said above of relatives & inversion
holds here also. Try to pronounce it
as 1 do, not as do I ; & when the
subject is longer, e.g. the native
Frenchman, though as does the native
Frenchman becomes defensible, it
does not become better than as the
native Frenchman does, nor as good.
4. The as of this batch differs from
that of batch 3 in that its fellow as
of the main sentence belongs to an
adjective ( ruinous, excited, &c.) or
adverb {far, well). This allows the
inversionist a different defence, which
he needs, since balance inversion is
clearly not available for as would be
Free Trade with its short subject.
He might appeal here to exclama¬
tory inversion. When the com¬
pound sentence is reduced to its
elements, they are either (a) Free
Trade would be ruinous ; Protection
would be equally ruinous (the first
clause being a statement) ; or (b)
Ruinous would Free Trade be ! Pro¬
tection would be equally ruinous (the
first clause being an exclamation).
He chooses, how reasonably let the
reader judge, the (b) form, & retains
its order in the compound sentence.
The truth is that in three of these
sentences the verb should have been
omitted, & in the others kept in its
ordinary place— as the poles are
asunder, as the golf championship has
attracted, as 50 would have been.
5. The meaning of this as idiom is
clear; it is Though our record has
been so bad, or However bad our
record has been ; but how it reached
its present shape is less apparent.
Some light is thrown by the presence
in earlier English of another as, now
dropped ; Swift writes The world,
as censorious as it is, hath been so
kind . . .; this points to {Be our
record as) bad as our record has been
{bad) for the unabbreviated form.
Omission of the bracketed words
gives the uninverted order, which
will only be changed if exclamatory
inversion ( Bad has been our record /)
or balance inversion is needlessly
applied.
6. Gloomy is the precedent / is a not
13S1
impossible exclamatory inversion ;
&, if the words were kept together
with the effect of a quotation by
having though before instead of in
the middle of them, the exclamatory
order might be tolerable, though
hardly desirable, even in the sub¬
ordinated form ; but not with
though where it is. This may be
tested by trying a familiar phrase
like Bad is the best. Though bad is
the best, yes ; but not Bad though
is the best ; instead of that we must
write Bad though the best is.
7. There is no doubt about the
motive. It is a balance inversion,
& one that would be justified by the
great length of the subject if the
only place for the uninverted comes
were at the end of the whole sen¬
tence. But what is too often for¬
gotten in such cases is that there is
usually a choice of places for the
verb ; here comes would be quite
comfortable immediately after time.
The conclusion suggested is that, so
far as relative clauses, & especially
those containing as, are concerned,
the writer whose taste disposes him
to use the natural uninverted order
is at the very least free to indulge it.
INVERSIONS OF THE LITER¬
ARY PARAGRAPHIST
The gentlemen who provide news¬
papers with short accounts of newly
published books have an inversion
form all to themselves. The prin¬
ciple seems to be that the title of the
book is to be got to a place where
the reader shall be able to find it ;
at the same time the catalogue look
is to be avoided that results if the
title is printed at the head before
the description ; & a literary air is
to be so given to the paragraph.
The title is therefore worked to the
end, by the use of odd inversions
that editors would do well to pro¬
hibit. But, once broken in to inver¬
sion by this special use of it, the
minor literary critics learn to love
their chains, & it is among them
that the false exclamatory inver¬
sions dealt with in the next section
L
INVERSION, EXCLAMATORY 290
AFTER YET &c.
are most rife. Here, meanwhile, are
some of the characteristic form :—-
Most racily written , with an easy
conversational style about it, is Mr
Frank Rutter's 4 The Path to Paris './
Diplomatic & military are the letters
that comprise the Correspondence of
Lord Burghersh, edited by his daughter-
in-law./From the point of view of the
English reader timely is the appear-
ance of M, Frederic Masson's his¬
torical study [titl e]./Lively & inter¬
esting are the pictures of bygone
society in town country presented
in the txoo volumes, 4 The Letter-bag
of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope'./
Mainly concerned with the rural
classes, who form something like two-
thirds of the xohole population, are
the sketches & tales collected in 4 The
Silent India './Based on contem¬
porary writers, her own love-letters, &
4 anti-Napoleonic pamphleteers \ is
[title]. /Written in his most vivacious
vein is Lieut. Colonel Haggard's
latest historical study [title].
FALSE EXCLAMATORY IN¬
VERSION
It has already been pointed out
that a statement may be turned
into an exclamation by inversion ;
an adjective or adverb that conveys
emotion is put first out of its place,
& inversion follows. If Jacob had
said The days of the years of my life
have been few cfc evil, he would have
been stating a bald fact ; by begin¬
ning Few & evil have been, he con¬
verts the statement into a groan, &
gives it poignancy. Writers who
observe the poignancy sometimes
given by such inversion, but fail to
observe that 4 sometimes ’ means
4 when exclamation is appropriate ’,
adopt inversion as an infallible
enlivener ; they aim at freshness &
attain frigidity. In the following
examples there is no emotional need
of exclamation, & yet exclamatory
inversion is the only class to which
they can be assigned :— Futile were,
the endeavor to trace back to Pheidias'
varied originals, as we are tempted to
do, many of the later statues./Finely
conceived is this poem, & not less
admirable in execution./Facile &
musical, sincere db spontaneous, are
these lyrics./Hard would it be to
decide which of his many pursuits in
literary study he found most absorb¬
ing./Fluctuating were the conditions
under which the portage could be
made./Sufficient is it to terminate the
brief introduction to this notice by
stating . . ./Irresistibly is the reader
reminded, though direct analogy is
absent, of Sheridan's reference to . . ./
Appropriately does the author prelude
his recollections with . . ./Lately has
been launched here the scare of an
alleged Russian grain-export mono¬
poly. /By diligent search in sunny &
sheltered places could some short-
stalked primroses be gathered (This is
perhaps, however, a negative inver¬
sion gone wrong by the omission of
the necessary only at the beginning)./
Little by little are these poor people
being hemmed in & ground down by
their cruel masters (Little by little is
quite the wrong expression to start
an exclamatory inversion with, since
its effect is not to enhance, but to
diminish, the emotional effect).
YET, ESPECIALLY, RATHER, &c.
A curious habit has grown up of
allowing these & similar words to
dictate a link inversion when the
stressing of the link is so little
necessary as to give a noticeable
formality or pomposity to the pas¬
sage. It is a matter not for argu¬
ment, but for taste ; will the reader
compare the quoted forms with
those suggested in the brackets ?
Especially & rather usually change
their place when inversion is given
up, but yet remains first. The last
example, in which the unusual in
particular with this construction is
felt to be intolerable, is
evidence that the order to which
custom has reconciled us with cer¬
tain words only is not good on the
merits :— His works were burnt oy
the common hangman ; yet was the
multitude still true to him (yet the
multitude was). /Henry Fox, or no-
INVERSION
291
SUBORDINATE
body, could weather the storm which
was about to burst; yet was he a
person to whom the court, even in that
extremity, was unwilling to have
recourse (yet he was )./The set epis¬
tolary pieces, one might say, were
discharged before the day of Elia ;
yet is there certainly no general
diminution of sparkle or interest (yet
there is)./. . . springs of mineralized
water, famous from Roman times
onward for their curative properties ;
especially did they come into renown
during the nineteenth century (they
came into renown especially)./Mr
Campbell does not recognize a change
of opinion, but admits a change of
emphasis ; especially is he anxious
at the present time to advance the
cause of Liberal Evangelism (he is
especially anxious). /It is to be hoped
that some supervision will be exercised
in the reproductions ; especially will
care be needed in the painting process
(care will be needed especially in)./
His love of romantic literature was as
far as possible from that of a mind
which only feeds on romantic excite¬
ments ; rather was it that of one who
was so moulded ... (it was rather
that)./There is nothing to show that
the Asclepiads took any prominent
share in the work of founding ana¬
tomy, physiology, zoology, & botany ;
rather do these seem to have sprung
from the early philosophers (these
seem rather) ./His book is not a bio¬
graphy in the ordinary sense ; rather
is it a series of recollections culled
from . . . (it is rather)./^4n unde¬
feated Prussia is ultimately the end
of England, db, in particular, is it the
end of fortune db security for ... (& it
is the end in particular).
INVERSION IN INDIRECT
QUESTIONS
This point will be found fully dis¬
cussed under Indirect question.
Examples of the wrong use are :
bold is this attack may be judged
by .. ./Why should we be so penalized
must ever remain a mystery. How bold
his attack is, & Why we should be so
penalized, would be the rinht. nrrfer
SUBORDINATED INVERSIONS
Certain kinds of these have been
discussed in the section on relatives
& comparatives. A more general
point is to be made here—that it is
often well, when a sentence that
standing by itself would properly be
in the inverted form is subordinated
as a clause to another, to cancel the
inversion as no longer needed. The
special effect that inversion is in¬
tended to secure is an emphasis of
some sort, & naturally emphasis is
more often suitable to a simple
independent sentence than to a
dependent clause. Examples are
grouped under A, B, & C, according
to the kind of inversion that has
been subordinated, & comment on
each group follows :—
A. Negative Inversion. The amount
involved is no less a sum than
£300,000 per annum, to not a penny
of which have the drivers a shadow
of claim./To give to all the scholars
that firm grounding upon which alone
can we hope to build an educated
nation./He laid down four principles
on which alone could America &
Austria go further in exchanging
views./. Now that not only are public
executions long extinct in this coun¬
try, but the Press not admitted to the
majority of private ones, the hangman
has lost his vogue./But it had only
been established that on eighteen of
those days did he vote.
B. Exclamatory Inversion. Suffice it
to say that in almost one half of the
rural district areas is there an admitted
dearth of cottage homes. / Though
once, at any rate, does that benign
mistily golden irony of his weave
itself in./While for the first time,
he believed, did naval & military
history appear as a distinctive feature.
C. Link Inversion. When, three
years later, came the offer of a
nomination, it was doubtless a wel¬
come soZufion./Whilst equally neces¬
sary is it to press forward to that
unity of thought without which . . .
A. In the first three it will be
admitted that, while Upon this alone
INVERSION, PARALLEL CLAUSES
292
SAID HE &c.
&c. (the independent forms) would
require the inversion, upon which
alone &c. (the subordinate forms)
are at least as good, if not better,
without it. The fourth example
(executions) will on the other hand
be upheld by many who have no
inordinate liking for inversion ; not
only is so little used except in main
sentences, & therefore so associated
witn inversion, that not only public
executions are long extinct, though
legitimate, has an unfamiliar sound
even after Now that. The subordin¬
ate inversion in the last A example
is not quite what it seems, being due
to irresolution between an inverted
& an uninverted form ; the former
would be, But only on eighteen of
those days had it been established that
he voted ; & the latter, But it had
only been established that he voted on
18 of those days.
B. The subordination in two of
these only makes more conspicuous
the badly chosen pegs on which the
inversion is hung. In almost one
half of the rural district areas, & once
at any rate, are not good exclamatory
material ; Many a time have 1 seen
him ! shows the sort of phrase that
will do. Even if main sentences had
been used with these beginnings,
they should have been put as state¬
ments, i.e. without inversion, & still
more when they depend on Though
& Suffice it to say that. In the third
example for the first time is not
incapable of beginning an exclama¬
tion ; it would pass in a sentence,
but becomes frigid in a clause.
C. About these there can hardly
be a difference of opinion. If the
when & whilst constructions were
absent, it would have been very
natural to draw Three years later.
Equally necessary, to the beginning
to connect the sentences with what
preceded, & inversion might or
might not result. But with the
interposition of when & whilst they
lose their linking effect, & the
natural order should be kept— When
the offer came three years later,
Whilst it is equally necessary.
INVERSION IN PARALLEL
CLAUSES
As with combinations of a negative
& a positive statement into one (see
Negative & affirmative paral¬
lels), so with inverted & uninverted
members of a sentence care is very
necessary.
Not only is it so necessarily bounded
by that moving veil which ever hides
the future , but also is it unable to
penetrate . . . into . . . the past (but
also is it is an impossible inversion,
brought about by the correct one
that precedes). /Not only in equip-
ment but in the personnel of the Air
Battalion are we suffering from mal¬
administration (Not only in equip¬
ment requires are we suffering ; in
the personnel requires we are suffering.
To mix the two is slovenly ; the
right form would be We are suffering
not only in &c.)./Even were this
tract of country level plain & the
roads lent themselves to the man¬
oeuvre, it would be so perilous to . . ,
(were this tract is inverted ; the roads
lent themselves is not, & yet, since
there is no if, it absolutely requires
it. Begin Even if this tract were;
for the only ways to invert the
second clause are the fantastic <b
lent themselves the roads & the clumsy
& did the roads lend)./ Had we
desired twenty-seven amendments, got
seven accepted, & were in anticipa¬
tion of favourable decisions in the
other twenty cases we should think . . .
(Mend like the previous one. To
read & were we would disguise the
fact that the whole is one hypo-
thetical clause & not several). For
other examples see Ellipsis 6.
INVERSION IN DIALOGUE
MACHINERY
Novelists & others who have to use
dialogue as an ingredient in narra¬
tive are some of them unduly
worried by the machinery problem.
Tired of writing down he said &
said he & she replied as often as they
must, they mistakenly suppose the
good old forms to be as tiring to their
diversion, SAID HE &c
293
INWARDNESS
readers as to themselves, & seek
relief in whimsical variations. The
fact is that readers care what is said,
but the frame into which a remark
or a speech is fitted is indifferent to
them; or rather, the virtue of
frames is not that they should be
various, but that they should be
inconspicuous. It is true that an
absolutely unrelieved monotony will
itself become conspicuous ; but the
variety necessary to obviate that
should be strictly limited to forms
inconspicuous in themselves. Among
those that are not inconspicuous, &
are therefore bad, are many develop¬
ments of the blameless & incon¬
spicuous said he , especially the
substitution of verbs that are only
by much stretching qualified for
verbs of saying, & again the use of
those parts of verbs of saying that
include auxiliaries. A few examples
will make these points clear ; they
are not of the more egregious kind,
but most of them exhibit a writer
trying not to bore his reader, &
nothing bores so fatally as an open
consciousness that one is in danger
of boring :—* Yes ', moodily con¬
sented John , * I suppose we must ’./
‘ Oh ? ' questioned he./ 1, Nossignore ',
disavowed Don Ambrogio./' Oh, what
a sigh ! ', marvelled Annunziata./
‘ But then ', puzzled John, ‘ what is
it that people mean when they talk
about death ? '/' The sordid sort of
existence ', augmented John./' You
misunderstand your instructions
murmured rapidly Mr Travers./' 1
couldn't help liking the chap ', would
shout Lingard when telling the story./
I won't plot anything extra against
Tom' had said Isaac./' At any rate,
then , may rejoin our critic, ' it is
clearly useless . . .’/* I am the lover
°f a Queen % had often sung the
st ew ard in his pantry below.
The ordinary ‘ said he » &c. (Thou
art right. Trim, in both cases, said
niy uncle Toby) was described above
Its
_{ , o —■ • •» m the
signpost class. The reader is to
he given the theme (i.e., here, the
* u. xo °y) w as described a
as blameless & inconspicuous.
place among inversions is in
speech) at the earliest possible
moment; the speech, being gram¬
matically the object of 4 said ’, yet
placed first, draws 4 said ’ to it, &
4 he ’, or my uncle Toby, has to
wait. But only such insignificant
verbs as said, replied, continued, will
submit to being dragged about like
this ; verbs that introduce a more
complicated notion, or that are
weighted with auxiliaries or adverbs
(compare 4 went on my uncle Toby ’
with 4 continued my uncle Toby ’),
or that cannot rightly take a speech
as object, stand on their dignity &
insist on their proper place.
inverted COMMAS. See Stops. For
the use as apology for slang, see
Superiority.
invest makes investor.
investigate, invigorate, make -gable,
-tor ; see -able 1, -or.
invite, n. The OED compares
command & request for the forma¬
tion, but describes the noun use as
colloquial ; & it has never, even as
a colloquialism, attained to respect¬
ability ; after 250 years of life, it is
less recognized as an English word
than bike.
invite, v., makes -table ; see Mute e.
invoke uses invocable (I'nvokabl)
rather than invokable (invo'kabl).
involution. See -lu-.
involve makes -vable ; see Mute e.
involvedly. Four syllables, if used ;
inwardness. The i., the real i., the
true i., of something has a meaning
that it would not occur to us to give
it out of our own heads, but that
we some time or other discover to be
attached to it by other people,
especially such as write books ; that
meaning is, as defined by the OED,
4 the inward or intrinsic character or
quality of a thing ; the inner nature,
essence, or meaning ’. It is a literary
phrase fit for a literary man to use
when he is writing for or talking to
literary people, but otherwise pre¬
tentious ; true wisdom is to abstain
from it till it seems the really
natural phrase ; & any inclination
INWEAVE
294
to put inverted commas round it is
a fair proof that one has not reached,
or that one doubts whether one’s
readers have reached, that stage.
There is a certain intrusiveness about
the word in these quotations ; omis¬
sion, or a simpler substitute, would
have done no harm :— When the
First Lord gets to understand (the real
i. of) the present situation , 1 have
every confidence that he will do full
justice to the Thames./In this con¬
nexion 1 would warn readers who are
unacquainted with (the i. of) South
African affairs not to attach undue
importance to a recent declaration./
Will you allow me to send a few lines
on the true i. of the situation ?
(realities)./TTe have always contended
that the true 4 inwardness ’ of the
Land Bill was not the wish to stop
evictions, hut the wish to stop the
scandal of evictions (motive).
inweave. Not en- ; see em- & im-.
inwrap. En- better; see em- & im-.
iodine. For this, as well as for the
three parallel element-names brom¬
ine, chlorine , & fluorine, the OED
prefers the sound -in, with -In
allowed as alternative. Popular use
is almost universally for -In in
iodine, but varies in the other three.
-ION & -MENT. Many verbs have
associated with them nouns of both
forms, as commit, commission & com¬
mitment ; require, requisition & re¬
quirement; excite, excitement & ex¬
citation. When both are well estab¬
lished, as in these cases, the two
nouns usually co-exist because they
have come by differentiation to
divide the possible meanings between
them & so tend to lucidity. How
little the essential difference of
meaning is may be seen by compar¬
ing emendation with amendment
(where the first means rather cor¬
rection made, & the second rather
correcting), & requisition with re¬
quirement (where the first means
rather requiring, & the second rather
thing required), & then .noticing
that the two comparisons give more
or less contrary results. Further,
-ION & -NESS
when there is only one established
form, it is not apparent to the lay¬
man, though the philologist some¬
times knows, why one form exists
& the other does not—why e.g. we
say infliction & not inflictment, but
punishment & not punition. The
conclusion is that usage should be
respected, & words that have been
rarely used or may easily be coined,
such as abolishment, admonishment,
pollutement, incitation, & punition,
should not be lightly resorted to
when abolition, admonition, pollu¬
tion, incitement, & punishment, are
to hand. To illustrate what is
meant by 4 lightly * : if a writer
suddenly realizes or suspects that he
cannot say 4 by chastisement of
actual & admonition of prospective
offenders ’, & changes to admonish¬
ment as fitter for the construction
wanted, without taking the trouble to
think either of chastising & admonish¬
ing or chastisement & dissuasion, he
is treating the language with levity.
-ION & -NESS. The question be¬
tween variants in -ion & -ness differs
from that discussed in the previous
article in several respects. First,
-ness words can be made from any
adjective or participle, whereas the
formation of -ment words from verbs
is by no means unrestricted ; by the
side of persuasion you can make
persuasiveness, but not persuade-
ment. Secondly, there is more
possibility of a clear distinction in
meaning ; - ion & -ment are bot
attached to verbs, so that neither
has any more claim than the other
to represent the verbal idea oi
action ; but between -ion & -ness
that line does exist; though -ton &
-ness are often appended to exactly
the same form, as in abjectness &
abjection, one is made from tne
English adjective abject, & the other
from the Latin verbal stem abject-,
with the consequence that a&jedness
necessarily represents a state o
quality, & abjection naturaUy at
least a process or action. Third.&
while both -ion & -ment pass easily
295
IRONY
•ION & -NESS
from the idea of a process or action
into that of the product— abstraction
e.g. being equivalent either to
abstracting or to abstract notion —,
to subject - ness to that treatment is
to do it violence ; we can call virtue
an abstraction, but not an abstract¬
ness ; in compensation for this
disability, the -ness words should
be secured as far as possible the
exclusive right to the meaning of
state or quality ; e.g. we should
avoid talking of the abstraction or
the concision of a writer’s style, or
of the consideration that marks
someone’s dealings, when we mean
abstractness, conciseness, & consider¬
ateness. Concision means the pro¬
cess of cutting down, & conciseness
the cut-down state ; the ordinary
man, who when he means the latter
says conciseness, shows more literary
sense than the literary critic, who
says concision just because the
French, who have not the advantage
of possessing -ness, have to say it,
& he likes gallicizing. It is not
always easy to prove that writers
do not mean the process rather than
the quality, but appearances are
often against them ; in the following
examples, if the epithet short-
winded !, & the parallel pungency, are
taken into account, it is pretty clear
that the quality of the style was
meant, & conciseness would have
been the right word :— I really think
any Muse {when she is neither resting
wot flying) ought to tighten her girdle,
tuck up her skirts, & step out. It is
ocfter than Tennyson's short-winded
dc artificial concision—but there is
such a thing as swift db spontaneous
style./But then as a writer of letters,
(fames, & memoranda, Mr Gladstone
5 • HOt shine b y an V habitual con-
cwurn or pungency of style. If it were
fre quent uncertainty
about what is really meant, it would
88 bad to say concision for con¬
ciseness as to use correction (which
< ? Uld be defended as a Gallic-
tSS I.'W*"' or indirection
"W* be
Simple reference of any word in -ion
to this article may be taken to mean
that there is a tendency for it to usurp
the functions of the noun in -ness.
Irene. Three syllables (Ire'n!) ; as
a Christian name it has now been
largely adopted by those who take
it for a disyllable & account to
themselves for the third syllable
when they hear others say it as an
optional addition like those in
Johnny & Jeanie.
irenicon. See eirenicon.
Iricism. See Irishism.
iridescent. So spelt, not irri- ; the
origin is Greek iris rainbow, not
Latin irrideo laugh.
Irishism, Iricism. The first is the
right ; see Briticism.
iron. For the i. Chancellor, Duke,
horse, see Sobriquets.
ironist. For the form, see -ist.
irony. For a tabular comparison
of this & other words, see humour.
Irony is a form of utterance that
postulates a double audience, con¬
sisting of one party that hearing
shall hear & shall not understand, &
another party that, when more is
meant than meets the ear, is aware
both of that more & of the outsiders’
incomprehension. 1. Socratic irony
was a profession of ignorance. What
Socrates represented as an ignorance
& a weakness in himself was in fact
a non-committal attitude towards
any dogma, however accepted or
imposing, that had not been carried
back to & shown to be based upon
first principles. The two parties in
his audience were, first, the dog¬
matists moved by pity or contempt
to enlighten this ignorance, &,
secondly, those who knew their
Socrates & set themselves to watch
the familiar game in which learning
should be turned inside out by
simplicity. 2. The double audience
is essential too to what is called
dramatic irony , i.e. the irony of the
Greek drama. That drama had the
peculiarity of providing the double
audience—one party in the secret
& the other not—in a special man-
IRONY
296
IRRELEVANT ALLUSION
ner. The facts of most Greek plays
were not a matter for invention, but
were part of every Athenian child’s
store of legend ; all the spectators,
that is, were in the secret beforehand
of what would happen. But the
characters, Penthcus & Oedipus &
the rest, were in the dark ; one of
them might utter words that to
him & his companions on the stage
were of trifling import, but to those
who hearing could understand were
pregnant with the coming doom.
The surface meaning for the drama¬
tis personae, & the underlying for
the spectators ; the dramatist work¬
ing his effect by irony. 3. And the
double audience for the irony of
Fate ? Nature persuades most of us
that the course of events is within
wide limits foreseeable, that things
will follow their usual course, that
violent outrage on our sense of the
probable or reasonable need not be
looked for ; & these ‘ most of us ’
are the uncomprehending outsiders ;
the elect or inner circle with whom
Fate shares her amusement at our
consternation are the few to whom
it is not an occasional maxim, but
a living conviction, that what hap¬
pens is the unexpected.
That is an attempt to link intel¬
ligibly together three special senses
of the word irony, which in its more
general sense may be defined as the
use of words intended to convey one
meaning to the uninitiated part of
the audience & another to the
initiated, the delight of it lying in
the secret intimacy set up between
the latter & the speaker ; it should
be added, however, that there are
dealers in irony for whom the
initiated circle is not of outside
hearers, but is an alter ego dwelling
in their own breasts.
For practical purposes a protest is
needed against the application of
4 the irony of Fate ’, or of 4 irony ’
as short for that, to every trivial
oddity '.—But the pleasant note
changed to something almost bitter as
he declared his fear that before them
lay a 4 fight for everything we hold
dear ’—a sentence that the groundlings
by a curious irony were the loudest in
cheering (oddly enough).//* would be
an irony of fate, according to many
members, if Mr Chamberlain were
elected to succeed Mr Balfour, for it
was his father who dealt the first blow
at Mr Balfour's ascendency (inter¬
esting )./ 4 The irony of the thing ’
said the dairyman who now owns the
business ‘ lies in the fact that after
I began to sell good wholesome butter
in place of this adulterated mixture ,
my sales fell off 75 per cent. ’ (‘ It’s
a rum thing that. . seems almost
adequate). The irony of fate is, in
fact, to be classed now as a Hack¬
neyed phrase.
irrecognizable, un-. The second is
recommended ; see in- & un-.
irrefragable. Accent the second
(ire'fragabl).
irrefutable. For pronunciation see
REFUTABLE.
irrelevance, -cy. The first is re¬
commended ; see -ce, -cy.
irrelevant. It is stated in the OED,
which does not often volunteer such
remarks, & which is sure to have
documentary evidence, that ‘ a fre¬
quent blunder is irrevalent ’ ; that
form, however, does not get into
print once for a hundred times that
it is said ; but it is not difficult,
with a little fishing, to extract it
from ladies ; cf. anemone. The
word is one of those that we all
know the meaning of, but seldom
trouble to connect with their de¬
rivations—a state of mind com¬
moner with Englishmen than with
other people because so many of our
words are borrowed that we are
accustomed to apparently arbitrary
senses. It is worth remembering
that relevant & relieving are the. same
word ; that, presumably, is irrele¬
vant which does not relieve or assist
the problem in hand by throwing
any light upon it.
IRRELEVANT ALLUSION. We all
know the people—for they are the
majority, & probably include our
particular selves—who cannot carry
IRRELEVANT ALLUSION
297
IRRELEVANT ALLUSION
on the ordinary business of everyday
talk without the use of phrases con¬
taining a part that is appropriate &
another that is pointless or worse ;
the two parts have associated them¬
selves together in their minds as
making up what somebody has said,
& what others as well as they will
find familiar, & they have the sort
of pleasure in producing the com¬
bination that a child has in airing
a newly acquired word. There is
indeed a certain charm in the grown¬
up man’s boyish ebullience, not to
be restrained by thoughts of rele¬
vance from letting the exuberant
phrase jet forth. And for that
charm we put up with it when one
draws our attention to the method¬
ical by telling us there is method in
the madness , though method & not
madness is all there is to see, when
another’s every winter is the winter
of his discontent, when a third can¬
not complain of the light without
calling it religious as well as dim,
when for a fourth nothing can be
rotten except in the state of Den¬
mark, or when a fifth, asked whether
he does not owe you 1/6 for that
cabfare, owns the soft impeachment.
Other phrases of the kind will be
found in the article Hackneyed
phrases. A slightly fuller examina¬
tion of a single example may be
useful. The phrase to leave severely
alone has two reasonable uses—one
in the original sense of to leave
alone as a method of severe treat¬
ment, i.e. to send to Coventry or
show contempt for ; & the other in
contexts where severely is to be inter-
E reted by contraries—to leave alone
y way not of punishing the object,
butof avoiding consequences for the
subject. The straightforward mean*
mg, & the ironical, are both good;
anything between them, in which
the real meaning is merely to leave
alone, & severely is no more than an
echo, is pointless & vapid & in print
intolerable. Examples follow: (1,
straightforward) You must show
Am, by leaving him severely alone , by
putting him into a moral Coventry ,
your detestation of the crime; (2,
ironical) Fish of prey do not appear
to relish the sharp spines of the
stickleback, & usually seem to leave
them severely alone ; (3, pointless)
Austria forbids children to smoke in
public places ; <& in German schools
& military colleges there are laws
upon the subject ; France, Spain ,
Greece, <& Portugal , leave the matter
severely alone. It is obvious at once
how horrible the faded jocularity of
N° 3 is in print ; &, though things
like it come crowding upon one
another in most conversation, they
are not very easy to find in news¬
papers & books of any merit ; a
small gleaning of them follows :—
The moral, as Alice would say, ap¬
peared to be that, despite its difference
in degree, an obvious essential in the
right kind of education had been
equally lacking to both these girls (as
Alice, or indeed as you or I, might
say )./Resignation became a virtue of
necessity for Sweden (If you do
what you must with a good grace,
you make a virtue of necessity ;
without make, a virtue of necessity
is meaningless).// strongly advise
the single working-man who would
become a successful backyard poultry-
keeper to ignore the advice of Punch,
& to secure a useful helpmate./The
beloved lustige Wien [merry Vienna]
of his youth had suffered a sea-change.
The green glacis . . . was blocked by
ranges of grand new buildings (Ariel
must chuckle at the odd places in
which his sea change turns up)./
Many of the celebrities who in that
most frivolous of watering-places do
congregate ./When about to quote
Sir Oliver Lodge's tribute to the late
leader, Mr Law drew, not a dial,
but what was obviously a penny
memorandum book from his pocket
(You want to mention that Mr
Bonar Law took a notebook out of
his pocket ; but pockets are hum¬
drum things ; how give a literary
touch ? call it a poke ? no, we can
better that; who was it drew what
from his poke ? why, Touchstone
a dial, to be sure I & there you are).
IRREMOVABLE
298
IS
irremovable. So spelt, not -vea-;
see -able.
irrespectively ), adv. When of does
not follow, the adverb still takes
-ly : Mercy that places the marks of
its favour absolutely <& irrespectively
upon whom it pleases. When of
follows, the modern tendency is to
drop -ly in the adverb (cf. regard¬
less), as in All were huddled together,
irrespective of age & sex ; see Un-
idiomatic -ly ; but good writers
perhaps retain the -ly in sentences
where irrespective might be taken
for an adjective agreeing with the
subject & meaning not taking ac¬
count, whereas what is desired is
an adverb meaning without account
taken ; so He values them, irrespec¬
tively of the practical conveniences
which their triumph may obtain for
him (quoted from Matthew Arnold,
who would doubtless have refused
to drop the -ly here). This rather
fine (if not imaginary) point of
idiom does not practically affect the
meaning of a passage, but does
imply a view of the exact meaning
& construction of the word irre¬
spective —the view, namely, that it
does not mean careless & does not
agree with a person.
irresponsive, un-. The second is
recommended ; see in- & un-.
irretentive, un-. The first is re¬
commended ; see in- & un-.
irridescent. A wrong spelling for
IRIDESCENT.
irrigate makes -gable, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
is. l. Is & are between variant
numbers. 2. Is & are in multi¬
plication table. 3. Is auxiliary &
copulative. 4. Is after compound
subject. 5. Is, or has, nothing to do
with.
1. Is & are between subject &
complement of different numbers.
What are wanted are not small
cottages, but larger houses with modern
conveniences./The plausible sugges¬
tions to the contrary so frequently put
forward is an endeavour to kill two
birds with one stone./ In the first
example the two are s should be is;
in the second, is should be are ; for
discussion see are, is. Mistakes are
especially common with the word
what : What is really at issue are
not questions of . . ./What is needed
are a few recognized British corpora¬
tions. For these wrong forms, see
WHAT.
2. Is & are in the multiplication
table. Five times six is, or are,
thirty ? The subject of the verb is
not times, but six, the meaning of
the subject being ‘ six reckoned
five times \ Before we know
whether is or are is required, then,
we must decide whether six is a
singular noun, the name of a quan¬
tity, or a plural adjective agreeing
with a suppressed noun ; does it
mean ‘ the quantity six ’, or does it
mean ‘ six things ’ ? That question
each of us can answer, perhaps, for
himself, but no-one for other people ;
it is therefore equally correct to say
twice two is four & twice two are four.
Moreover, as the two are equally
correct, so they appear (OED, s.v.
time) to be about equally old ; four
times six was plural as long ago as
1380, & ten times two was singular in
1425.
3. Confusion between auxiliary &
copulative uses. The risk of cards
being lost or mislaid under such cir¬
cumstances is considerable, & great
inconvenience A experienced by any
workman to whom this accident occurs.
This mistake of leaving the reader
to supply an is of one kind out of
a previous is of another kind is dis¬
cussed under be 5.
4. Is after compound subjects.
The Allies are prepared to retire if &
when proper pledges & security is
given./Their lives, their liberties, &
their religion is in danger. In both
these is should be are ; they seem to
point to a mistaken theory that,
when the parts of a compound
subject differ in number, the verb
follows the nearest ; that might
reasonably, though it hardly does'
in fact, hold for or-groups {whether
we or she is right) ; but it is entirely
299
-ISE
wrong for and-groups, which always
require a plural verb unless they
are, like bread & butter , compound
words rather than mere groups.
See also Number.
5. Is, or has, nothing to do with.
Sir,—Why do I see today, in a cele¬
brated morning contemporary, the
following sentence : 6 The trouble is
nothing to do with education ’
(Italics mine) ? The facts are, first,
that has nothing to do with requires
no defence, secondly, that is nothing
to do with is said by many to be
indefensible, & thirdly, that is no¬
thing to do with is nevertheless, if
not far commoner than the other,
yet very common. When a foxm of
speech that one regards as a cor¬
ruption gains wide currency, the
question whether one should tilt at
it is not quite simple. If it is an
obvious outrage on grammar, yes ;
if, on the other hand, its wrongness
is of the kind that has to be pointed
out before it is noticed, & its hold
on the public strong enough to take
a good deal of loosening, then per¬
haps it is better to buttress it up
than to tilt at it. This, then, is an
attempt to justify is.
Most of us, when we have occasion
to repel an impertinent question, &
are not in the mood for weighing
words in the scales of grammar, feel
that That is nothing to do with you
expresses our feelings better than
That has &c.; that is to say, the in¬
stinctive word is is, not has. Hut,
says the champion of grammar,
instinctive or not, it is a mere wrong
mixture of two right ways of saying
p • That is nothing to you ,
& That has nothing to do with you.
He is very likely right, but it is not
quite so certain as he thinks ; & the
popular phrase that is on its trial for
impropriety should always be given
the benefit of the doubt if there is
Now it does not seem impos-
that It' is nothing to do with
inay have arisen from sentences in
which to do has acquired the status
oi an adjective meaning concerned
or connected : such upntpnmc ■**,*„■! a
be : There is nothing to do with
prisons that he cannot tell you ./‘ A
Wife's Secret ’ (nothing to do with the
old play of that name)./Anything to
do with spiritualism is interesting.
In the first of those nothing to do
means not a single thing concerned,
nothing being a noun ; & in the
second it means not at all con¬
nected, nothing being an adverb.
No doubt this use of to do is elliptical
for having to do ; but the point is
that it gives us a different construc¬
tion for nothing or any corresponding
word, which here is not the object
of the omitted having, as it is of has
in It has nothing to do with, but is
either the noun with which the
supposed having agrees or an adverb
negativing it. On this theory, the
two forms may be paraphrased thus :
It has nothing to do with you — It has
no function to perform with you ; &
It is nothing to do with you — It is
not a matter concerned with you ;
the first is simpler to arrive at than
the second, but the second is not
impossible. The precisian who likes
an easily analysable sentence, &
the natural man who likes to say
the thing that springs to his lips, had
better agree to live & let live ; &
that they will do the more readily
if the first can believe that the two
ways of putting the thing differ
not only in the visible distinction
between has & is, but also in the
invisible one between two or more
constructions of nothing. It may
fairly be maintained that there are
three right ways of saying the thing :
It is nothing to you ; It has nothing
to do with you ; It is nothing to do
with you : instead of two right ways
& a wrong.
isagogic.
Greek g.
For pronunciation see
-ISE) (-IZE. On the general ques¬
tion of the spelling of verbs ending
in the sound -iz, see -ize. If -ize is
accepted as the normal form, there
are still a number of verbs in which
the question between the two
spellings does not arise, but -ise is
ISLAND
300
-1ST
for various reasons necessary. The
more important of these are here
given :—advertise, apprise, chastise,
circumcise, comprise, compromise,
demise, despise, devise, disfranchise,
disguise, enfranchise, enterprise, ex¬
cise, exercise, improvise, incise, pre¬
mise, supervise, surmise, surprise.
island, isle. The two are etymo¬
logically unconnected, the first being
native & having no right to its -s-,
& the second being Latin by origin.
-ISM & -ITY. Many adjectives
have each ending appended & give
two words of different meaning.
Occasionally choice between the two
is doubtful. Roughly, the word in
-ill/ usually means the quality of
being what the adjective describes,
or concretely an instance of the
quality, or collectively all the in¬
stances ; & the word in -ism means
the disposition to be what the
adjective describes, or concretely an
act resulting from that disposition,
or collectively all those who feel it.
A few of the more notable pairs
follow, to enable the reader to judge
how far this rough distinction will
serve him in deciding where the
difference is less established :—
barbarity & barbarism ; catholicity
& Catholicism ; deity & deism ;
fatality & fatalism ; formality &
formalism ; humanity & humanism ;
ideality & idealism; latinity &
latinism ; liberality & liberalism ;
modernity & modernism ; reality &
realism ; spirituality & spiritualism ;
universality & universalism.
isolate makes -lable, -tor; see
-able 1, -or.
Israelite. See Hebrew.
issue, v. 1. I. makes issuable ; see
Mute e. 2. The military construc¬
tion, to i. a person with a thing
(The Company was issued with two
gas-masks per man), on the analogy
of supply & provide , though much
popularized by the war, is not to be
recommended ; see Analogy.
-1ST, -ALIST, -TIST, -YIST, &C.
The use of the suffix -ist in English
is so wide & various that any full
discussion of it is not here possible.
But there are (A) some words whose
exact form is still uncertain &
should be fixed, & there are (B)
others that are both established &
badly formed, so that there is
danger, unless their faultiness is
pointed out, of their being used as
precedents for new formations.
A
agricultur(al)ist, constitution(al)ist,
conversation(al)ist, education(al)ist, &
others of the kind. Either form is
legitimate ; the shorter, besides
being less cumbersome, usually cor¬
responds more naturally to the
sense ; expert in agriculture (- turist ),
for instance, is simpler than expert
in the agricultural (- turalist ) ; but
in constitution(al)ist, perhaps, know¬
ledge of or devotion to what is
constitutional, rather than of or to
the constitution, is required. Unless
there is a definite advantage of this
kind in the -al- form, the other
should be preferred : agriculturist,
constitutionalist, conversationist, edu¬
cationist.
accompan(y)ist. Neither form is
satisfactory ; the adding of -ist to
verbs other than those in -ize is
unusual ( conformist is an example),
& it is a pity that accompanier was
not taken ; but of the two -nyist
(cf. copyist) is better than -nist :
accomp anyist .
voluntar(y)ist. The -y- should be
retained. The analogy of militarist
is deceptive, because that has the
Latin militaris to justify it ; there
is no Latin voluntaris, & the Latin
voluntarius objects to losing two
syllables instead of one : voluntary-
ist,
pacif(ic)ist . It is perhaps over¬
sanguine to class this among those
still awaiting decision, the barbarous
pacifist has taken so strong a hold ;
but there are still a faithful few who
resist it. It is formed on pacific,
meaning believer in pacific methods ;
the -f- in pacifist, with -ic- left out,
has no meaning, & pacist would have
been a better word. The omission
of an essential syllable by what is
called syncope (as in idolatry, syn¬
copated from idololatria) belongs in
English to the primitive stages of
the language, & is not now practised ;
symbology, for symbolology, is an
unprepossessing exception; to
change pacificist to pacifist is no
better than to change deteriorate &
authoritative, as is often done by the
uneducated, to deteriate & authori¬
ties, & to acquiesce in such corrup¬
tions at a time when general educa¬
tion is equal to realizing their nature
is to introduce a principle of swift
decay into the language. Pacifist
has been defended on the formula
pacifist : pacific :: philanthropist:
philanthropic ; philanthropist, how¬
ever, is formed not from philan¬
thropic, but from philanthropia, the
Greek for philanthropy ; & actual
or possible Greek & Latin nouns in
-la are among the commonest bases
for -ist nouns ; there is no possible
Latin pacifia nor English noun
p&'cify to account similarly for
pacifist. Another plea, that pacifist
is from French pacifiste, is equally
unsound ; the word, which is not in
a popular French dictionary dated
1911, is one of the international
kind to which each language gives
its own normal form ; the responsi¬
bility cannot be deported across the
Channel.
ego{t)ist. The -t- is abnormal ; but
both forms are established, & a use¬
ful differentiation is possible if both
are retained; see ego(t)ism.
B
analyst, ironist, separatist, db tobac¬
conist, are open to objection, though
they are all, except perhaps the
least offending of them, ironist,
firmly established.
analyst results from the mistaking
o analyse for one of those -ize verbs
ffona which so many nouns in -ist
SJL f0 ? ned J anal V se > derived from
omlyns, should itself have been
gnofysi ze, & then analysist would
have been correct; given analyse,
analyser should have been the
noun.
ironist supplies the need of a word
to match satirist & humourist. The
choice, if it was to end in -ist, lay
between ironicalist, ironicist, irony-
ist, & ironist, of which the last is
technically the least justifiable.
If regarded as made on the English
noun irony, the -y ought not to be
omitted ; if Greek is to be called
in, the Greek verb & noun ought
to have been eironizo & eironla,
whereas they are eironeuo & eironeia ;
philanthropist & telegraphist do not
obviate the objection, because they
are made not on philanthropy &
telegraphy, but on Greek philan¬
thropia & English telegraph.
separatist, like all -ist words made
on other verbs than those in -ize
( conformist, computist, controvertist,
speculatist, are the best of the few
quoted by the OED), is at once felt to
be an uncomfortable & questionable
word ; but it & ( nonconformist, hav¬
ing attained to real currency, may un¬
fortunately be imitated. Separation-
ist would have been the right form.
tobacconist, like egotist, has no right
to the consonant inserted before -ist.
isthmus. PI. - uses ; see -us.
it. 1. Omission of anticipatory it
owing to confused analysis. 2.
Other mistakes with anticipatory it.
3. Obscure or wrong pronoun refer¬
ence. 4. Its) (it's.
The pronoun is so much used in
various idiomatic constructions that
considerable knowledge, instinctive
or acquired, of the ins & outs of
syntax is needed to secure one
against lapses. The collecting of a
few specimens, & comments on them,
may put writers on their guard.
1. First, there is a present tendency
to omit in relative clauses the antici¬
patory it, i.e. the it that heralds a
deferred subject as in It is useless to
complain. An example is : The
House of Commons is always ready to
extend the indulgence which A is a
sort of precedent that the mover &
seconder of the Address should ask for .
IT, 1
302
IT, 2
If we build up this sentence from its
elements, the necessity of it will
appear, & the reader can then apply
the method to the other examples.
That the mover should ask for indul¬
gence is a precedent ; that, rear¬
ranged idiomatically, becomes It is
a precedent that the mover should ask
for indulgence ; observe that it there
does not mean indulgence, but means
that the mover should ask for indul¬
gence, it being placed before the
predicate (is a precedent) as a har¬
binger announcing that the real
subject, which it temporarily repre¬
sents, is coming along later. It is
a precedent that the mover should ask
for indulgence ; the House extends
the indulgence ; there arc the two
elements ; to combine them we
substitute which for indulgence in
the clause that is to be subordinate,
& place this which at the beginning
instead of at the end of that clause :
the House extends the indulgence
which . . . ; now, if it had meant
indulgence, i.e. the same as which
now means, it would have become
superfluous ; but, as has been men¬
tioned, it means something quite
different, & is just as much wanted
in the compound sentence as in the
simple one. A parallel will make the
point clear : A meeting was held, &
it was my duty to attend this ; whether
which or cfc this is placed at the
beginning of the second member
instead of the present arrangement,
no-one would dream of dropping it
& writing which was my duty to
attend, or <& this was my duty to
attend . After this rather laboured
exposition it will suffice to add to
the more or less similar examples
that follow mere hints of the essen¬
tial construction :—The debate on
the Bill produced a tangle of argu¬
ments which A required all Mr Cham¬
berlain's skill to untie . Which means
tangle ; the missing it means to untie
-which. Here, however, if an it had
been inserted after untie, which
would have been subject to required
instead of object to untie, so that the
sentence as it stands is perhaps a
muddle between two possibilities./
It has already cost the 100 millions
which A was originally estimated
would be the whole cost. The missing
it means that which would be the whole
cost (that the conjunction, not the
pronoun). /Faith in drugs has no
longer any monetary motive such as A
has been asserted was formerly the
case. Without it, this implies as one
of the elements A monetary motive
has been asserted was the case./The
great bulk of the work done in the
world is work that A is vital should be
done. Elements : (a) That certain
work should be done is vital, or It is
vital that certain work should be done ;
(b) Most work done is that work.
The missing it means not work, as
that does, but that which work should
be done./ What A was realized might
happen has happened. Elements :
It was realized that a thing might
happen ,* that thing has happened.
At the end of the article hope the
common omission of it with is hoped
is illustrated.
2. Secondly, certain points have to
be remembered about the anticipa¬
tory it besides the fact that it may
be wrongly omitted :— In connexion
with the article by -, it may be
worth recalling the naive explanation
given to Dickens by one of his contri¬
butors. Anticipatory it heralds a
deferred subject ; it cannot be used
when there is no subject to herald ;
where is the subject here ? explana¬
tion is engaged as object of recalling ;
recalling is governed by worth ; worth
is complement to may be ; it neither
has any meaning of its own nor
represents anything else. The
author might possibly claim that the
construction was a true apposition
like that in 4 lie’s a good fellow,
that ’, & that a comma after recalling
would put all to rights ; but anyone
who can read aloud can hear that
that is not true. The real way to
correct it is to write worth while
instead of worth, which releases
recalling to serve as the true subject;
see worth for other such mistakes./
It is such wild statements as that Mr
803
ITALIAN SOUNDS
IT, 2
Sandlands has made that does harm
to the Food Reform cause. By strict
grammatical analysis does would be
right; but idiom has decided that
in the it . . . that construction, when
that is the relative, it takes its
number not from its actual ante¬
cedent it, but from the word repre¬
sented by it—here statements./He
was a Norfolk man, dc it was in
a Norfolk village where 1 first ran
across him. There is no doubt that
idiom requires that instead of where,
& the sense of the idiomatic form is
plain ; it that 1 ran across means
my running across ; my first running
across him was in a village ; the use
of where, besides being unidiomatic,
is also less reasonable ; where is
equivalent to in which, & if in which
or its equivalent is used we require
a Norfolk village & not in a Norfolk
village : & it was a Norfolk village
in which 1 &c. The use of in a
village together with where is ana¬
logous to the pleonasms discussed
under Haziness./# is impossible to
enter on the political aspects of Mr
- 's book, but A must suffice to say
that he suggests with great skill the
warring interests. The reader of
that at once thinks something is
wrong, & on reflection asks whether
the anticipatory it, which means to
enter &c., can be 4 understood ’ again
before must suffice with the quite
different meaning of to say &c. It
cannot; but some more or less
parallel types will show that doubts
are natural. Here are (A) two in
which the understanding of it,
though the subjects are different, is
clearly permissible : It is dangerous
to guess, but humiliating to confess
ignorance./It must please him to
succeed <fc pain him to fail. And
here are (B) two that will not do ;
It is dishonest to keep silence, <& may
save us to speak./It cannot help us to
guess, & is better to wait & see.
A he distinction that emerges on
examination is this : in the A
f Xa J**P[ e ? w, & must, are common
L°. b ° t j “ halves ; in the B examples
t is otherwise, is being answered to
by may, & cannot by is ; it appears
that it may be understood, even if
the real subject is changed, when
the verb or auxiliary is common to
both parts, but not otherwise. If,
in the sentence we are criticizing, db
sufficient were substituted for but
must suffice, all would be well.
3. Examples of it & its used when
the reference of the pronoun is
obscure or confused, or its use too
previous or incorrect. These faults
occur with it as with all pronouns,
& are discussed generally under
Pronouns ; a few examples are
here printed without comment :—
This local option in the amount of
outdoor relief given under the Poor
Lazo has always operated inequitably
db been one of the greatest blots on
the system. To extend it to the first
great benefit under the Insurance Act
will greatly lessen its usefulness./
Again, unconsciousness in the person
himself of what he is about, or of what
others think of him, is also a great
heightener of the sense of absurdity.
It makes it come the fuller home to us
from his insensibility to it ./Viscount
Wolverhampton has resigned the office
of Lord President, db his Majesty the
King has been pleased to accept it./
Where a settlement is effected a
memorandum of the same, with a re¬
port of its proceedings, is sent by the
Board to the Mmistcr of Labour./
Both these lines of criticism are taken
simultaneously in a message which
its special correspondent sends from
Laggan, in Alberta, to the Daily Mail
this morning.
4. The possessive of it, like that of
who, & the absolute forms in -s of
her, their, our, & your, has no
apostrophe : its, hers, theirs, ours,
yours, not it's &c.
itacism. See Technical terms.
ITALIAN sounds. A rough notion
of how Italian words should be said
is sometimes needed. Certain con¬
sonant peculiarities are all that
require notice ; for the vowels it
suffices that they have the con¬
tinental values, not the English.
ITALICS
304
ITALICS
The letters or letter-groups with
which mistakes may be made are :
c, cc, ch, ci ; g, gg, gh, gi, gli, gn, gu ;
sc, sch, sci ; z, zz. If a few words,
most of them to be met in English
writing, are taken as types, the
sounds may easily be remembered:—
cicerone (chiehe-) ; c, & cc, before
c & i, = ch
Chianti (ki-) ; ch always=k
cioccolata (chok-) ; ci before a, o, u,
often = ch, the i merely showing
that c is soft
Gesii (ja-) ; g, & gg, before e or i — j
ghetto (ge-) ; gh always — g
Giotto (jo-) ; gi before a, o, u, often =
j, cf. ci above.
intaglio (-ahlyo) ; gli often = ly
bagni (bah'nye) ; gn =ny
Guelfo (gwe-) ; gu always = gw
fascista (-shis-) ; sc before e or i = sh
scherzo (sk-) ; sch always = sk
sciolto (sliol-) ; sci before a, o, u,
often —sh, cf. ci above
scherzo (-tso) ; z = ts
pizzicato (pitsi-) ; zz usually = ts
mezzo (me'dzo) ; 22 rarely =dz
ITALICS. During the war many
persons less conversant with the art
of writing than with strategy or
artillery or surgery or aeronautics
or blockade law or food supply have,
to our great advantage, occupied
much space, instructively, in the
magazines & newspapers. But a
regrettable by-product of their
activities has been a relapse into
primitive methods of soliciting atten¬
tion. Newspaper columns filled
with a mosaic of roman & italic type
that would have horrified the pre¬
war editor have grown familiar.
The practised writer is aware that
his business is to secure prominence
for what he regards as the essence
of his communication by so mar¬
shalling his sentences that they shall
lead up to a climax, or group them¬
selves round a centre, or be worded
with different degrees of impressive¬
ness as the need of emphasis varies ;
he knows too that it is an insult
to the reader’s intelligence to ad¬
monish him periodically by a change
of type, like a bad teacher imploring
his boys to attend for a moment,
that he cannot safely go to sleep
just now. But to those who, how¬
ever competent on their special sub¬
ject, have not had enough experience
of writing to have learnt these rudi¬
ments it comes as natural to italicize
every tenth sentence or so as it
comes to the letter-writing school¬
girl to underline whatever she enjoys
recording. These mosaics have on
discreet readers exactly the repellent
effect that interjections had on
Landor : ‘ I read warily ; & when¬
ever I find the writings of a lady,
the first thing I do is to cast my
eyes along her pages to see whether
I am likely to be annoyed by the
traps & spring-guns of interjections,
& if I happen to espy them I do not
leap the paling
Space cannot be afforded for what
would be the only adequate illus¬
tration, the reproduction of a whole
mosaic article ; a few short extracts
must suffice ; but it should be borne
in mind that these are mostly taken
from long articles that contain
several other examples of the same
trick. The right uses of italics will
be afterwards classified & illustrated.
EXAMPLES OF ILL-ADVISED
ITALICS
In comparison with this welding of
valour with justice, the so-called
ideal of total disarmament is shal¬
low. There is a way of peace that is
at once manly & sure. By far the
deeper change lies in turning mili¬
tary institutions to nobler & saner
ends./All human effort that creates
values is Labour, & the highest
values are not created by muscle.
The highest values are created, always
have been created, & always will be,
by Mind. And working men as well
as others recognize that fact./It is
not merely that the Allied Powers
are pledged to the reconstitution of
Serbia because of her signal services
to their cause & the sufferings of
her intrepid people ; their interest
emphatically demands that past amor -
X
305
ITALICS
celments by Turk & Austrian should
be wiped out, & wiped out once & for
all. And this is the Allies’ interest
because .. ./The change in the point
of view is fundamental. The
primary necessity is to recognize the
change, & to realize that the proposed
function of a League of Nations, at
once grand & simple, is something
quite distinct from the function of a
Power-group formed under the con¬
ditions of the Old Order./It is not,
however, the length of the road that
matters so much as the rate at which
the road is covered. And the rate
depends mainly upon the impetus,
& on the extent to which the impetus
may become general. An impetus
of this kind does not spring from
party programmes. It springs from
change in underlying social philo¬
sophy. Such a change has been
initiated by the War./A great mili¬
tary menace cannot again rise in
Central Europe so long as the inland
seas are kept open. Any steps,
however insidious or gradual, again
to close them must be vetoed. In the
past neglect of this precaution was
a profound oversight in British
naval policy.
RIGHT USES
J, • |W| _ uses of italics are vei
different from this of recommendii
to attention whole sentences who;
importance, if they are importan
® u S h t to be plain without ther
And these real uses are defini
enough to admit of classificatio
oome of them may be merely mei
tioned as needing no remark :
Whole piece may be in italics becau:
italics are decorative ; text & noti
Dnay be distinguished by roman
itBhc type just as they may t
differentpazed types; quotatioi
used as chapter-headings, preface
dedications, & other material havir
° ia i statas ’ are entitled t
& ^P art / , from such decorath
two are so printed in the body of
I roman-type passage. They pull up
the reader & tell him not to read
heedlessly on, or he will miss some
peculiarity in the italicized word.
The particular point he is to notice
is left to his own discernment ; the
italics may be saying to him :—
a. 4 This word, & not the whole
phrase of which it forms part, con¬
tains the point ’ : It is not only
little learning that has been exposed
to disparagement.
b. ‘ This word is in sharp contrast
to the one you may be expecting ’ :
It would be an ultimate benefit to
the cause of morality to prove that
honesty was the worst policy.
c. ‘ These two words are in sharp
contrast ’ : But, if the child never
can have a dull moment, the man
never need have one.
d. ‘ If the sentence were being
spoken, there would be a stress on
this word ’ : The wrong man knows
that if he loses there is no consola¬
tion prize of conscious virtue await¬
ing him.
e. ‘ This word wants thinking over
to yield its full content ’ : Child-
envy is only a form of the eternal
yearning for something better than
this (i.e., the adult’s position with
all its disillusionments).
f. ‘ This word is not playing its
ordinary part, but is a word as
such ’ : Here will is -wrongly used
instead of shall.
g. ‘ This is not an English word or
phrase ’ : The maxim that deludes
us is the progenies vitiosior of one to
which the Greeks allowed a safer
credit.
h. ‘ This word is the title of a book
or a newspaper, or the name of a
fictitious character ’ : The Vienna
correspondent of The Times reports
that . . ./The man in Job who
maketh collops of fat upon his
flanks/A situation demanding Mark
Tapley.
Such are the true uses of italics.
To italicize whole sentences or large
parts of them as a guarantee that
some portion of what one has written
is really worth attending to is a
ITALICIZE
306
JANSENISM
miserable confession that the rest is
negligible.
italicize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
its, not it's ; see it 4.
-IZE, -ISE, IN VERBS. In the vast
majority of the verbs that end in
-ize or -i.se & are pronounced -Iz, the
ultimate source of the ending is the
Greek -izo, whether the particular
verb was an actual Greek one or
was a Latin or French or English
imitation, & whether such imitation
was made by adding the termination
to a Greek or another stem. Most
English printers follow the French
practice of changing -ize to -ise ;
but the OED of the Oxford Univer¬
sity Press, the Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica of the Cambridge University
Press, The Times, & American
usage, in all of which - ize is the
accepted form, carry authority
enough to outweigh superior num¬
bers. The OED’s judgement may be
quoted :—‘ In modern French the
suffix has become - iser , alike in
words from Greek, as baptiser,
ev angel iser, organiser, & those formed
after them from Latin, as civiliser,
cicatriser, humaniser. Hence, some
have used the spelling -ise in Eng¬
lish, as in French, for all these
words, & some prefer -ise in words
formed in French or English from
Latin elements, retaining -ize for
those of Greek composition. But
the suffix itself, whatever the ele¬
ment to which it is added, is in its
origin the Greek -izein, Latin -izare ;
&, as the pronunciation is also with
z, there is no reason why in English
the special French spelling should
be followed, in opposition to that
which is at once etymological &
phonetic ’.
It must be noticed, however, that
a small number of verbs, some of
them in very frequent use, like
advertise, devise, & surprise, do not
get their - ise even remotely from
the Greek -izo, & must be spelt
with -s- ; the more important of
these are given in a list in the
article -ise. The difficulty of re¬
membering which these -ise verbs
are is in fact the only reason for
making -ise universal, & the sacrifice
of significance to ease does not seem
justified.
J
jab, job, vv. & nn. = prod &c. The
OED calls the first a variant,
originally Scotch, of the second.
Jab is usually preferred for a thrust
with a weapon, & especially in army
use for a particular bayonet thrust,
& job for a rough jerk at a horse’s
bit ; of other blows the two are
used indifferently. ‘ Forcible but
abruptly arrested action ’ (OED) is
the characteristic of the blow or
jerk or thrust to which the words
apply.
jabber makes -ering, -ered ; see -R-,
-RR-.
jabot. Pronounce zh&'bo.
jacket makes -eted, -eting ; see -t-,
-TT-.
Jacky. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
jacquerie. See French words.
jaggedly. Three syllables ; see
-EDLY.
jail, jailer, jailor. See gaol.
jail-like. For the hyphen, see -like.
jalousie(s). For pronunciation see
French words.
jamb. Pronounce j&m.
Jamy, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
janizary, janissary. The OED
gives precedence to -zary ; but in
its 19th-c. quotations the -ss- occurs
three times as often as the -z-.
Jansenism & Erastianism are liable
to be confused under the general
notion of resistance to ecclesiastical
authority. It may be said roughly
that those who hold that the State
should be supreme in ecclesiastical
affairs are Erastians, while Jansen-
ists are (for the purpose of this
comparison) those who hold that
a national branch of the Church is
entitled to a certain independence
of, or share in, the authority of the
Pope. Erastus was author of a
treatise against the tyrannical use ot
JARDINIERE
307
JARGON
excommunication by the Calvinistic
Churches. Jansen was author of an
exposition of St Augustine’s doc¬
trines, designed to reform the Church
of Rome, condemned by the Pope, &
long prominent in the struggle be¬
tween Gallicanism & Ultramontan-
ism.
jardiniere. For pronunciation see
French words.
jargon is perhaps the most various¬
ly applied of a large number of
words that are in different senses
interchangeable, & under it the
distinctions between them may be
pointed out. The words are : argot,
cant, dialect, gibberish, idiom, jargon,
lingo, parlance, patois, shop, slang,
vernacular. The etymologies, which
are indeed several of them unknown,
do not throw much light, but may
be given for what they are worth :
dialect , idiom, & parlance, are Greek
(dialegomai I talk ; idios private or
proper or peculiar; paraballo com¬
pare) ; cant & vernacular are Latin
( cantus song, chant, whine ; verna
homeborn slave) ; lingo is Italian
( lingua franca Frankish tongue) ;
argot, jargon, & patois, are French,
but otherwise of unknown origin ;
gibberish & shop & slang are English,
the first probably an imitation of the
sound meant, the second a parti¬
cular application of the common
word, & the third of unknown
origin.
argot is primarily the vocabulary of
thieves & tramps serving to veil
their meaning, & is applied second-
anly to the special vocabulary of
any set of persons. There is in these
senses no justification for its use
instead of whichever English word
may be most appropriate, except in
wntmg concerned with France ; for
it is not a naturalized word.
cant in current English means the
insincere or parrotlike appeal to
J?3to, rehmous, moral, political,
not believe in or act upon, or does
S^ri^eRtand. It is best to
*®»nct it to thic __ 1
its earlier sense—special vocabulary
of the disreputable—is still used by
philologists & in etymological dis¬
cussions ; & it means sometimes
what is now more often expressed
by jargon or slang, the special voca¬
bulary of an art, profession, &c.
dialect is essentially local ; ad. is
the variety of a language that pre¬
vails in a district, with local pecu¬
liarities of vocabulary, pronuncia¬
tion, & phrase.
gibberish is the name for unintel¬
ligible stuff : applied by exaggera¬
tion to a language unknown to the
hearer (for which, as a familiar term,
lingo is better), & to anything either
too learnedly worded, or on the
other hand too rudely expressed,
for him to make out its meaning.
idiom is the method of expression
characteristic of or peculiar to the
native speakers of a language ; i.e.,
it is racy or unaffected or natural
English (or French &c.), especially
so far as that happens not to coincide
with the method of expression pre¬
valent in other languages ; & an i.
is a particular example of such
speech. An earlier sense, the same
as that of dialect, still occurs some¬
times. See also idiom.
jargon is talk that is considered
both ugly-sounding & hard to
understand : applied especially to
(1) the sectional vocabulary of a
science, art, class, sect, trade, or
profession, full of technical terms
(cf. cant, slang) ; (2) hybrid speech
of different languages ; (3) the use
of long words, circumlocution, &
other clumsiness.
lingo is a contemptuous name for
any foreign language. It is some¬
times used instead of jargon (1) & (2).
parlance, which means manner of
speaking, has the peculiarity of
possessing no significance of its own
& being never used by itself; you
can say That is dialect, That is
slang, &c., but not That is parlance ;
parlance is always accompanied by
an adjective or defining word or
phrase, & that adjective, not par¬
lance, gives the point : in golfing or
JARL
nautical parlance, in the parlance of
the literarif critics, &c .
patois, as used in English, means
nothing different from dialect, &
therefore, like argot, should not be
used except about France. The
French distinguish two stages ;
dialects exist until a common liter¬
ary language is evolved from them,
after which, if they still linger, they
become patois ; but in English we
let them retain their title.
shop describes business talk in¬
dulged in out of business hours, or
any unseasonable technical phraseo¬
logy, & is thus distinct, in the
special-vocabulary sense, from jar¬
gon, cant, & slang.
slang is the diction that results
from the favourite game among the
young & lively of playing with words
& renaming things & actions ; some
invent new words, or mutilate or
misapply the old, for the pleasure of
novelty, & others catch up such
words for the pleasure of being in
the fashion ; many slang words &
phrases perish, a few establish them¬
selves ; in either case, during pro¬
bation they are accounted unfit for
literary use. S. is also used in the
sense of jargon (1), & with two
distinctions : in general it expresses
less dislike & imputation of ugliness
than jargon ; & it is naturally com¬
moner about sporting vocabularies
{golf s. &c.) than jargon, because
many of the terms used in sports are
slang in the main sense also.
o
vernacular describes the words that
have been familiar to us as long as
we can remember, the homely part
of the language, in contrast with the
terms that we have consciously
acquired. The vernacular was for¬
merly common, & is still occasional,
for English as opposed to any foreign
language; & by an unessential limi¬
tation, it is often applied specially to
rustic speech & confused with dialect.
jarl. Pronounce y-.
jasmine, jessamine. The OED
describes the 2nd as ‘ another form of
jasmine' ; jasmine is recommended.
jaundice, jaunt. Of the two pro¬
nunciations (jah-, jaw-), the OED
gives precedence to the first in both
words.
jaunty. The OED recognizes only
jah-, & not jaw-, for the sound.
French gentil is the source,
jawbation. See jobation.
Jeames. See Sobriquets.
Jeanie. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
jehad. See jihad.
Jehu. See Sobriquets.
jejune. Accented on the last by
the OED, but often now je'joon by
Recessive accent.
Jemmy. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
je ne sais quoi. See French words.
Jenny. So spelt; see -ey, -ie, -y.
jeopardy. Pronounce je'pardi.
Jerry. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
jessamine. See jasmine.
Jessie. So spelt; see -ey, -ie, -y.
jetsam, jettison. See flotsam.
Jetsam is the goods, jettison is, as a
noun, the act on.
jeu &c. See French words.
jeunesse doree. See French words.
Jew. For J., Israelite, &c., see
Hebrew.
jewel makes -lied, -lling, -ller ; see
-LL-, -L-.
jewel(le)ry. The longer is the
commercial & popular form, the
shorter the rhetorical & poetic.
The pronunciation is always jdo'llri.
jibe. See gibe.
jihad, je-. Until recently the
second spelling was usual ; but the
OED gives the first as the right.
Jill. See gill.
JINGLES, or the unintended repeti¬
tion of the same word or similar
sounds, are dealt with in the article
Repetition of words & sounds.
A few examples of the sort of care¬
lessness that, in common courtesy to
his readers, a writer should remove
before printing may be given here :—
The sport of the air is still far from
free from danger./Mr Leon Dominian
has amassed for us a valuable mass
of statistics./The situation had so
far developed so little that nothing
useful can be said about it, save that
308
JINGLES
JINGO
so far the Commander-in-Chief was
satisfied./We can now look forward
hopefully to further steps forward./
Market stability is a necessary
condition of industry under modern
conditions./The figures I have obtain¬
ed put a very different complexion
on the subject than that generally
obtaini ng./Most of them get rid of
them more or less completely ./The
observation of the facts of the geo¬
logical succession of the forms of
life./He served his apprentices/up
to statesmanship. /I awaited a be¬
lated train./Their invalid#?/ was
caused by a technicalih/./In such
a union there is no probability of
stability./The earliest lists, still so
sadly & probably irretrievably im¬
perfect (for this commonest form of
the jingle, see under -ly) ./Hard¬
working folk should participate in
the pleasures of leisure in goodly
measure.
jingo. PI. -oes, see -o(e)s 1.
jinn(ee). See genie.
jiu-jitsu. See ju-jutsu.
job, v., = prod &c. See jab.
jobation, jawb-* The first is the
right form; from Job came the
verb jobe to reprove, common in
the 17th & 18th centuries, & from
that jobation.
Jockey, n. PI. -eys.
jockey, v. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 2.
jocko, chimpanzee. PI. -os, see
-o(e)s.
jocose, jocular, &c. These &
several other words— arch, facetious,
flippant, jesting, merry, pleasant (in
ar , a * c sense )> & waggish —are
cumcult to separate from each other ;
the dictionaries establish no very
clemr or serviceable distinctions,
tending to explain each by a selec-
tion of the rest. They are marked
?? Ju™y, droll, & others, by
the fact that m the latter the effect,
no?nl n . th Ji? e 3 e ^tent, is the main
point, that is funny &c. which
whSI? 8 ’ but that is Jocular &c.
meanaW meant ( or > if a person,
means) to amuse. In the following
309
JOCOSE
remarks no definition of the whole
meaning of any word is attempted ;
attention is drawn merely to the
points of difference between the one
in question & some or all of the
others. All of them are usable in
contrast with serious, but for some
an opposite may be found more
appropriate than that for the pre¬
sent purpose, & that word is given
in brackets.
arch (opp. severe) implies the impu¬
tation of roguery of some sort; the
imputation is ironical, or the offence
is to be condoned; the meaning is
conveyed chiefly by look, tone, or
expression. An arch look, girl , in¬
sinuation.
facetious (opp. glum) implies a de¬
sire to be amusing ; formerly a
laudatory word, but now suggesting
ill-timed levity or intrusiveness or
the wish to shine. A facetious re¬
mark, fellow, interruption,
flippant (opp. earnest) implies mock¬
ery of what should be taken serious¬
ly, & want of consideration for
others’ feelings. A flippant sug¬
gestion, young man ; f. treatment,
jesting (opp. serious) differs from
the rest in having perhaps no dis¬
tinctive implication. A jesting
mood, parson, proposal,
jocose (opp. grave) implies some¬
thing ponderous, as of Adam & Eve’s
elephant wreathing his lithe probos¬
cis to make them mirth. A jocose
manner, old boy, description,
jocular (opp. literal) very commonly
implies the evasion of an issue by
a joke, or the flying of a kite to test
the chances. A jocular reply, writer,
offer.
merry (opp. melancholy) implies
good spirits & the disposition to
take things lightly. A merry laugh,
child, tale.
pleasant (arch. ; opp. stiff) implies
rallying, especially addressed by su¬
periors to inferiors, as a means of
establishing genial relations. Now
rare, except in pleasantry,
waggish implies on the one hand
willingness to make a fool of oneself
& on the other fondness for making
JOHNNY
310
JUGULAR
fools of others. A waggish trick ,
schoolboy, disposition.
Johnny. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
jollify. For inflexions see verbs
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 6.
jollily, jolly adv. As a slang sub¬
stitute for very ( a j. good hiding ;
you know j. well) the adverb is jolly ;
in other uses (he smiled j. enough)
it is jollily. See -lily.
jongleur. See French words.
jonquil. The OED gives preced¬
ence to the older pronunciation
ju'ngkwil.
jostle has t silent ; see Pronuncia¬
tion, Silent t.
journal. Objections are often made
to the extension of this to other
periodicals than the daily papers.
But ' Our weekly journals o’er the
land abound ’ (Crabbe, 1785) shows
that it is much too late to object.
Those who do so have presumably
just learnt the connexion of journal
with L. dies ; for, if it had been long
familiar to them, they would surely
have been aware also that language
is full of such extensions. May a
woman not be said to cry till she
howls ? are there no clerks but those
in Holy Orders ? is a milliner’s box
no longer to be a band-box ? And,
to come back to dies, is it a blunder
to call London to Moscow a. journey,
or a pedantry to call it anything
else ?
journey, n. PI. -cys.
journey, v. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie, -y, -ye, 2.
joust, just. Though just (ju-) is
4 the historical English spelling *
(OED), joust (joo-) was preferred by
Johnson & used by Scott, & is
consequently now more intelligible
& to be preferred.
jubilate. Pronounce -lah'tl.
Judenhetze. Pronounce yoo'den-
h&tze (four syllables),
judgematical. See Facetious for¬
mations.
judg(e)ment. See Mute e for the
principle governing the retention &
omission of e in derivatives, viz, that
it is dropped only before vowels.
Modern usage, however, favours
judgment ; judgement is the form
sanctioned in the Revised Version
of the Bible, & the OED prefers
the older & more reasonable spelling.
Judgement is therefore here recom¬
mended, & the similar but slightly
less important words abridgement,
acknowledgement, fledg(e)ling , &
lodg(e)ment, would naturally con¬
form & keep the e. The question
is complicated by the omission
of the e in several proper names
—Sedgwick, Hodgkin, Edgcumbe,
&c.
judicial, judicious. The first has
to do with judges & lawcourts &
legal judgements, the second with
the mental faculty of judgement.
Judicial murder is murder per¬
petrated by means of a legal trial;
judicious murder is murder that is
well calculated to serve the mur¬
derer’s interests. The distinction is
clear enough, except that judicial
has one use that brings it near
judicious ; this use is impartial or
such as might be expected of a judge
or a lawcourt, applied to such words
as view, conduct, care, investigation,
to which judicious is also applicable
in the sense of wise or sagacious or
prudent. In the following example,
one may suspect, but cannot be
sure, that the writer has meant one
word & written the other: The
chapter on the relations between
Holland & Belgium after the war in
connexion with a suggested revision
of the treaty of 1839 is fairly written
in a judicious spirit. Roughly,
judicial = of a judge or lawcourt,
judicious = exhibiting judgement.
For other such pairs, see Pairs &
snares.
jugular. The large dictionaries
(OED, Century, Standard) all want
us to say joog- ; but for ordinary
mortals, familiar from childhood
with the jugular vein, it is as much
out of the question as to make
ko'kain out of cocaine.
JU-JUTSU
ju-jutsu, jiu-jitsu. The first is pre¬
ferred in the OED & the Enc. Brit.
jumbal, -ble. The name of the
sweetmeat, an old word, is -al.
Jumbo. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 3.
jump. J . to the eye(s) is a bad
Gallicism (5). Examples :—The
desperate discomfort of these places
as living houses judged by our stand¬
ards jumps to the eyes./How little
there is essentially in common be¬
tween Virgil & Isaiah jumps to the
eye as we read the clever <fc tasteful
paraphrase into Biblical language of
the teh Eclogue.
Junker. Pronounce ydo'ngker.
Juno. PI. -os, see -o(e)s.
junta, junto. The first is the
Spanish form, which is used in
English also. Junto, pi. -os, see
-o(e)s, is a corruption more used in
English than -ta.
jupe. See French words.
jurywoman. See Feminine de¬
signations.
just, v. & n. See joust.
just, adv. 1. Just exactly is bad
tautology. Mr Gladstone's dearest
friend in political life, who himself
passed away just exactly half a
century ago.
2. Just how many & similar in-
direct-question forms are American¬
isms. Just what makes the best
lodgement for oyster spawn has been
greatly discussed.
3. Frequent repetition of just is
a danger. A running hand was just
what the name says, handwriting at
a run, written in a hurry, as so many
people write today. The letters were
at first, we might say, just like those
capital letters.
4. Pronounce just; a
against the vulgarism j<
superfluous.
311
KHILAFAT
warmng
justiciable. The word not being
very common, those who use it
should take care it is not printed
justifiable.
justify. For inflexions
nr -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
see Verbs
K
kadi. C- is the usual spelling.
Kaf(f)ir, Caffre. Kaffir is the now
usual form, Caffre a more or less
disused one, & Kafir (pron. kah-) is
a more correct spelling.
Kaiser. Pronounce kiz-.
kale, kail. The first is treated by
the OED as the standard form, &
kail as a Scotch variant. The corre¬
sponding Southern-English word is
borecole.
kalendar, kalends. See calendar.
kangaroo. For the parliamentary
sense, see closure.
kaolin. Pronounce kah'-olln.
kartell. See cartel.
Katy, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
kedgeree. This is now the usual
spelling.
keenness. So spelt.
kelpie, -py. The -ie is usual,
kelson, keel-. Pronounce k£l- ;
kel- is the older, & keel- a recent,
spelling.
Kelt(ic). See Celt(ic).
kennel makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
kerb. See curb.
kernel. As kennel.
kerosene, paraffin, petrol, petro¬
leum. The popular use of the words
is all that is here in question.
Petroleum is the crude mineral oil ;
petrol, or petroleum spirit, is refined
petroleum as used in motors ; kero¬
sene & paraffin {oil) are oils got by
distillation from petroleum or coal
or shale, kerosene being the usual
name in America, & paraffin in
England.
ketchup is the established spelling ;
formerly also catchup & catsup, of
which the second at least is due to
popular etymology. A Chinese or
Malay word is said to be the source.
key, v. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie, -y, -ye, 2.
Khedive. Pronounce klde'v.
khilafat. ISLAM AND THE
KHILAFAT (headline). These for¬
midable learned newspapers have no
regard for the things which belong
KIDDY
312
to our peace ; can they not leave us
our caliphate ? See Didacticism.
kiddy. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
kidnap makes -ppcd , -pping ; see
-p-, -pp-.
kidney. PI. -cys.
kiln. The OED puts first the pro¬
nunciation without -n.
kilo-, milli-. In the metric system,
kilo- means multiplied, & milli-
divided, by 1000 ; kilometer 1000
metres, millimeter 1/1000 of a
metre ; cf. deca-, cknti-.
kilty. Highlander. So spelt ; see
-EY, -IE, -Y.
kind, n. The irregular uses— Those
k. of people, k. of startled, a k. of a
shock —are easy to avoid when they
are worth avoiding, i.e. in print;
& nearly as easy to forgive when
they deserve forgiveness, i.e. in
hasty talk. Those k. of is a sort of
inchoate compound, = those-like (cf.
such, = so-likc) ; k. of startled —
startled, like, or startle d-like. A k. of
a shock is both the least criticized &
the least excusable of the three.
kindly. Authors are kindly re¬
quested to note that Messrs - only
accept MSS. on the understanding
that . . . Messrs - may be kind
in making the request, but did they
really mean to boast of it ? This
misplacement is very common ; for
the ludicrous effect, compare the
confusion between It is our plea¬
sure & We have the pleasure.
kindly, -lily. See -lily.
kinema(tograph). See cinema.
king. Under King-of-Arms, the
OED says ‘ less correctly King-at-
Arms ’ ; but, as both phrases are
shown by its quotations to have
been in use at all periods, & as the
at form is certainly the one familiar
to people without special knowledge,
insistence on the other seems
pedantic. For the King of Beasts,
Terrors, see Sobriquets.
kinglily. See -lily.
kinsfolk is plural without the addi¬
tion of -s ; cf. FOLK.
KORAN
kirsch(wasser). Pronounce ker'sh-
(vahser).
Kitty. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
knee. The adjective from knock-
knees, broken knees, &c., is best
written with an apostrophe— knock -
knee'd &c. ; see -ed & ’d.
kneel. For kneeled & knelt, see
-T & -ED.
knick-knack, nick-nack. The k.
form is better, as preserving the
connexion with knack , the parent
word.
knife. For the verb &c., see -ve(d).
knight. For k. of industry, see
Gallicisms ; for k. of the rueful
countenance. Sobriquets.
knit(ted). Both forms are still in
use for both the past tense & the
past participle, but the short form
is now unusual in the special sense of
making with knitting-needles. She
knit(ted), or had knit(ted), her brows,
but she knitted or had knitted a pair
of socks ; a well-knit frame, but
knitted goods in ordinary use, though
knit goods survives in the trade.
Kniltcn is a pseudo-archaism.
knock-knee’d. See knee.
knoll. Pronounce nol. The word
being chiefly literary, so that most
of us have to guess its sound from
its spelling, & the sound of final -oil
being very variable (doll, 1611, Moll,
Noll, Poll, against droll, roll, stroll,
toll, & troll, among clear cases), it is
regrettable that the rival spelling
knole has not prevailed, but -ll seems
now established.
knout. The dictionaries give only
nowt or noot ; but the k- is some¬
times sounded.
knowledge. Pronounce nol-. The
OED says that nol- 4 used by some,
is merely a recent analytical pro¬
nunciation after know ’ ; it is on the
same level as often with the t
sounded ; see Pronunciation.
knowledgeable. So spelt.
kopje. Pronounce ko'pi.
koran. The OED gives korah'n
precedence over kor'an, & has no
LADY
doubt chosen the winner. It quotes
from Byron, however, And less to
conquest than to Korans trust.
kosher. Pronounce ko-.
kotow, ko-tow, kowtow. The die-
tionaries pronounce this kotow', &
it is often printed ko-tow by way
of showing that the first syllable is
not to be weakened in the normal
way, which would give kotow'. The
real choice lies between both writing
& pronouncing kowtow, & allowing
the weakening to kotow' ; for the
word is now fairly common, & can¬
not possibly maintain under popular
wear & tear the full vowel sound in
the unaccented syllable; kotow
(kotow') is recommended.
kraal. Pronounce krahl.
kukri. Pronounce koo'kri.
kyrie eleison. Of many competing
pronunciations the OED prefers
kef'H fla'ison (seven syllables).
L
laager. Pronounce lah'ger.
label makes -lied &c.; see -ll-, -l-.
labial. See Technical teems.
labium. PI. -bia.
laboratory. The orthodox pro¬
nunciation is l&'boratorl; those
who find four successive unaccented
syllables trying do better to say
labS'ratorl than to cut down the
orthodox to l&'bratrl.
labo(u)r. Keep the -u- ; but see
-OUB & -or. L. makes labourite ; see
-our- & -or-.
labouredly. Three syllables; see
-EDLY.
lac, lakh. In its 15 quotations the
OED shows 9 different spellings,
but choice now lies between these
two ; & of the two it treats lac as
preferable.
lace. The noun makes lacy , the
verb laceable , but lacing ; see Mute e.
lacerate makes - table , -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
laches is a singular noun, pro¬
nounced lft'chiz, meaning negligence
of certain kinds, rarely used with
a but often with the & no, & not
requiring italics. Its formation is
similar to that of riches (formerly
lachcsse , richesse), but not having
become a popular word it has
escaped being taken for a plural.
lachrym-. The true spelling for all
the words would be lacrim-, & it
would be at least allowable to adopt
it ; but the h & the y are still usual.
lackey, lacquey. PI. of noun, -eys ;
for inflexions of verb, see Verbs in
-ie, -y, -ye, 2. The -key form is
recommended.
lacquer, lacker. The first is estab¬
lished.
lacrim-. See lachrym-.
lacteal. See Polysyllabic humour.
lacuna. PI. - nae; see Latin
PLURALS.
laddie. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
lade, apart from the passive use of
the p.p., is now almost restricted to
the loading of ships. Even laden,
though still in use, tends to be dis¬
placed by loaded & to sound archaic
except in particular phrases & com¬
pound words : heavy-laden buses,
but loaded rather than laden buses ;
sin-laden, sorrow-laden ; a hay-laden
rather than a hay-loaded cart, but
loaded, rather than laden, with hay ;
on the other hand a soul laden, rather
than loaded, with sin , because the
dignity attaching to slight archaism
is in place.
ladleful. PI. ladlefuls ; see -ful.
lady. 1. L. Jones, L. Mary Jones,
L. Henry Jones. The first form is
proper only for a peeress or a
baronet’s or knight’s wife or widow ;
the second for one called L. because
she is a peer’s daughter; the third
for a courtesy lord’s wife or widow.
2. L. by itself in the vocative is a
wrong substitute, now common
among the uneducated, for madam.
3. L. prefixed to names indicating
vocation as a mark of sex (/. doctor ,
author , clerk , &c.) is a cumbrous
substitute for a Feminine designa¬
tion, which should be preferred
when it exists or can be made ; in
LADY, 4
314
LARGE(LY)
default of that, woman or female
would be better than l. y not confus¬
ing the essential point with irrele¬
vant suggestions of social position,
as in 4.
4. L. prefixed to vocation words to
indicate social pretensions ( l . cook,
nurse, companion , help , &c.) is, it
may be hoped, a Genteelism that
will not last long.
5. For l. as undress substitute for
marchioness, countess , viscountess,
baroness, see Titles.
ladyfled. So spelt ; see -fied.
lager. Pronounce lah'ger.
lagoon, -gune. The first is now the
established spelling,
laid, lain. See lay & lie.
laissez aller, laissez faire. See
French words.
lakh. See lac.
lam, thrash &c. So spelt, not lamb.
lama, llama. La- for the Thibetan
priest ; lla- for the animal,
lame. The adj. makes lamish , the
verb lamable ; see Mute e.
lamentable. Pronounce la'm-.
lamia. Pronounce la'mia ; pi. -ae
or -as.
lamina. PI. -ae.
lammergeyer. Pronounce -gler.
lampoon, libel, pasquinade, skit,
squib. There is often occasion to
select the most appropriate of these
words, & the essential point of each
may be shortly given. A lampoon
is a bitter published attack ; a libel
is a defamatory statement made
publicly or privately (see also
libel) ; a pasquinade is a published
attack of unknown or unacknow¬
ledged authorship ; a skit is a mak¬
ing game of a person or his doings
especially by parody ; a squib is
a casual published attack of no
elaboration.
lamprey. PI. -cys.
lance makes lanceable ; see Mute e.
lancet makes lanceted ; see -t-, -tt-.
land, n. L. of the leal means
heaven, not Scotland. For the L. of
cakes see Sobriquets.
land, v. See Intransitive p.p.
landgrave. Fern, -avine, pron. -en.
languor, languorous, languid, lan¬
guish. The pronunciation is anoma¬
lous : languid & languish have
always the -gw- sound (-gw!-) ; for
languorous the OED gives only that
sound (-gwor-) ; but for languor it
prefers the -g- sound (-g or), though
-gw- (-gwor-) is allowed as alterna¬
tive ; & this probably represents
general usage, except that perhaps
most people would make languorous
follow whichever sound they prefer
for languor. On the merits, l&'nggor
by the side of l&'nggwid & l&'nggwish
seems unreasonable, & is perhaps
due to misapprehension ; either
-uor is confused with the -our of
vigour, honour, &c. ; or else the - u -
is mistaken for one of the kind seen
in guest, guile, guess, guild, where its
function is to show that g is not as
usual soft before e or i. Liquor &
liquid, conquer & conquest, show
similar inconsistencies, universal in
the first & at least dominant in the
second pair ; but in languor the
omission of the -w- sound is hardly
so general that its restoration, which
would be reasonable, might not be
brought about.
lank(y). The short form is almost
only literary, the long chiefly
colloquial.
lansquenet. See French words.
lantern, -thorn. The second, now
seldom seen, is a corruption due to
the use of horn for the sides of old
lanterns.
lapel. Pronounce lapSd ; adj.
lapclled.
lapis lazuli. Pronounce l&'pis
la'zuli.
lappet makes -eted; see -T-, -tt-.
lapsus. PI. lapsus pronounce -us,
not -si ; see -us.
larboard. See port.
large. For a comparison of this
with great & big, see big. L. makes
largish ; see Mute e.
large(ly). After the verbs bulk &
loom, the idiomatic word is large,
not largely ; cf. Unidiomatic -ly.
Examples of the wrong form are :
The Monroe doctrine of late years has
LARGESS(E)
LATINISM
loomed so largely in all discussions
upon .. ./A phase of the Irish question
which has bulked largely in the
speeches of the Unionist leaders.
largess(e). Pronounce lar'jls, &
omit the final -e. If the word had
remained in common use, it would
doubtless have come to be spelt,
as it often formerly was, larges ; cf.
riches & laches.
larva. PI. - vae .
laryngitis. See Greek g.
Lascar is very commonly accented
on the second syllable ; but the
OED puts l&'skar first, & Longfellow
rhymes it with Madagascar .
lassie. So spelt; see -ey, -ie, -y.
lasso is pronounced lasoo' by those
who use it; but the English pro¬
nunciation is li'so, & the OED gives
that only. PI. - oes, see -o(e)s 1.
last. 1. The l. two &c.) (the two l.
&c. For this see first 4.
2. Last) ( lastly. In enumerations
lastly is recommended on the same
grounds as firstly , for which see
first 5.
3. At (the) long l . is an idiom
labelled ‘ now rare * by the OED ;
but it has experienced a revival, due
more perhaps to its odd sound than
to any superior significance over
at last, & is now often heard & seen ;
* in the end, long as it has taken or
may take to reach it * is the sense.
4. Last) (latest. In this now
favourite antithesis (Dr Marshall's
latest, but we hope not his last , con¬
tribution) we are reminded that
latest means last up to now only,
whereas last does not exclude the
futinre. The distinction is a con¬
venient one, & the use of latest for
last is described by the OED as
now archaic & poetical ’. But no
corresponding agreement has yet
been reached for abstaining from
tost when latest would be the more
precise word, & many idioms mili¬
tate against it (last Tuesday, last
year ; /or the last fortnight ; on the
tost occasion ; as I said in my last)*
Latakla. Pronounce lSLtake'a.
late makes latish ; see Mute e.
late, erstwhile, ex-, former(ly),
quondam, sometime, whilom. With
all these words to choose from, we
are yet badly off: erstwhile &
whilom smack of W ardour street ;
ex-, which tends to swallow up the
rest, is ill fitted for use with com¬
pound words such as Lord Mayor
(see Hyphens), which nevertheless
constantly need the qualification ;
late is avoided because of the doubt
whether it means that the person’s
life, or his tenure of office, is over ;
quondam & sometime have become,
partly owing to the encroachments
of ex-, unusual enough to sound
pedantic except in special contexts
(my quondam f riend; sometime
rector of this parish). The best
advice is to refrain from ex- except
with single words (ex-Mayor, but
not ex-Lord-Mayor, & still less ex-
Lord Mayor), & from late except
either in the sense of no longer
living or when the person described
is in fact dead, & to give former(ly),
& perhaps quondam & sometime,
more work to do.
lath is pronounced in the sing,
lahth, but in the pi. lahdhz. See
-th & -DH.
lathe. Pronounce Iadh.
latheTo The OED gives only Is£-
(rhyming with gather , not father) ;
& an obsolete spelling ladder shows
the old vowel sound. Though
lah'dher is often heard, l. apparently
does not belong to the class of words
in which ah & & are merely southern
& northern variants (pass &c.).
latifundia is a plural,
latine, = in Latin, is a Latin adverb,
pronounced in English lati'ne ;
similar adverbs are anglice (-se) in
English, celtice (-se) in Celtic, gallice
(-se) in French, graece (-se) in Greek,
hibemice (-se) in Irish, scot(t)ice (-se)
in Scots, teutonice (-se) in Teutonic.
All these are sometimes printed with
-b to show that the -e is sounded.
latinism) (latinity. The first is a
disposition to adopt Latin ways,
especially of speech, or a particular
LATINIZE
316
LATTER
idiom that imitates a Latin one ;
the second is the quality of Latin
(classical, debased, &c.) that charac¬
terizes a person’s or a period’s style.
See -ism & -ity.
latinize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
Latin PLURALS (or latinized-
Greek)„ Of most words in fairly
common use that have a Latin as well
as or instead of an English plural
the correct Latin form is given in the
word’s alphabetical place. A few
general remarks may be made here.
1. No rule can be given for pre¬
ferring or avoiding the Latin form.
Some words invariably use it ;
nobody says specieses, thesises, opus¬
es, or basises, instead of the Latin
species, theses, opera, & bases (ba'sez).
Others nearly always have the Latin
form, but occasionally the English ;
bacilluses, lacunas, & genuses, are
used at least by anti-Latin fanatics
instead of bacilli, lacunae, & genera.
More often the Latin & English
forms are on fairly equal terms, con¬
text or individual taste deciding for
one or the other ; dogmas, formulas,
indexes, hiatuses, dc gladioluses, are
fitter for popular writing, while
scientific treatises tend to dogmata,
formulae, indices, hiatus (hia/tus), &
gladioli. Sometimes the two forms
are utilized for real differentiation,
as when genii means spirits, &
geniuses men. All that can safely
be said is that there is a tendency
to abandon the Latin plurals, & that
when one is really in doubt which to
use the English form should be
given the preference.
2. Latin plurals in -i should be
pronounced distinctly -I, & not -e or
-i like the Italian dilettanti, pococur-
anti, &c. ; the reformed pronuncia¬
tion of Latin does not obtain in
naturalized Latin words, & to say
gl&'diole reveals that one is ignorant
either that the word is Latin or
how Latin words are pronounced.
Latin plurals of words in -is ( theses,
metamorphoses, neuroses) should be
plainly pronounced -ez, not -iz like
English plurals.
3. In Latin plurals there are
naturally some traps for non-
Latinists ; the termination of the
singular is no sure guide to that of
the plural. Most Latin words in -us
have plural in -i, but not all, & so
zeal not according to knowledge
issues in such oddities as hiati,
octopi, omnibi, & ignorami ; as a
caution the following list of varia¬
tions may be useful : gladiolus, -li ;
hiatus, -tus ; Venus, -neres ; octopus,
-podes ; corpus, -pora ; genus, -nera;
ignoramus, no Latin plural. Simi¬
larly most Latin nouns in -a have
plural in -ae, but not all : lacuna,
-nae ; dogma, -mata ; Saturnalia,
not singular but plural. And,
though -us & -a are much the com¬
monest Anglo-Latin endings, the
same danger attends some others
(-ex, -er, -o, &c.).
4. The treatment of a Latin noun
as an English plural because it ends
in -s is, when of modern introduc¬
tion, surprising. The Latin plural
of forceps is forcipes, & the English
plural should b eforcepses ; a forceps,
a set of forcipes or forcepses ; & both
these were formerly in use. But
shears & scissors & pincers & pliers
have so convinced us that no such
word can have a singular that
instead of a forceps we usually say
a pair of forceps, & forceps has to
serve for both singular & plural.
-latry. For words like lordolatry &
babyolatry, see Facetious forma¬
tions, & Hybrid derivatives.
latter survives almost solely in the
l., which provides with the former
a pair of pronouns obviating dis¬
agreeable repetition of one or both
of a pair of previously mentioned
names or nouns. Such avoidance of
repetition is often desirable; for
the principles, see Elegant varia¬
tion, and Repetition. But the l. is
liable to certain special misuses :—•
(1) The l. should not be used when
more than a pair are in question, as
in : The difficult problems involved
in the early association of Thomas
Girtin, Rooker , Dayes, & Turner are
LAUDABLE
317
LAVATORY
weU illustrated by a set of drawings
(hat . . .; & what was undoubtedly
the best period of the latter artist
is splendidly demonstrated by . . .
(2) Neither should it be used when
less than two are in question ; the
public & its shillings cannot be
reasonably regarded as a pair of
things on the same footing in : The
mass of the picture-loving public,
however, may be assured of good value
for the shillings—whatever be the
ultimate destination of the latter.
(3) The true elegant-variationist,
who of course works the l. very hard,
should observe that a mere pronoun
will not do for the antecedent of
the l., even though there may be
a name in the background ; a writer
who varies Gordon with the hero of
Khartoum & his relative naturally
does not shrink from picking up
him with the l. ; it is all of a piece,
& a bad piece : Mr Hake was a
cousin of the late General Gordon, of
whom he entertained a most affec¬
tionate remembrance. On one occa¬
sion, when the hero of Khartoum was
dining with him, the latter invited
his relative to take wine with him, but
Gordon imperiously declined. (4 ) The
true use of it is not to mystify, as in :
The only people to gain will be the
Tories & the principal losers will be
the working-class voters whose inter¬
ests the Labour Party is supposed to
have at heart. It is a very poor com¬
pliment to the intelligence of the latter
[which, in heaven’s name ?] to be¬
lieve, as many Labour members seem
to do, that their support of the Labour
cause will be all the more ardent if
their interests are thus disregarded.
laudable means praiseworthy ; the
quotation shows it confused with
laudatory :. see Pairs & snares :—
He speaks in the most laudable terms
of the work carried out by Captain
Thompson in the Anglo-Egyptian
Soudan.
laudanum. Pronounce 15'dnwm.
laugh. For the laughing philo¬
sopher , see Sobriquets.
laughable. For the peculiar forma¬
tion, see -able 4. For ‘ would be
laughable if it were not tragic ’ &c.,
see Hackneyed phrases.
laughter. Homeric l. is a now
common phrase whose meaning
must be vague to many readers.
It is especially the laugh that runs
round a circle of spectators when a
ludicrous or otherwise pleasing inci¬
dent surprises them. In Olympus,
when Zeus & Hera have had words,
the limping Hephaestus counsels his
mother to deal in soft answers ;
when he, in that former quarrel, had
tried to protect her, had he not been
flung forth & fallen nine days
through air till he landed in Lemnos?
& were not nectar & ambrosia in
Olympian halls better than such
doings ? And therewith he hastened
round & filled the cups of all the
gods ; 4 & inextinguishable was the
laughter of the blessed gods as they
watched Hephaestus bustling about
the hall ’.
And again, when Penelope’s suitors
set the beggar bully Irus to box
with the seeming beggar Odysseus,
* then the twain put up their hands,
& Irus struck at the right shoulder,
but the other smote him on his neck
beneath the ear, & crushed in the
bones, & straightway the red blood
gushed up through his mouth, &
with a moan he fell in the dust, &
drave together his teeth as he kicked
the ground. But the proud wooers
threw up their hands, & died out¬
right for laughter
Such is Homeric I. ; but whether
the frequent use of the phrase is
justified by present-day familiarity
with Homer is doubtful. See Popu¬
larized technicalities.
launch. The OED prefers the pro¬
nunciation law- to lah-.
laurel makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
laurustinus. So spelt; tinus, a
Latin plant-name, not a suffix, was
used in apposition to laurus ; laures-
is a corruption.
lavabo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
lavatory. The euphemistic use.
LAVER
318
LEARNEDLY
which will end in driving the word
out of currency, is to be deprecated,
laver, basin. Pronounce la-,
law Latin, law-Latin. The first is
best, except in attributive use (law-
Latin terms &c.) ; see Hyphens.
lawn tennis. No hyphen except in
attributive use (lawn-tennis court
&c.) ; see Hyphens.
lay & lie. 1. Verbs. To lay is
transitive only (=put to rest), &
makes laid; to lie is intransitive
only (=be at or come to rest), &
makes lay, lain, never laid. But
confusion even between the words
lay & lie themselves is very common
in uneducated talk ; & still com¬
moner, sometimes making its way
into print, is the use of laid, which
belongs to the verb to lay only, for
lay the past tense, & lain the p.p.,
of lie (we laid out on the grass, db
coidd have laid there all day). 2.
Nouns. Lie & lay are both used in
the senses configuration of ground,
direction or position in which some¬
thing lies. Neither has a long
established history behind it ; the
OED has only one quotation earlier
than the nineteenth century, & that
is for lie (the proper lye of the land,
1692) ; lie seems also the more
reasonable form, lay having issued
perhaps from sailors’ & rustic talk,
in which the verbs are not kept
distinct.
layer makes layered ; see -r-, -rr-.
lay figure has no connexion with
any of the English words lay, but is
from Dutch led joint, & means
literally jointed figure.
lazzarone. Pronounce lazaro'ng
(or l&ts-) ; pi. -ni pronounce -ne.
leaded, & double-leaded, in printing,
mean set with more than the ordinary
space between the lines, as is done
with matter in the newspapers for
which special attention or a special
status is desired ; the space is made
by inserting strips of lead.
leaden. See -en adjectives.
Leaden, however, is less disused in
the literal sense than most of the
words among which it is there
placed ; lead roof or pipe is com¬
moner than leaden, but a leaden pipe
is not as unidiomatic as a golden
watch.
leading question is often misused
for a poser or a pointed question or
one that goes to the heart of the
matter (as though leading meant
principal) ; its real meaning is quite
different ; a 1. q. is not hostile, but
friendly, & is so phrased as to guide
or lead the person questioned to the
answer that it is desirable for him
to make, but that he might not
think of making or be able to make
without help : used especially of
counsel examining one of his own
witnesses & unfairly prompting him.
To object, as people do when they
are challenged to deny or confirm
an imputation, ‘ That is a leading
question ’ is meaningless. See Po¬
pularized TECHNICALITIES.
(-) leafed, (-) leaved. See -ve(d).
lean. For leant & leaned, see -t &
-ED.
leap. For leapt & leaped, see -t &
-ed. Of l. to the eyes, as wearisome
a Gallicism as exists, some ex¬
amples must be given to suggest
its staleness; others will be found
under jump. Bath, it may be admit¬
ted, does not 1.1.1. eyes as an obvious
or inevitable meeting-place for the
Congress./This, however, does not
1. t. t. eye, <& for the moment 1 am
concerned only with the impressions
which strike a new-comer./I won't
weary you with rehearsing all the
possible consequences of the Bulgarian
surrender ; they 1. 1.1. eye. /We have
not the smallest doubt that there is a
perfectly satisfactory explanation of
these widely differing totals, but cer¬
tainly it does not 1. t. t. eyes.
learn. For learnt & learned, see
-t & -ed. The existence of the
disyllabic learned as an adjective is
an additional reason for preferring
-nt in the verb ; & so with unlearned
& -nt.
learnedly. Three syllables; see
-EDLY.
ING
leasing. The biblical word,=
lying, is pronounced le zing.
•Last The common confusion be¬
tween much less & much more is
mentioned & illustrated in the
article Illogicalities ; least of all
& most of all get mixed up in the
same way : If that is the case, what
justification exists for the sentences,
least of all for the way m which they
were carried, out ?
leastwise, -ways. The OED labels
the first ‘ somewhat rare , & the
second ‘ dialectal & vulgar ’ ; see
-WAYS & -WISE.
leather. 1. For leather & leathern,
see -en adjectives. 2. In l. or
prunella (usually misquoted l. and
prunella) the meaning is not two
worthless things, but the contrast
between the rough 1. apron of a
cobbler & the fine gown of a parson.
It is true, however, that this differ¬
ence is slighted in comparison with
that between worth & the want of
it: * the rest is merely a question of
whether you wear rough or fine
raiment ’. 3. For the leather see
Sobriquets.
lecher &c. Pronounce lech-,
lectureship, -turership. The first is
of irregular formation, as a parallel
for which the OED quotes clergyship
(though a person can be clergy
better than he can be a lecture) ;
but it is long established, & those
who use the second instead perhaps
make it in momentary forgetfulness
that the irregular form exists.
leeward. Pronounce lu'ard.
left. 1. The 1. bank of a river
is that to its 1. if it is imagined
as a person walking downwards,
& may therefore be north, south,
east, or west, of it; as this is
often in’conflict with the idea of 1.
(“westward) acquired from maps,
some care is needed. 2. L. hand
has no hyphen except when used
attributively (the l.-hand drawer);
see Hyphens. 3. For leftmard(s),
see -wabd(s).
319 LEGERDEMAIN
I legalism, legality. For the dist' no¬
tion, see -ism & -ity.
legalize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
legend. Pronounce 16-.
LEGERDEMAIN WITH TWO SENSES,
or the using of a word twice (or of a
word & the pronoun that represents
it, or of a word that has a double
job to do) without observing that
the sense required the second time
is different from that already in
possession. A plain example or two
e ■win show the point :— The inhabi-
e tants of the independent lands greatly
desire our direct government, which
government has, however, for years
refused to take any strong measures./
T Although lie was a very painstaking
d & industrious pupil, he never indi-
° cated any signs of developing into
;t the great naval genius by which his
a name will in future be distinguished./
*• Mark had now got his first taste of
C" print, cO he liked it, & it w r as a taste
“ that was to show many developments.
“ In the first of these, government
means successively governance, &
16 governing body—either of them a
possible synonym for it, but not
both to be represented by it in the
same sentence. In the second,
is genius means a singularly able
e l person, but which, its deputy, means
In singular ability. In the third,
rv whereas the taste he got was an
j . experience, the taste that showed
S e developments was an inclination.
p S Such shiftings from one sense to
* 3 S another naturally occur sometimes
in reasoning, whether used by the
disingenuous for the purpose of
deceiving others, or by the over-
r er ingenuous with the result of de¬
ed ceiving themselves ; but we are
Is, here concerned not with their
h, I material, but with their formal,
is 1 aspect ; apart from any bad prac-
: 1. tical effects, they are faults of style,
ps, The examples that follow presently
nd I are less flagrant than the typical
ied specimens above; what leads to
r) ; them is a want of clear thinking on
s), small points, & in this they resemble
l the contents of the article Haziness;
LEGIBLE
320
LESS
other examples will be found under
i, and we.
If the statements made are true,
they constitute a crime against civil¬
ization. Whereas the statements
means the things alleged, they means
the things done./Even where it in¬
cludes within its borders no important
differences of nationality, which has
no serious jealousies among its people,
a completely unitary organization is
becoming impossible. Whereas na¬
tionality means an abstract property
(the belonging to one or another
nation), wliich & its, both repre¬
senting it, mean a concrete nation./
The vital differences of their respective
elders make none to their bosom
friendship. Whereas the differences
are quarrels, none is (no) alteration./
Admission is by ticket, which can be
obtained from Mr . . . Whereas
ticket means a system, which means
a piece or pieces of paper. /It has the
advantage, of all mountain places
1 have known, of being on a ridge
which gives you views in all directions.
Whereas advantage of means the first
time superiority over, it means the
second time merit consisting in./
Is he, however, correct in ascribing
this misnomer to confusion between
the English terms ‘ bend ’, & 4 bar ’ ?
Is it not rather due to a mistake in
spelling, which should be the French
form 4 barre sinistre ’ ? Spelling is
an art, but which is a correct word-
form.
legible, readable. See illegible.
legislation, legislature. By a long-
established & useful differentiation,
the first is the making of laws, & the
second only the body that makes
them ; there should be no going
back upon such distinctions, as in :
It is physical science, db experience,
that man ought to consult in religion,
morals, legislature, as well as in
knowledge db the arts.
legitimate, adj. The l. drama : the
OED’s definition of the phrase is :
1 the body of plays, Shaksperian or
other, that have a recognized thea¬
trical & literary merit ’.
legitimate vb., legitimatize, legi¬
timize. The second & third are
mere substitutes without difference
of meaning for the first, which has
a longer history by two or three
centuries, & is neither obsolete nor
archaic ; it may be guessed that
they exist only because - ize, now so
common, saves a moment’s thought
to those who want a word & forget
that there is one ready to hand;
they might well be placed among
Superfluous words. The -able
adjective should be legitimable (- atiz-
able, -izable ); see -able 1 , & Mute e.
leisure. The OED puts the pro¬
nunciation lezh- (not lezh-) first.
U.-S. dictionaries reverse the pre¬
ference ; but in England the le- is
now rare.
leit-motiv, -f. The right (German)
spelling is with -v. Pronounce
litmote'f.
lengthways, -wise. See -ways,
-■WISE.
lenience, -cy. The second is re¬
commended ; see -ce, -cy.
lens. PI. lenses ; see Singular -s.
l4se-majeste. See French words.
The English lese-majesty is not now
a legal term, treason having taken
its place ; the French form is often
used of treason in foreign countries,
& either is applied jocularly (cf.
Pedantic humour) to anything
that can be metaphorically con¬
sidered treason.
less. 1. Nothing l. 2. Much &
still l. 3. L., lesser, smaller, lower,
fewer.
1. For the two meanings of nothing
l. than, a possible source of am¬
biguity, see NOTHING.
2. The illogical use of much l.
instead of much more is discussed
under Illogicalities, & much.
Here are two examples of still l. for
still more, interesting in different
ways :— Of course social considera¬
tions, still less considerations of mere
wealth, must not in any way be
allowed to outweigh purely military
efficiency. Here, if still . . . wealth
had been placed later than must not,
321
-LESS
LESS, 3
it would have passed; coming
before it, it is wrong ; you can
understand must out of a previous
must not, but not out of a must not
that is yet to com e./Perhaps Char¬
les's most fatal move was the attempted
arrest of the five members, undertaken
on the Queen's advice, & without the
knowledge, & still less without the
consent of his three new advisers.
The writer of this has curiously
chosen, by needlessly inserting that
second without, to deprive himself of
the usual excuse for using less in¬
stead of more, i.e. the fact that some
ellipsis of a word prevents the
illogicality from being instantly
visible & permits a writer to lose
sight of what the full phrase would
require while he attends to the
broad effect.
3. L., lesser, smaller, lower, fewer,
&c. The letters & memoirs could
have been published, we should imag¬
ine, at a less price./While Colonel
Seely adheres to the determination to
keep open the competition for the best
aeroplane, a lesser prize will probably
be offered which will be confined to
British manufacturers. These ex¬
tracts suggest ignorance of, or
indifference to, modern idiomatic
restrictions on the use of less &
lesser. The grammar of both is
correct; but, when the context—
unemotional statement of everyday
facts—is taken into account, at a
less price ought to be at a lower
price, & a lesser prize ought to be
a smaller prize. It is true that less
& lesser were once ordinary com¬
paratives of little (lesser differing
from less in being used only as an
adjective & only before a noun), &
that therefore they were roughly
equivalent in sense to our smaller ;
& further, this piece of archaism,
like many others, is permissible in
emotional passages or such as de¬
mand exceptionally dignified ex¬
pression ; but the extracts have no
such qualification.
The modern tendency is so to
restrict less that it means not
smaller, but a smaller amount of, is
1351
the comparative rather of a little
than of little, & is consequently
applied only to things that are
measured by amount & not by size
or quality or number, nouns with
which much & little, not great &
small, nor high & low, nor many &
few, are the appropriate contrasted
epithets : less butter, courage ; but
a smaller army, table ; a lower price,
degree ; fewer opportunities, people.
Plurals, & singulars with a or an,
will naturally not take less ; less
tonnage, but fewer ships ; less man¬
power, but fewer men ; less oppor¬
tunity, but a worse opportunity, &
inferior opportunities ; though a few
plurals like clothes & troops, really
equivalent to singulars of indefinite
amount, are exceptions : could do
with less troops or clothes. Of less 's
antipathy to a , examples are : 1
want to pay less rent, but a lower rent
is what 1 want./That is of less value,
but a lower value attaches to this./
Less noise, please, but a slighter noise
would have waked me./Less size means
less weight, but 1 want a smaller size.
Such is the general tendency : to
substitute smaller, lower, fewer, or
other appropriate word, for less
except where it means J a smaller
amount of ’, & for lesser, & to regard
the now slightly archaic less in other
senses as an affectation. There are
no doubt special phrases keeping it
alive even in quite natural speech,
e.g. in ox to a less degree, "where lower
is hardly yet as common as less ; but
the general tendency is unmistak¬
able, & is moreover, since it makes
for precision, one that should be
complied with.
-LESS. Bare reference of any word
in -less to this article means that
the use of it in ordinary prose is
deprecated.
The original & normal use of this
suffix is to append it to nouns, pro¬
ducing adjectives meaning without
the thing, e. g. headless, tuneless ;
to this use there are no limits what¬
ever. Words made from verbs,
with the sense not able to do or not
LESSEE
322
LETTER FORMS
liable to suffer the action or process,
as tireless, fadeless, & describeless,
are much fewer, are mostly of a
poetical cast, & when new-minted
strike the reader of prose at least as
base metal. They have an undeni¬
able advantage in their shortness ;
compare resistless, describeless, &
weariless , with irresistible, indescrib¬
able, & unwcariable ; but this is
outweighed for all except fully
established ones by the uneasy feel¬
ing that there is something queer
about them. Apart from a few so
familiar that no thought of their
elements & formation occurs to us,
such as dauntless, -less words made
from verbs are much better left to
the poets ; this docs not apply to
the many in which, as in numberless,
formation from the noun gives the
sense as well, if not as obviously, as
formation from the verb (without
number ? or not able to be num¬
bered ?) ; dauntless itself may per¬
haps have been made from the noun
daunt, which in the 15th & 16th
centuries was current in the sense
discouragement.
To those who have any regard for
the interests of the language as
distinguished from its pliability to
their immediate purposes, it will
seem of some importance that it
should not become necessary, with
every word in which -less is ap¬
pended to what can be either a noun
or a verb, to decide which is this
time intended. If the verb-com¬
pounds become much more frequent,
we shall never know that pitiless &
harmless may not mean 4 that cannot
be pitied ’ & 4 secure against being
harmed ’ as well as 4 without the
instinct of pity * & ‘ without harm¬
fulness ’ ; we ought to be able to
reckon that, with a few well-known
exceptions, -less words mean simply
without what is signified by the
noun they contain ; & the way to
keep that assumption valid is to
abstain from reckless compounding
of -less with verbs.
lessee, lessor. The lessee is the
person who takes, the lessor the
person who lets, on lease.
lesser. See less.
lest. The idiomatic construction
after l. is should, or in exalted style
the pure subjunctive (/. we forget ;
l. he be angry). Instead of should,
good writers rarely use shall, may,
& might. The variations in the
quotations below are entirely against
modern idiom ; will & would after l.
are merely a special form of the
inability to distinguish between
shall & will. Mistakes correspond¬
ing to those after l. are still more
frequent after in order that. We
do not think Mr Lloyd George need be
apprehensive lest the newspaper reader
will interpret his little homily in
Wales yesterday as . . ./There must be
loyal cooperation, lest the last state of
the party becomes worse than the
first./The German force now lost no
time in retreat, lest they would be
cut off cb surrounded by General
Mackenzie.
let. Mistakes in case are very rare
in English ; forgetfulness of the con¬
struction, when l . is used in exhorta¬
tions, is responsible for a wrong
subjective now & then :— And now,
my dear, let you & I say a few words
about this unfortunate affair./Our
work is to inform cfc permeate the
party, not to leave it ; if anybody
must leave it, let it not be we. Read
me, us.
lethargy. Mr -, discussing the
l. of the dental profession to the
shocking condition of the teeth of the
working classes, said ... L. to is
unidiomatic, made on the Analogy
of indifference to, but not justified
by it.
let(t-). For spelling cf. set(t).
Letter FORMS. Of the usual forms
preceding the signature some are
better suited than others to certain
correspondents or occasions. The
distinctions here offered are tenta¬
tive, but may be useful. 4 1 a ™>
Sir ’ &c., or 4 Believe me (to be) ,
lettuce
323
LIBEL
or 4 1 remain ’, used to precede most
of the following forms, but they are
now more often omitted.
Your obedient servant, or Yours
obediently : From or to officials ;
letters to the Editor in newspapers.
Yours respectfully, or (old-fashion¬
ed) Your obedient servant, or (old-
fashioned) Yours to command : Ser¬
vant to master &c.
Faithfully : To newspaper (affect¬
ed).
Yours &c . : To newspaper (now
common).
Yours faithfully ; To unknown
person on business.
Yours truly : To slight acquain¬
tance.
Yours very truly : Ceremonious but
cordial.
Yours sincerely : In invitations &
friendly but not intimate letters.
Yours ever, or Ever yours, or Yours :
Unceremonious between intimates.
Yours affectionately : Between re¬
lations &c.
lettuce. Pronounce -tis.
levee. Write without an accent,
& pronounce le'vi.
level makes - lied &c.; see -ix-, -l-.
Do one’s l. best, originally American,
has lived long enough in England to
be no longer slang.
lever makes levered &c.; see -r-,
-RR-.
lever de rideau. See French
WORDS.
levigate, levitate, make -gable,
* liable ; see -able 1.
levy, n. For synonymy see tax.
tevy* V. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -V, -ye, 6.
lexicon. See dictionary. PI. - ns
-ca ; see -OK 2.
Leyden. Pronounce 1I-, not la-,
liable, possibly because it is a more
or less isolated Word lacking con-
nexmns to keep it steady, con¬
stantly has its meaning shifted.
For its proper use, see apt, with
which there is much excuse for con¬
fusing it. The first quotation illus¬
trates that confusion ; in the second,
*« to assert should be capable of
asserting; in the third, is l. to
demand should be may demand or
is likely or not unlikely to demand ;
& in the last the sporting reporter
should have stuck to his last & said
in the running for instead of l. to
win :—Political <& religious bias are
also 1. to operate. President
having a Cabinet, & having to take
note of the relics of the Tzu Cheng
Yuan, still not officially made non-
existent, db of the Nanking Assembly
inferentially superseded, but still 1 .
to assert itself, can hardly be held as
invested with dictatorial power./Walk¬
ing through England must have been
stripped of most of its charms, when
at every inn you have to fill up forms
about the colour of your wife's hair,
& every policeman is 1. to demand
the production of a variety of tickets./
Duncan has been for several years 1. to
win one of the big prizes of golf.
liaison. Pronounce as English
(lia'zn) ; the military use during the
war has completed its naturaliza¬
tion.
liana. Pronounce liah'na.
libel makes -lied, - llous, &c. ; see
-LL-, -L-.
libel & some synonyms. The
much-quoted saying 4 The greater
the truth the greater ’ (or 4 worse ’)
4 the libel ’ makes us all occasionally
curious about what a 1. is. It & its
synonyms, several of which have
separate meanings in legal & in
popular use, also differ from one
another according as they imply or
do not imply falsity, malice, &
publication. The synonyms meant
are calumny, defamation, scandal, &
slander. The definitions that follow
are taken verbatim from the OED ;
distinctions between legal & popular
use are shown ; & in the brackets
are notes of the OED or, with in¬
verted commas, illuminating sen¬
tences quoted by it. The presence
or absence in the definitions of the
words false, malicious, published, &c.,
should be carefully noticed.
Calumny : False & malicious mis¬
representation of the words or
LIBERAL
324
LIGHTNING
actions of others, calculated to
injure their reputation.
Defamation : The action of defam¬
ing, or attacking any one’s good
fame.
Libel : (Law) any published state¬
ment damaging to the reputation of
a person (‘ The judge answered . . .
that it was clearly possible to pub¬
lish a libel for the public good ’) ;
(Pop.) any false & defamatory state¬
ment in conversation or otherwise.
Scandal : (Law) any injurious re¬
port published concerning another
which may be the foundation of
legal action ; (Pop.) the utterance
of disgraceful imputations (The
word differs from the etymologically
identical slander in not implying the
falsity of the imputations made).
Slander : The utterance or dis¬
semination of false statements or
reports concerning a person, or
malicious misrepresentation of his
actions, in order to defame or injure
him (‘ Falsehood & malice, express
or implied, are of the essence of the
action for slander ’).
liberal. In l. education the adjec¬
tive retains a sense that is almost
obsolete, & yet is near enough to
some extant senses to make mis¬
understanding possible. A 1. e. is
neither one in which expense is not
spared, nor one in which enlightened
methods of teaching prevail, nor
even one that instils broadminded¬
ness ; or rather it is not so called
because it is any of these. It is the
education designed for a gentleman
(Latin liber a free man), & is opposed
on the one hand to technical or pro¬
fessional or any special training, &
on the other to education that stops
short before manhood is reached.
liberate makes - rable, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
libertine. For chartered l., see
Hackneyed phrases.
libretto. PI. -etti (pronounce -e ;
see -i) or -os, see -o(e)s G.
Libyan. So spelt, not Lybian. See
Y & I.
licence, -se.
The first is better for
the noun, the second for the verb.
Compare, for this convenient dis¬
tinction, advice, -se, device, -se,
practice, -se, prophecy, -sy, in all of
which the c marks the noun.
lichen. Pronounce li'kn; Gk
leikhen is the source.
lich-gate, -house. So spelt; the
OED gives lych - only as a variant;
see y & i.
lickerish, liquorish. The first is the
right form, & the second, being
wrongly associated with liquor, in¬
evitably alters & narrows the mean¬
ing. The word means fond of
dainties, sweet-toothed, greedy, lust¬
ful, & is connected with the verb lick
& with lecher, not with liquor. See
True & false etymology.
licorice. See liquorice.
lie, be prostrate. See lay & lie.
lie, position. See lay & lie. .
lie, speak falsely. For inflexions,
see Verbs in -ie, -y, -ye, 3.
lien, n. * The usual pronunciation
in England is le'en.’—OED.
-lier. For comparative-adverb
forms, see -er & -est 3.
lieutenant. Pronounce left- or 16ft-,
& in nautical & naval use lete'nant;
lut- prevails in U.S. For hyphen in
l. general, see major general.
life. 1. For come into one’s L, see
Hackneyed phrases. We sense the
tragedy of Anna Wolsky as she steps
light-heartedly into Sylvia Bayley s
life. 2. For pi. &c., see -ve(d).
light, n. For dim religious l., see
Irrelevant allusion. In l. of
will not do for in the l. of, as in That
it should have been so, in light of all
the facts, will always be a nine-days
wonder to the student of history ; see
Cast-iron idiom.
ight, v. Both verbs (kindle,
:scend) make lighted or lit for past
nse & p.p. ; but lighted is corn-
oner for the p.p., especially that oi
e first verb used attributively :
the fire lighted or lit ?, but Holding
lighted candle .
ightning, n. So spelt, not -tening.
LIKE
325
like, adj. For & the l., see forth 1.
like in questionable constructions.
1. It will be best to dispose first of
what is, if it is a misuse at all, the
most flagrant & easily recognizable
misuse of like. A sentence from
Darwin quoted in the OED contains
it in a short & unmistakable form :
Unfortunately few have observed like
you have done. Every illiterate
person uses this construction daily ;
it is the established way of putting
the thing among all who have not
been taught to avoid it; the sub¬
stitution of as for like in their
sentences would sound artificial.
But in good writing this particular
like is very rare, & even those
writers with whom sound English
is a matter of care & acquirement
rather than of right instinct, & to
whom like was once the natural
word, deliberately weed it out. The
OED’s judgement is as follows :
4 Used as conjunction, = “ like as ”,
as. Now generally condemned as
vulgar or slovenly, though examples
may be found in many recent writers
of standing Besides the Darwin
quoted above, the OED gives indis¬
putable examples from Shakspere,
Southey, Newman, Morris, & other
* writers of standing ’. The reader
who has no instinctive objection to
the construction can now decide for
himself whether he shall consent to
use it in talk, in print, in both, or in
neither ; he knows that he will be
able to defend himself if he is con¬
demned for it, but also that, until
he has done so, he will be condemned.
It remains to give a few newspaper
examples so that there may be no
mistake about what the * vulgar or
slovenly * use in its simplest form
is :— Or can these tickets be kept (like
the sugar cards were) by the re¬
tailer ?/The retail price can never
reach a prohibitive figure like petrol
has done./TFastth’s words sank into
Lingard's heart like lead sinks into
water./They studied the rules of a
game like a lawyer would study an
imperfectly- dr awn- up will./Our great *
patron saint * St George * was a Greek , I
LIKE, 2
like a good many of the saints are./
The idea that you can learn the
technique of an art like you can learn
the multiplication table or the use of
logarithms.
2. The rest of this article is in¬
tended for those who decide against
the conjunctional use that has been
already discussed, & are prepared
to avoid also some misuses of a less
easily recognizable kind. All the
examples in 1 were of the undis¬
guised conjunctional use, & con¬
tained a subordinate clause with its
verb ; most of those now to come
have no subordinate verb, & in all of
them like may be regarded as an
adjective or adverb having the
additional power (cf. worth) of
directly governing nouns as if it
were a preposition.
The first type is perhaps not really
different from that discussed in i.
Examples are :— Or should he have
a palace some distance away , like the
Bishop of Winchester has at Fam-
ham ?/But in an industrialized county
like so great a part of Lancashire is,
the architecture can hardly fail to .. ./
The club doctor was the friend &
adviser of its members, something
like the country parson has to be
to his labour parishioners in the
present day. The peculiarity of
these is that in each there is a pre¬
vious noun, palace, county, some¬
thing, with which like may agree as
an adjective, & an ellipsis of ‘ what ’
or ‘ the one that ’ may be supposed.
Such a defence is neither plausible
nor satisfactory, & the sentences
are no better than others containing
a verb.
Of sentences in which like is not
followed by a verb, certain forms
are unexceptionable, but are liable
to extensions that are not so. The
unquestioned forms are He talks like
an expert & You are treating me like
a fool, in which like is equivalent to
a prepositional adverb = similarly
to ; & You, like me, are disappointed,
in which like is equivalent either to
an adverb as before, or perhaps
rather to a prepositional adjective
LIKE, 2
326
= resembling in this respect. The
second, third, & fourth faulty types
represent neglect of various limita¬
tions observed in the correct forms.
Second type :— The Committee was
today, like yesterday, composed of
the following gentlemen./The Turks
ivould appreciate the change, as,
unlike Koweit, their political title is
here beyond dispute./It is certain that
now, unlike the closing years of last
century, quotation from his poetry is
singularly rare./We may have 110,
like last year, when Paignton . . . &
Jersey all enjoyed a sun-bath of
nearly 200 hours. The limitation
here disregarded is that the word
governed by like must be a noun,
not an adverb or an adverbial
phrase. Yesterday & last year are
not nouns, but an adverb & an
adverbial phrase ; & Koweit & the
closing years, meaning at Koweit &
in the closing years, have also only a
deceitful appearance of being nouns.
Third type :— People get alarmed on
each occasion on which (like the pre¬
sent case) dying children suddenly
appear./He has completed a new work
in which, like its author’s recent
books, no failing in sparkle or vigour
will be traceable./And then came the
war ; like many another English
village, it filtered slowly, very slowly,
through to his. The limitation (sug¬
gested with diffidence) that has here
been disregarded is that the pre¬
ceding noun to which like is attached
must be not one governed by a pre¬
position, but subject or object of the
main verb. The preceding nouns
are which (i.e. occasion), which (i.e.
work), & his (i.e. village), governed
by on, in, & to ; instead of like, read
as in the present case, as in its
author's recent books, & as to many
another.
Fourth type :—Like his Roman
predecessor, his private life was pro¬
fligate ; like Antony, he was an i
insatiate gambler./When the raging
tearing propaganda was started, it
was thought that, like Mr Balfour, his
convictions on the fiscal question were
unsettled. The limitation is that the
LIKE (vb.)
word governed by like must be in
pari materia with the one to which
it is compared. The predecessor &
Mr Balfour are not so related to
life & convictions ; but Antony is to
he, & that sentence alone will pass
muster. This mistake, however, of
comparing unlike things is not, like
the others, peculiar to like , but is
a slovenly parsimony of words that
may occur in many other construc¬
tions.
-like. * In formations intended as
nonce-words, or not generally cur¬
rent, the hyphen is ordinarily used’
—OED. To which it may be added
that nouns in -l require the hyphen ;
the OED prints, e. g., cowl-like, eel¬
like, flail-like, jail-like, owl-like,
pearl-like, rebel-like, sentinel-like,
veil-like.
like, v. 1. L. makes likable ; see
Mute e.
2. I would l. Even on those who
use should & would idiomatically
under all ordinary temptations the
verb l. seems to exercise a corrupting
influence ; a couple of examples
follow pro formd, but anyone can
find as many as he pleases with very
little search :— We would l. to ask
one or two questions on our own
account./There is one paragraph in it
that I would l. to refer to. There is
indeed no mystery about why
people go wrong ; it is because, if
the thing had to be said without the
use of the verb like, would & not
should is the form to use : We would
ask, that I would refer to ; but that
has nothing to do with what is right
when the verb like is used. Putting
aside one idiom that with this
particular verb is negligible ( When
the post came 1 would like to be
allowed to carry it in, = I used to
like), I would l. is no better than any
of the wills & woulds that are well
recognized as Scotch, Irish, Ameri¬
can, & other kinds of English, but
not English English. If the shall &
■will idiom is worth preserving at
all, 1 would L is wrong, & 1 should l.
right.
likely
LIMB
327
likely, adv. Yet it was not easy to
divine the thought behind that intent¬
ness of gaze ; likely it was far from
the actual scene apparently holding
its attention. In educated speech &
writing the adverb is never used
without very, most, or more, except
*>y way of poetic archaism or, as
presumably in the extract, of
stylistic Novelty-hunting. Ameri¬
can usage, however, may be differ¬
ent :— The climate in America is so
severe in winter that stocks will l. die
out./lt will l. be financed largely by
capital raised in the United States.
For likelily, see -lily ; for likelier
adv., -er & -est 3.
likewise. The use as a conjunction
(Its tendency to wobble & its uniform¬
ity of tone colour, l. its restricted
powers of execution) is, like the
similar use of also, an Illiteracy ;
the OED quotes no example.
likin. Pronounce leke'n.
-LILY. Avoidance of the adverbs
in -lily, i.e. adverbs made regularly
from adjectives in -ly, is merely a
matter of taste, but is very, &
increasingly, general. Neither the
difficulty of saying the words nor the
sound of them when said is a serious
objection so long as the three syl¬
lables are not passed; holily &
statelily & lonelily are not hard to say
or harsh to hear ; but with heaven-
lily & ruffianlily hesitation is natural;
& the result has been that adverbs
in -lily, however short, are now with
a few special exceptions seldom
heard & seldomer seen. Methods of
avoidance are various :—
1. It is always possible to say in
a masterly manner, at a timely
moment, & the like, instead of
masterlily,. timelily ; or again to be
content with decorously &c. instead
of mannerlily ; the method of peri¬
phrasis or synonym.
2. A large number of adjectives in
-ly are established as adverbs also.
bo early, ( most or very) likely, & the
adjectives of periodical recurrence
like daily & hourly. A single quota¬
tion will show the consequences of
making one’s own adverbs of this
kind : External evidence, however, is
rare ; & its rarity gives value to such
work as Mr - here masterly does.
3. Before adjectives & adverbs the
-ly adjective often stands instead of
the -lily adverb, making a kind of
informal compound. Though we
should say horribly pale & not
horrible pale, we allow ourselves
ghastly pale rather than use ghast-
lily; so heavenly bright, beastly cold,
jolly soon, &c.—all without the
hyphen that would mark regular
compounds.
4. In sentences where it is just
possible, though not natural, for a
predicative adjective to stand in¬
stead of an adverb, that way is
sometimes taken with an adjective
in -ly though it would not be taken
with another : it happened timely
enough, though not opportune enough ;
she nodded queenly, though not she
nodded significant.
5. Perhaps any adjective formed
by appending -ly either to an adjec¬
tive (kind, kindly ; dead, deadly) or
to a noun of the kind that is easily
used in apposition like an adjectival
epithet (cowardly, cf. the coward
king ; soldierly, cf. a soldier colonist)
is sometimes, though always con¬
sciously & noticeably, allowed to
pass as an adverb : it was ruffianly
done ; a kindly thought, & kindly
uttered.
On the other hand, avoidance is
not always called for ; some -lily
words are current, though not many.
Those that naturally present them¬
selves (he laughed jollily ; sillily
complacent ; live holily ; dodged it
wilily) seem to be all from adjectives
in which -ly is not the usual adjec¬
tival ending, but the l is part of the
word-stem ; & though we are most
of us not conscious of that fact
nowadays, it may have had its
effect in separating these from the
others.
limb. When we first come across
an eclipse in the newspapers & read
of the sun's lower limb , we suspect
LIMBER
328
LITERALLY
the writer of making jokes or waxing
poetical, so odd is the association
of limbs with that globular form.
It is a relief to learn that limb does
mean edge without a metaphor ;
the l. in Astronomy &c. is from
Latin limbus hem, & the l. of
ordinary speech is a separate &
native word. See True & false
ETYMOLOGY.
limber, v., makes -ered &c. ; see
-R-, -RR-.
limbo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
lime makes limy ; see -ey & -y.
limit, n. For some synonyms in
sense tether &c., see field.
limit, v., makes -ited &c. ; see -T-,
-TT-.
limited. L. company is an elliptical
phrase for l.-liability company, &
implies not that the number of
members is 1., but that their liability
for its debts is so.
limn. In l. & limned n is silent, in
limner sounded, & in limning either ;
C*f. DAMNING.
limpid often has (-er) -est ; see
-er & -est, 2, 4.
linage, number of lines. Spell thus;
the other spelling, lineage, though
often seen in the newspapers, is,
owing to the existence of lineage
descent, still less desirable than
other spellings with intrusive Mute
e. An example of the wrong form
is : ... at the rate of 15s. per inch
(set in display type) or 9d. per line
(set in the lineage style).
line, n. For some synonyms in
sense department &c., see field.
line, v., makes -noble ; see Mute e.
lin(e)age. See linage.
lingerie. See French words.
lingo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6. For
some synonyms, see jargon.
links, golf-course. Sometimes used
as a singular (there is a good links
here) ; cf. an ironworks.
Linnaean, -nean. The first is usual,
6 though the Linnean Society adopts
the other form ’ (OED). See m, <e.
Against -nean is the invariable
spelling of Linnaeus.
lintel makes - lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
liny, not - ney ; see -ey & -y.
lionize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
liquate makes -atable ; see -able 1 0
liquefy. For inliexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
liqueur. Pronounce likur'; cf.
AMATEUR.
liquid. See fluid for fluid, gas, &
1. For the phonetic sense, see
Technical terms.
liquidize, liquidate, make - dizablc ,
-daole ; see Mute e, -able 1.
liquorice, lico-, The first is treated
by the OED as the established form,
liquorish. See lickerish.
lira, Italian franc, has pi. lire (pro¬
nounce ler'a) or anglicized liras. To
use lira as pi. (A meal in a second-
class restaurant costs from eight to
ten lira) is absurd.
lissom(e). The OED form is -om.
list, please. The third sing. pres, is
list or listeth, the past tense list or
listed. The verb being in any form
archaic, it is of no great importance
whether the more obviously archaic
impersonal construction (as him list
&c.) or the now commoner personal
one (as he list &c.) is used.
listen(er). Pronounce ll'sn(er). See
Pronunciation, Silent t.
litany, liturgy. The two words
have come so close to each other in
use that it is a surprise when one
first finds that the initial syllables
are not the same in origin, nor even
connected. For those who know the
Greek words, a litany is a series of
prayers, a liturgy is a canon of
public service ; the latter in practice
includes prayer, but does not say so.
literally. We have come to such
a pass with this emphasizer that
where the truth would require us to
insert with a strong expression ‘ not
literally, of course, but in a manner
of speaking ’, we do not hesitate to
insert the very word that we ought
to be at pains to repudiate ; cl.
veritable ; such false coin makes
honest traffic in words impossible.
If the Home Rule Bill is passed, the
LITERARY CRITICS* WORDS 329
LITERARY WORDS
300,000 Unionists of the South db
West of Ireland will be literally
thrown to the wolves ./The strong
tete-de-pont fortifications were rushed
by our troops, & a battalion crossed
the bridge literally on the enemy’s
shoulders. In both, practically or
virtually, opposites of literally, would
have stood. (At election time) My
telephone wires have been kept 1 . red-
hot. jH. B. Stallard in the half-mile
1. 4 flew ’ round the track. I Americans
are 1 . fed up with these foreign con¬
spirators. /He [a climber] came through
safely, but he had 1 . to cling on with
his eyebrows.
LITERARY CRITICS* WORDS. The
literary critics here meant are not
the writers of books or treatises or
essays of which the substance is
criticism ; readers of that form of
literature are a class apart, between
which & its writers if a special lingo
exists, the rest of us are not con¬
cerned to take exception to it.
Anything said in this book about
literary critics is aimed only at the
newspaper reviewers of books &
other works of art. Those reviewers,
as anyone knows who examines them
critically in their turn, give us work
that ranges from the very highest
literary skill (if the power of original
creation is set aside as here irrele¬
vant) to the merest hack-work ; but
the point is that whether they
are highly accomplished writers, or
tiros employed on the theory that
anyone is good enough to pass an
opinion on a book, their audience
is. not the special class that buys
critical works because its tastes are
literary, but the general public,
which buys its criticism as part of
its newspaper, & does not know the
critics’ lingo. It follows that, the
better the critic, the fewer literary
critics’ words he uses. The good
critic is aware that his public wants
to understand, & he has no need to
convince it that he knows what he
is talking about by parading words
that it does not understand. With
the inferior critic the establishment
of his status is the first considera¬
tion, & he effects it by so using, let
us say, actuality, inevitable, & sym¬
pathetic, that the reader shall become
aware of a mysterious difference
between the sense attaching to the
words in ordinary life & the sense
now presented to him. He has
taken actuality to mean actualness or
reality ; the critic perplexes him
by giving it another sense, which
it has a right to in French, where
aciuet means present, but not in
English, i.e. up-to-dateness, or re¬
semblance not to truth in general
but to present-day conditions ; & he
does this without mentioning that
he is gallicizing. And so with the
other words ; the reader is to have
it borne in upon him that a more
instructed person than himself is
talking to him. One mark of the
good literary critic is that he is both
able to explain his meaning without
resort to these lingo words, & under
no necessity to use them as adver¬
tisements.
Specimens of literary critics’ words,
under some of which (printed in
capitals) further remarks will be
found, are :—actuality, banal(ity),
cachet, charm, concision, dis¬
tinction, IMMENSE, INEVITABLE,
INTRIGUE, METICULOUS, MOT JUSTE,
SYMPATHETIC.
Literary words. A1. w., when
the description is used in this book,
is one that cannot be called archaic,
inasmuch as it is perfectly compre¬
hensible still to all who hear it, but
that has dropped out of use & had
its place taken by some other word
except in writing of a poetical or
a definitely literary cast. To use
literary words instead of the current
substitutes in an unsuitable context
challenges attention & gives the
impression that the writer is a
foreigner who has learnt the lan¬
guage only from books. See also
what is said of Formal words.
Chill for chilly, eve for evening, gain¬
say for deny &c., loathly for loath¬
some, visage for face &c., may be
LITHESOME
330
LOAD
instanced ; but literary words are
reckoned by thousands.
lithesome is, between lithe &
lissom, a Superfluous word.
lithontriptic. See Barbarisms.
litotes. See Technical terms.
Pronounce ll'totez.
litre, -ter. See -re & -er.
litter, brood. See farrow.
litterateur. See French words.
little. See small. Comparison
lcss(er) (for limitations of sense see
less 3), least, or more usually
smaller, -csi.
littoral, n., has a technical sense in
which it is doubtless of value ;
marine life being distributed into
abyssal, pelagic, & littoral, the l.
(sc. zone or region) is the shallow
waters near the shore. But that is
not the sense in which most of us
know it ; it meets us as a name for
the land region bordering & including
the shore ; in that sense it may be
important in treaties & the like to
have a word that does not mean
strictly the mere line of coast or
shore ; but in ordinary contexts it
should never be preferred to coast, &
its present popularity is due to
pretentiousness. Why not coast in
The towns along the Mediterranean
littoral. The Russian settlements on
the Eastern Caspian littoral‘l See
Formal words.
liturgy. See litany.
livable. So spelt ; see Mute e.
-lived. In long-l . &c. the right pro¬
nunciation is livd, the words being
from life (cf. -leaved from leaf &c.)
& not from live ; but livd is often
heard.
liven. See -en verbs.
llama. See lama.
-LL~, -L-. Final l is treated differ¬
ently in British, but not American,
usage from most final consonants,
the rule being to double it, if single,
in inflexions & in some derivatives
irrespective of the position of the
accent,
1. When verbs in -l (except those in
which a compound vowel sound, as
ai, ea, ee, oi, ow, ur, precedes the - 1)
make inflected or derived words in
-able, -ed, -en, -er, or -ing, -ll- is
written— controllable, carolled, be¬
fallen, traveller, equalling ; but failed,
boiling, curled, &c., & before -ment l
is not doubled; see also paral¬
leled, wool.
2. When nouns or adjectives in -l
(with exceptions as in 1) make
adjectives by addition of -ed, -er, or
-y, the l is doubled : flannelled,
jeweller, gravelly ; but see unparal¬
leled. Before -ish & -ism & -ist,
l is not doubled: devilish, liberalism,
naturalist. Irregular superlatives
vary, most using one l, but words in
-ful always two : brutalest, loyalest,
civil(l)est, joy fullest.
3. The simple form of a good many
verbs vacillates between -l & -ll, &
no rule is possible that will secure
the best form for all words & not
conflict with strong usage for some;
but it is perhaps safe to say that
where such vacillation exists -ll is
better if a precedes ( appall, befall,
enthrall, install), & -l if another
vowel, especially i ( distil, instil,
enrol, annul) ; verbs in -ll, however,
take single l before -ment ( enrolment ,
enthralment, instalment).
4. Derivatives & compounds of
words in -ll sometimes drop one l;
so almighty, almost, already, alto¬
gether, always, but not alright ;
chilblain ; fulfil; skilful; thraldom ;
wilful. This is perhaps helped by
some apparent but not real examples
such as belfry, bulrush, bulwark, &
walnut, which are not from bell, bull,
& wall. Dul(l)ness & ful(l)ness are
debatable ; the older & much com¬
moner spelling, but (according to
the OED) the one less ‘ in accord¬
ance with general analogies ’ has
only one L
Lloyd’s, underwriters. So written,
not -ds or ds\
load, lode. In the compounds with
stone & star it is usual to spell load -
stone, but lodestar. The first element
is the same, & is the ordinary load,
of which the original sense was way.
LOAFED
331
LONG VARIANTS
connected with the verb lead ; the
spelling distinction is accidental, &
both lodeslone & loadstar are some¬
times used.
loafed, -ved. See -ve(d).
loan. The verb has been expelled
from idiomatic southern English by
lend, but was formerly current, &
survives in U.S. & locally in U.K.
lo(a)th. Loth is recommended.
The OED gives precedence to loath,
& it is true that that spelling avoids
obscuring the connexion with the
verb loathe; but in its 19th-c.
quotations the proportion is 7 : 1 for
loth, a fair proof of establishment.
The verb is always loathe, & loathly
& loathsome have always the a.
lobby, v. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
lobular. See -ular.
local(e). 1. The ‘ erroneous form ’
(OED) locale is recommended ; see
morale, & A l’outrance. 2. Pro-
nounce the noun lokah'l, whichever
way it is spelt. 3. The word’s right
to exist depends on the question
whether the two indispensable words
locality & scene give all the shades of
meaning required, or whether some¬
thing intermediate is useful. The
defence of l. would be on these lines :
A locality is a place, with features of
some sort, existing independently of
anything that may happen there.
If something happens in a locality,
the locality becomes that some¬
thing’s locale, or place of happening.
If the something that happens is
seen or imagined or described in
connexion with its locale, the locale
becomes its scene or visible environ¬
ment.
localize, locate, make -zable, -atable ;
see Mute e, -able 1.
locative. See Technical terms.
loch. See loug h.
locomote. See Back-formation.
loculus. PI. -li (-li).
locum tenens, -ncy. Pronounce
lolcum te'-. The -ncy word is
usually -ency, not -anew.
locus. PI. -ci (-si).
locution is a potentially convenient
word as equivalent to word or
phrase ; not more than potentially,
because it so far smacks of pedantry
that most people prefer to say word
or phrase on the rare occasions when
expression is not precise enough for
the purpose, & l. gets left to the
pedants. His style is comparatively
free from locutions calculated to baffle
the English reader ; does anyone
really like that better than expres¬
sions ?
lode. See load.
lodge makes lodgeable ; see Mute e.
lodg(e)ment. Retention of the -e-
is recommended ; see judgement.
logan. Pronounce 15 / gan(-berry),
but 15'gan(-stone).
logaoedic. Pronounce logae'dik.
loggia. Pronounce lo'ja ; pi. loggic,
pronounce lo'ja.
logic. For the l. of facts or events,
see Hackneyed phrases.
logion. Pron. lo'gion ; pi. -ia.
loiter has -ered &c.; see -r-, -rr-.
lollop has - oping &c.; see -P-, -pp-.
Lombard(y). The OED gives pre¬
cedence to lorn- over the probably
more usual liim-.
lonelily. See -lily.
long butt (billiards) should not be
hyphened ; see Hyphens on the
relation of stress to hyphen,
long-lived. See -lived.
longue haleine. See French
words.
LONG VARIANTS. ‘ The better the
writer, the shorter his words ’ ■would
be a statement needing many ex¬
ceptions for individual persons &
particular subjects ; but for all that
it would, & especially about English
writers, be broadly true. Those
who run to long words are mainly
the unskilful & tasteless ; they
confuse pomposity with dignity,
flaccidity with ease, & bulk with
force ; see Love of the long word.
A special form of long word is now
to be illustrated ; when a word for
the notion wanted exists, some
people (1) forget or do not know that
word, & make up another from the
LONG VARIANTS
332
LONG VARIANTS
same stem with an extra suffix or
two ; or (2) are not satisfied with
a mere current word, & resolve to
decorate it, also with an extra suffix ;
or (3) have heard used a longer form
that resembles it, & are not aware
that this other form is appropriated
to another sense. Cases of 1 & 2
are often indistinguishable ; the
motive differs, but the result is the
same ; & they will here be mixed
together, those of 3 being kept
apart.
1 & 2. Needless lengthenings of
established words due to oversight
or caprice : administrate (adminis¬
ter) ; assertative (assertive) ; con-
tumacity (contumacy) ; cultivata-
ble (cultivable) ; dampen (damp,
v.) ; dubiety (doubt) ; epistolatory
(epistolary) ; experimentalize (ex¬
periment, v.) ; extemporaneously
(ex tempore) ; filtrate (filter, v.) *,
fluviatile (fluvial) ; perfection, v.
(perfect, v.) ; preventative (preven¬
tive) ; quieten (quiet, v.) ; wastage
(waste).
Examples of 1 & 2
The capability of the Germans to
administrate districts with a mixed
population./Still speaking in a very
loud assertative voice, he declared that
. . ,/Mdlle St Pierre's affected inter¬
ference provoked contumacity./ If you
add to the cultivatable lands of the
immediate Rhine valley those of . . ./
His extreme sensitiveness to all the
suggestions which dampen enthusi¬
asm . . ./Lord Lansdowne has done
the Liberal Party a good turn by
putting Tariff Reform to the front ;
about this there can be no dubiety./
Cowper's Letters . . . the best example
of the epistolatory art our language
possesses./A few old masters that have
been experimentalized on./M. Del-
cass£, speaking extemporaneously
but with notes , said .. ./A Chris¬
tianity filtrated of all its sectional
dogmas./The mud . . . is evidently
fluviatile cfc not diluvian./The inner ,
religiously moral perfectioning of
individuals./Jamaica ginger, which
is q very good preventative of sea¬
sickness./Whether that can be attri¬
buted to genuine American support
or to a quietening down of the specu¬
lative position is a matter of some
doubt./If we add to this number
another 10,000 for normal wastage,
we shall probably be fairly near the
mark.
3. Wrong use of longer forms due
to confusion : advancement (ad¬
vance) ; alternative (alternate);
cor rectitude (correctness) ; credit¬
able (credible) ; definitive (definite);
distinctive (distinct) ; estimation
(estimate) ; excepting (except) ; in¬
tensive (intense); partially (partly);
prudential (prudent) ; reverential
(reverent) ; transcendental (trans¬
cendent). The differences of mean¬
ing between the longer & shorter
words are not here discussed, but
will be found, unless too familiar to
need mention, under the words in
their dictionary place.
Examples of 3
It was only by advancement of
money to the tenant farmers that the
calamity could be ended./When the
army is not fully organized, when it
is in process of alternative disintegra¬
tion & rally, the problems are insolu¬
ble./Baron - believes himself to be
the oldest living Alsatian ; & there is
small reason to doubt the correctitude
of his belief./It is creditably stated
that the length of line dug & wired in
the time is near a record./But warning
& suggestion are more in evidence
than definitive guidance./Trade re¬
lations of an ordinary kind are quite
distinctive from those having annexa¬
tion as their aim./Since November 11
the Allies have been able to form a pre¬
cise estimation of Germany's real in¬
tentions./T he sojourn of belligerent
ships in French waters has never been
limited excepting by certain dearly
defined rules./The covered flowers
being less intensively coloured than
the others./The two feet, branching out
into ten toes, are partially of iron <v
partially of clay./It is often a very
easy thing to act prudentially, but
alas! too often only after we have
LONGWAYS
333
LOVE OF THE LONG WORD
toiled to our prudence through a forest
of delusions./Their behaviour in
church was anything but reverential./
The matter is of transcendental im¬
portance, especially in the present
disastrous state of the world.
It only remains to say that nothing
in this article must be taken to
countenance the shortening of such
words as pacificist & quantitative.
Examples of pacifist are needless ;
but it is worth while to record
quantitive & authoritive ; & see
interpre(ta)tive. It is as if the
quantitive theory of naval strategy
held the field. / Her finely finished
authoritive performance was of great
value.
longways, -wise. See -ways.
looby. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
loom, v. For l. largely) see
large(ly).
loony, lunatic. So spelt; see
-EY, -IE, -Y.
loose, loosen, w. For the distinc¬
tion, see -EN VERBS.
loquitur.< Pronounce lo'kwiter. L.
is singular = speaks ; cf. exit for
danger to non-latinists.
lord. Younger sons of Dukes &
Marquises are spoken of by the title
of Lord followed by Christian &
family name, as Lord Arthur Smith.
Omission of the Christian name is
wrong ; the permissible shortening
is not Lord Smith, but Lord Arthur.
For l. as an undress substitute for
marquis, earl, viscount, see Titles.
Lord Bacon is a mixture; the
possible correct styles are Bacon,
Francis Bacon, Sir Francis Bacon,
Lord Verulam, Lord or Viscount St
Albans, of which the first is usually
the best.
Lord Justice. PI. Lords Justices.
lordlily. See -lily.
lordolatry. See -latry.
lorgnette. See French words.
lose. L. no time in is a notoriously
ambiguous phrase : No time should
be lost in exploring the question. L.
makes losable ; see Mute e.
lot. A lot of people say so. Lots of
paper is wanted , &c. • see Number.
loth. See loath.
Lothario. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 8.
lotto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
lotus. PI. -uses.
louden. See -en verbs.
lough. The Irish l. & the Scotch
loch are pronounced alike, i.e. either
anglicized as lok, or with the
breathed guttural instead of the -k.
For l. cf. HOUGH.
Louis, 1-. See French words.
lour, lower. The meaning is frown.
Spell lour & pronounce lowr. The
word is not connected with low & the
other verb lower (15 'er), & it is a
pity that it should be confused with
that verb by the second spelling
(the oldest forms are lour & lure) &
so have its meaning narrowed & its
pronunciation altered. The con¬
fusion is due chiefly to the word’s
being often applied to clouds.
louse, lousy. Pronounce lows,
low'zi.
love. 1. L. makes lovable ; see
Mute e. 2. For the scenes he loved
so well &c., see Hackneyed phrases,
& Stock pathos.
lovelily. See -lily.
Love of the long word. It
need hardly be said that shortness is
a merit in words ; there are often
reasons why shortness is not possi¬
ble ; much less often there are
occasions when length, not short¬
ness, is desirable ; but it is a general
truth that the short words are not
only handier to use, but more
powerful in effect; extra syllables
reduce, not increase, vigour. This is
particularly so in English, where the
native words are short, & the long
words are foreign. I open Paradise
Lost & The Idylls of the King, & at
each first opening there face me :—
‘ Know ye not , then * said Satan,
fill'd with scorn ; ‘ Know ye not me ?
ye knew me once no mate For you,
there sitting where ye durst not soar.'/
And in those days she made a little
song And call'd her song * The Song
of Love db Death And sang it;
sweetly could she make db sing.
Fifty-six words, of which fifty-two
LOVE OF THE
334
LONG WORD
are monosyllables. Slightly selected
passages, indeed, but such as occur
on nearly every page ; & these are
not exercises in one-syllable words
for teaching children to read ; they
are the natural as well as the best
ways of saying what was to be said.
Nor is it in verse only that good
English runs to monosyllables ;
I open a new religious book, & find
at once this passage about the
Kingdom of Heaven :—IIis effort
was, not to tell mankind about it, but
to show it to them ; cfc He said that
those who sate it would be convinced,
net by Him, but by it. ‘ To this end
teas I born, cO for this cause came 1
into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth. Every one
that is of the truth hcareth my voice.'
There for once he spoke in general &
abstract terms. Those who are of the
truth, those who seek truth for its own
sake , will listen to Him cfc know that
what he says is true. Twelve words
that are not monosyllables in 101
words ; and there is no taint what¬
ever of affected simplicity in it.
Good English does consist in the
main of short words. There are
many good reasons, however, against
any attempt to avoid, because it is
a polysyllable, the word that will
give our meaning best ; what is here
deprecated is the tendency among
the ignorant to choose, because it is
a polysyllable, the word that gives
their meaning no better or even
worse. In the article Long vari¬
ants, examples are given of long
forms chosen in place of shorter ones
of the same word or stem. Atten¬
tion is here confined to certain words
frequently used where unrelated
shorter ones would be better ; they
are doubtless chosen primarily not
for their length, but because they
are in vogue ; but their vogue is in
turn due to the pompous effect con¬
ferred by length. They are : men¬
tality, meticulous, percentage, pro¬
portion, proposition, protagonist ;
there are many similar words, under
which bare references to this article
may be made ; but these will serve
as types. A quotation or two will be
given under each, & a fitter word
offered. Mentality :— A twenty-foot
putt by Herreshoff at the twenty-fourth
hole did not help Hilton's golfing
mentality (nerve)././Is regards the
present treatment of prisoners, al¬
though there has doubtless been an
improvement in some of the German
camps, the general mentality towards
prisoners is ingrained (mood)./No
one has so wide a knowledge of
Afghan politics & of the mentality of
the Pathan (mind).
Meticulous :— These meticulous cal¬
culations of votes which have not yet
been given rather disgust us (exact)./
Owing to a meticulous regard for the
spirit of the party truce, their views
have not been adequately voiced by
j their leaders (strict )./Most of the
British & American proposals have
been too vague & sentimental on the
one hand & too elaborate db meticulous
on the other (detailed).
Percentage :— Our tax revenue is
now fully one hundred & sixty
millions sterling, & the Single Land.
Tax would not yield more than a
percentage of this (part; see also
percentage).
Proportion :— The greater propor¬
tion of these old hands have by this
time already dropped out (part; see
also proportion).
Proposition :— F. Ouimet, who play¬
ed so brilliantly yesterday, was the
proposition the holder had to face
(opponent)./The agriculturist asks
that 4 corn-growing shall become a
paying proposition ' (job )./The future
of the taximeter-cab proposition in
) the Metropolis presents a very inter¬
esting problem (trade).
Protagonist :— The two great West¬
ern Powers who have acted as pro¬
tagonists among the Allies in this war
(leaders). /But most of the protagonists
of this demand have since shifted their
ground (champions).
A few lines of the long-word style
we know so well are added : Vigor¬
ous condemnation is passed on the
| foreign policy of the Prime Minister,
i 4 whose temperamental inaptitude for
LOVEY
335
diplomacy & preoccupation with
domestic issues have rendered his
participation in external negotiations
gravely detrimental to the public
welfare ’. Vigorous indeed ; a charg¬
ing hippopotamus hardly more so.
lovey. So spelt; see -ey, -ie, -y.
lower, adj. 1. L. case, upper case,
are printers’ names for small letters,
capitals.
2. L. Empire is a name for the
Roman Empire from the time of
Constantine (A.D. 323-337), when
the seat of empire was shifted from
Rome to Constantinople, & Chris¬
tianity became the State religion.
Also called Later, Greek, Byzantine,
& Eastern, Empire .
lower, lour. See lour.
lowlily. See -lily.
loyal. For loyalest see -er & -f.st 4,
-LL-, -L- 2.
%
LU (pronunciation). There is clear¬
ly a movement going on in the pro¬
nunciation of this as lu (lyoo) or
loo. It was formerly de rigueur to
put in the y sound ; a lute, & even
a Jlute, had to be called lut (i.e.
lyoot) & flut (i.e. flyoot), not loot &
floot, or the speaker was damned in
polite circles. And great numbers
of good people count the victorious
progress of loo one of the vulgarities
of modern speech; among these
must be the OED, which goes so far
as to prefer glu. or glyoo to gloo for
the pronunciation of glue , though
it reverses this order for blue (bloo,
blu); foremost of us anything but
bloo & gloo is surely now impossible,
however refined we like to be where
the trials of articulation are less
severe.
On a question of this sort anyone
who is not entirely illiterate is sure
to think that the line he is accus¬
tomed to draw between pedantic
refinement & acceptance of popular
tendencies is the right line ; & the
individual view here given is subject
to that discount; a view, however,
must be given^for what it is worth ;
«s it is that loo is slowly but surely
LU
displacing lu. It forces its way
especially into accented syllables,
as may be seen by comparing
ludicrous, voluminous, lubricate, sa¬
lute, & dilute vb, in which loo now
prevails, with interlude, volume,
lubricity, salutation, & dilute adj., in
which lu is either the only possible
sound (as in volume, salutation) or
the usual one. And again into
common words more than into less
used ones ; compare salute (usually
-dot) with volute (usually -ut) ; it is
noticeable how the great currency
of absolutely (& the emphasis on
-ute-) due to its adoption as a
colloquial counter has hastened the
change to loo. The corresponding
fastnesses of lu are the unaccented
syllable & the less used word.
Points of a more special kind are :
when a consonant precedes the l, loo
is almost universal (blue, fluent, &c.);
when r follows, it helps to preserve
lu (lure, lurid) ; a following syllable
with a u in it naturally produces loo
by dissimilation even in the unac¬
cented syllable of a not very common
word (lugubrious, lucubration).
Some specimen lists follow, going
from undisputed lu to undisputed
loo. 1 (always lu). Volume, salu¬
tary, cellulose, pilule. 2 (usually lu).
Lure, lurid, aluminium, interlude,
lubricity, jvolute, dilute adj. 3
(usually loo). Voluminous, lute,
lupin, lunatic, illumine, lunar, Luci¬
fer, collusion, delude, dissolute,
evolution, lubricate, luminous, Lucy,
absolute, salute, ludicrous, dilute
vb, Lucian, Luke, lucre, lucubration,
lugubrious, lukewarm, Lutheran.
4 (always loo). Blue, clue, glue,
fluent, Pluvius, exclude, sluice.
Readers will differ about the as¬
signment of these to the various
groups ; but, whether that is right
or wrong, a glance at the words
collected may help them to clear
their minds on the point, & even
possibly persuade some of them that
the change to loo has gone too far
to be now stemmed. The advice
offered is to accept loo for all words
in list 3 at least, & (these being
LUBRICATE
336
merely specimens) for others on the
same level.
lubricate, lubricity. See lu.
lucent. Pronounce loo- ; see lu.
lucerne. Pronounce lu- or loo- ;
see lu.
lucid, Lucifer, lucrative, lucre. Pro¬
nounce loo- ; see lu.
lucre. For filthy l., see Hackneyed
PHRASES.
Lucretia. Pronounce lu- or loo-;
see lu.
lucubrate, luculent. Pronounce
loo- ; see lu.
ludicrous, lugubrious, Luke, luke¬
warm. Pronounce loo- ; see lu.
lumbago. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
luminary, luminous, lunacy, lunar,
lunatic. Pronounce loo-; see lu.
luncheon. Sec Formal words.
lung(e)ing. See Mute e ; omit
the e.
lupin, lupine, lupus. Pronounce
loo- ; see lu.
lure, lurid. Pronounce luf- ; see lu.
lustre, -ter. See -re & -er.
lustrum. PI. -fra, sometimes
-trums ; see -um. _
lusus naturae. Pronounce loo'sws
nature, see lu. PI. lusus n., pro¬
nounce -us, see -us. _
lute, Lutheran. Pronounce loo- ;
see lu.
luxe. See French words.
luxuriant, luxurious. Luxurious is
the adjective that belongs in sense
to luxury & conveys the ideas of
comfort or delight or indulgence ;
luxuriant has nothing to do with
these, implying only rich growth,
vigorous shooting forth, teeming ;
as luxurious to luxury, so luxuriant
to exuberance. Luxurious houses,
habits, life, people, climate, idleness,
times, food, cushions, dreams, aban¬
donment, desires ; luxuriant vegeta¬
tion, crops, hair, imagination, inven¬
tion, style. The points at which they
touch & become liable to confusion
are, first, that abundance, essential
to luxuriance or exuberance, also
subserves luxury, though not essen¬
tial to it ; &, secondly, their com¬
mon property in the verb luxuriate.
-LY
which means both to enjoy luxury
& to show luxuriance. A luxurious
fancy is one that dwells on luxury;
a luxuriant fancy one that runs riot
on any subject, agreeable or other.
-LY. 1. For the tendency among
writers & speakers who are more
conscientious than literary to sup¬
pose that all adverbs must end in
-ly, & therefore to use hardly, largely,
strongly, doubtlessly, &c., where idiom
requires hard, large, & strong, see Un-
IDIOMATIC -LY.
2. For participial adverbs like
determinedly, see -edly.
3. It was said in the article Jingles
that the commonest form of ugly
repetition was that of the - ly
adverbs. It is indeed extraordinary,
when one remembers the feats of
avoidance performed by the elegant-
variationist, the don’t-split-your-
infinitivist, & the anti-preposition-
at-ender, to find how many people
have no ears to hear this most
obvious of all outrages on euphony.
Not indeed on euphony pure &
simple, but on euphony & sense in
combination ; for as many -ly ad¬
verbs as one chooses may be piled
on each other if one condition of
sense is fulfilled—that all these
adverbs have the same relation to
the same word or to parallel words.
We are utterly, hopelessly, irretriev¬
ably, ruined ; It is theoretically cer¬
tain, but practically doubtful ; He
may probably or possibly be in time.
These are all irreproachable ; in the
first, each of the three adverbs
expresses degree about ruined; in
the second, each limits the sense of
an adjective, the two adjectives
being contrasted ; in the third, the
two give degrees of likelihood about
the same thing ; that is to say, in
all cases the -ly adverbs are strictly
parallel. Euphony has nothing to
say against repetition of -ly if there
is point in it, which there is if the
adverbs are parallel ; but, when
parallelism is not there to comfort
her, Euphony at once cries out in
pain, though too often to deaf ears-
MADEMOISELLE
LYC&E
337
Russian industry is at present prac¬
tically completely crippled. Prac¬
tically is not marching alongside of
completely, but riding on its back ;
read almost./He found himself sharp¬
ly, & apparently completely, checked.
Sharply db completely, by all means ;
but not apparently completely ; read
as it seemed./It is probably generally
known that every individual plaice
evolves from the original symmetrical
form. Probably qualifies not (like
generally) known, but generally
known ; read perhaps./The earliest
lists, still so sadly & probably irre¬
trievably imperfect. Whereas irre¬
trievably qualifies imperfect, probably
qualifies irretrievably ; read perhaps,
or it is to be feared./Maeterlinck pro¬
bably & wisely shrank from com¬
parison with * Iiirodias ’. Though
probably & wisely both apply directly
to the same word shrank, their
relation to it is not the same,
probably telling us how far the state¬
ment is reliable, & wisely how far the
course was justified; read It is
probable that Maeterlinck wisely
shrank./It was only relatively re¬
cently that it had reached its present
development.
Iyc6e. See French words.
Lyceum. PI. -ms ; see -um. For
the meaning in Greek Philosophy
see ACADEMY.
lychgate &c. See lichgate.
lyric(al). Lyric is now the estab¬
lished adjective for most uses ; we
speak of lyric poets, poetry, verse,
drama, muse , elements, & not lyrical.
Lyrical is in some sort a parasite
upon lyric , meaning suggestive of
lyric verse. Lyric classifies definite¬
ly, while lyrical describes vaguely.
With some words either can be used,
but with different effect; a lyric
rhapsody is one actually composed
in lyric verse ; a lyrical rhapsody is
talk fdll of expressions, or revealing
a mood, fit for lyric poetry. Lyrical
emotion, praise, sorrow, &c. ; or
again, a person may grow lyrical.
See also -ic(al).
lyrics* See Technical terms.
M
macabre. Pronounce makah'ber.
macaco. Pronounce -a'ko. PI.
-os, see -o(e)s 6.
macaroni. PI. of the I8th-c. dandy,
-nies ; pi. of the food-stuff, -nis.
macerate makes -rable ; see - ableI .
Machiavel(li(an(ism. The formerly
current shortening Machiavel is now
less common than Machiavelli not
only as the personal but even as the
generic name ; a very Machiavel,
once much used, has become rare.
The adjective is accordingly now
spelt Machiavellian, not -elian. For
the -ism noun, choice lies between
Machiavellianism & Machiavellism ;
in spite of greater length, the first is
the better ; the clipping of the word
to which -ist & -ism are to be added
is always disagreeable, & yet Machi-
avelliism is clearly impossible ; see
on voluntar(y)ist in -ist A.
machicolate. Pronounce machi'-
kolat, not male-.
machination. Pronounce m&k-.
mackerel, mackintosh. So spelt,
macula. PI. -lae.
mad, v. For this & madden, & the
madding crowd, see -en verbs.
Madagascar has adj. Malagasy
(m&lag&'si).
madam(e). In the English word,
whether as appellation ( I will in¬
quire, Madam ; Dear Madam ; What
does Madam think about it ?), as
common noun (the City madams), or
as prefix (Madam Fortune, Madam
Venus), there should be no -e. As
a prefix to a foreign lady’s name
instead of Mrs, Madame is right,
with plural Mesdames. Madam, the
appellation, suffers from having no
plural, Ladies being the substitute,
for which Mesdames is sometimes
jocularly used. The shopgirls’ odd
pronunciation (mo'dam) is perhaps
due to a notion that French Madame
is more in keeping with haunts of
fashion than English Madam .
Madeira. So spelt,
mademoiselle. See French words.
MADNESS
338
MAHOMET
madness. For method in m., see
Irrelevant allusion.
maelstrom. Pronounce ma'lstrom.
maenad. See je, ce.
maestoso, maestro. Pronounce
mah-£sto'zo, mae'stro.
Magdalen(e). The spellings & pro¬
nunciations are tabulated at the end.
1. In the names of the Oxford (- en)
& Cambridge (-ene) Colleges, pro¬
nounce mau'dlin.
2. In the use as a noun meaning
reformed harlot &c., use magdalen.
3. When used with the instead of
the name Mary M., the Magdalene
(-en) & the Magdalen (-en) are equally
correct.
4. In the full name Mary Mag¬
dalene the four-syllable pronuncia¬
tion (m&gdale'm) is the best, though
if it were Mary the Magdalene -len
would be right, as it is in the
Magdalene , i.e. the famous person
of Magdala. Magdalene may be
regarded either as an English word =
of Magdala, like Lampsacene , Cyzi-
cene, Tyrrhene, &c., in which case the
could not be omitted, or as the
actual Greek feminine of Magdalenos
become part of her name, in which
case the final -e cannot be silent.
Mary Magdalen, however, is also
possible.
Magdalen (mau'dlin) Coll., Oxford
Magdalene (mau'dlin) Coll., Cam¬
bridge
A Home for magdalens (m&'gdalenz)
The Magdalene (-en) or the Mag¬
dalen (-en)
Mary Magdalene (m&gdale'ni) or
Magdalen.
maggoty. So spelt ; see -t-, -tt-.
magic(al), adjectives. See -ic(al).
Magic tends to lose those adjective
uses that cannot be viewed as mere
attributive uses of the noun. That
is, first, it is very seldom used pre-
dicatively ; the effect was magical
(never magic ) ; the ring must be
magical (not magic, though must be
a magic one is better than a magical
one). And, secondly, the chief non¬
predicative use is in assigning a
thing to the domain of magic (a
magic ring , carpet, spell, crystal ; the
magic art), or in distinguishing it
from others & so helping its identi¬
fication ( magic lantern , square ),
rather than in giving its character¬
istics descriptively ( with magical
speed; what a magical transforma¬
tion) ; this second differentiation,
however, is not yet strictly observed.
magma. PI. -mata.
Magna C(h)arta. Authority seems
to be for spelling charta & pro¬
nouncing kar'ta, which is hard on
the plain man. But outside of
histories & lecture-rooms the spelling
& pronunciation charta will take a
great deal of killing yet.
magnetize has -zablc ; see Mute e.
magneto is a Curtailed word for
magneto-electric machine ; pi. -os, see
-o(e)s 5.
magnifical is one of the words that
one should be pleased to look upon,
embalmed in old books, but should
not play the resurrectionist to.
magnifico. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s G.
magnify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 6.
magus. PI. -gi (-jl).
Magyar. Pronounce mo'dyar.
maharaja(h). _ For the form see
RAJAH.
mahlstick. See maulstick.
Mahomet, Mohammedan, &c. Be¬
fore making any statement on these
words, I asked a middle-aged lady
whom she understood by the Prophet
of Allah ; she hesitated, suspecting
some snare, but being adjured to
reply said quite plainly that he was
Mahomet (ma'om6t), & further called
his followers Mahometans (ma-ho'mi-
tanz)—thus fulfilling expectations.
The popular forms are Mahometan)
( ma'omet or ma-ho'mit, ma-ho'mitn);
the prevailing printed forms are
Mohammed(an).
The worst of letting the learned
gentry bully us out of our traditional
Mahometan & Mahomet (who ever
heard of Mohammed & the mountain t)
is this : no sooner have we tried to
be good & learnt to say, or at least
write, Mohammed than they are
fired with zeal to get us a step or
MAHOUT
339
MAJORITY
two further on the path of truth,
which at present seems likely to end
in Muhammad with a dot under the
h; see Didacticism, Pride of
knowledge. The literary, as dis¬
tinguished from the learned, surely
do good service when they side with
tradition & the people against
science & the dons. Muhammad
should be left to the pedants, Mo¬
hammed to historians & the like,
while ordinary mortals should go on
saying, & writing in newspapers &
novels & poems & such general
reader’s matter, what their fathers
said before them.
The fact is that we owe no thanks
to those who discover, & cannot
keep silence on the discovery, that
Mahomet is further than Mohammed ,
& Mohammed further than Muham¬
mad, from what his own people
called him. The Romans had a
hero whom they spoke of as Aeneas ;
we call him that too, but for the
French he has become iZnde ; are
the French any worse off than we on
that account ? It is a matter of
like indifference in itself whether the
English for the Prophet’s name is
Mahomet or Mohammed ; in itself,
yes ; but whereas the words Aeneas
& Ende have the Channel between
them to keep the peace, Mahomet &
Mohammed are for ever at logger-
heads ; we want one name for the
one man ; & the one should have
been that around which the ancient
associations cling. It is too late to
recover unity ; the learned, & their
too docile disciples, have destroyed
that, & given us nothing worth
having in exchange.
mahout. Pronounce -owt.
maieutic. Pronounce miu'tik or
(OED) mau'tik. The word means
performing midwife’s service (to
thought or ideas) ; Socrates figured
himself es e midwife {tuaiu) bringing
others’ thoughts to birth with his
questionings ; educative contains the
same notion, but much overlaid with
different ones, & the literary critic &
the pedagogue consequently find m.
useful enough to pass in spite of its
touch of pedantry.
Majesty, Highness, &c. When your
Majesty , her Grace , &c., has been
used, & need arises for a pronoun or
possessive adjective to represent it,
grammar would require it. Us ; but
instead of these either the full title is
repeated ( Your Majesty can do as
your Majesty will with your Majesty's
ships), or you, your, she, her, &c., is
ungrammatically substituted for it
or its (Her Grace summoned her chef).
Stevenson indeed writes : Your
Highness interprets my meaning with
his usual subtlety ; but this is doubt¬
less a mistaken imitation of the
French son or sa, meaning its (i.e.
highness’s), not his. The English
idiom, differing from & less correct
than the French, requires either
your Highness's, or your, usual
subtlety.
major means greater, & those who
like Pomposities are within their
rights, & remain intelligible, if they
call the greater part the major por¬
tion ; they can moreover plead that
major part & portion have been used
by good writers in the times when
pomposity was less noticeable than
it now is. Those who do not like
pomposities will call it the greater
part. & deserve our gratitude, or at
least escape our dislike. I, who had
described myself as ‘ sick of patriot¬
ism ’ . , . found myself unable to read
anything but a volume the major
portion of which consisted of patriotic
verse.
major (in logic). See Technical
TERMS.
majordomo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
major general. Hyphened when
used as a prefix ; properly written
as two words (cf. court martial) when
used as an independent noun : the
Major General; Major-General
Jones. See Hyphens (C, & on court
martial &c.) ; but the prefix use,
being very frequent, naturally cor¬
rupts the rarer noun form, and the
hyphen is used indiscriminately.
majority. 1. Distinctions of mean-
MAJORITY
340
MALAPROPS
ing. 2. Number after m. 3. Great
&c. m.
1. Three allied senses, one abstract
& two concrete, need to be dis¬
tinguished if illogicalities are to be
avoided : A, m. meaning a superior¬
ity in number, or, to revive an
obsolete unambiguous word, a pluri¬
ty (.. . was passed by a bare, small,
great, m. ; the m. was scanty but
sufficient) ; B, m. meaning the one
of two or more sets that has a
plurity, or the more numerous party
( The m. was, or were, determined to
press its, or their, victory) ; C, m.
meaning most of a set of persons, or
the greater part numerically ( The
m. were fatally wounded ; A m. of
my friends advise it).
2. Number. After rn. in sense A
the verb will always be singular.
After m. in sense B, as after other
nouns of multitude, either a singular
or a plural verb is possible, according
as the body is, or its members are,
chiefly in the speaker’s thoughts.
After m. in sense C, in which the
thought is not of contrasted bodies
at all, but merely of the numbers
required to make up more than a
half, the verb is almost necessarily
plural, the sense being more people
than not, out of those concerned.
Correct has to have in : The awful
happenings at Riga, where the
majority of all the bourgeois has been
either shot or killed by exposure to
cold <& starvation, are due to . . .
3. Great &c. m. With m. in sense
A, great, greater, greatest, &c., are
freely used, & cause no difficulty.
With m. in sense B they are not
often used, & then to give the
special sense of party having a great,
greater, plurity as compared with
that enjoyed by some other (This
great m. is helpless ; having the
greatest m. of modern times devoted
to him). With m. in sense C, great
is possible & common, the great m.
meaning most by far, much more
than half ; but the use of greater &
greatest with it, as if m. meant
merely part or number, is, though
frequent, an illiterate blunder ;
examples of it are :—By far the
greatest m. of American rails, apart
from gambling counters, have gone
across the Atlantic./The club is repre¬
sentative of several hundreds, the
greater m. of whom are repatriated
Britishers from Russia./By far the
larger m. of the entries are not words.
majuscule. See Technical terms.
make. M. him repeat it, very rarely
to repeat ; He must be made to repeat
it, very rarely made repeat.
make-believe is the true form of the
noun as well as the verb, & make-
belief a false correction ; to make
believe has meant to pretend from the
14th c.
Malagasy. See Madagascar.
MALAPROPS. When Mrs Mala-
prop, in Sheridan’s Rivals, is said to
‘ deck her dull chat with hard words
which she don’t understand ’, she
protests ‘ Sure, if I reprehend any¬
thing in this world, it is the use of
my oracular tongue, & a nice de¬
rangement of epitaphs ’—having
vague memories of apprehend, ver¬
nacular, arrangement, & epithets.
She is now the matron saint of all
those who go wordfowling with
a blunderbuss. Achievements so
heroic as her own do not here
concern us ; they pass the bounds
of ordinary experience & of the
credible. Her votaries are a feebler
folk ; with them malaprops come
single spies, not in battalions, one in
an article, perhaps, instead of four
in a sentence, & not marked by her
bold originality, but monotonously
following well beaten tracks. In the
article Pairs & snares a number of
words is given with which other
words of not very different sound are
commonly confused, & under most
of the separate words contained in
that list illustrations will be found ;
predict & predicate, reversal & rever¬
sion, masterful & masterly, wm
suffice here as examples. Another
kind of malaprop, in which two
words are confused rather in con-
struction than in meaning, is dealt
with in Object-shuffling ; suo-
MALAPROPOS
MANDATARY
341
stitute & replace, instil & inspire,
afflict & inflict, are specimens. And
a long list might be made of words
commonly so used as to show mis¬
apprehension of their meaning ;
a lew, under which quotations will
be found, are : asset, comity, e.g.,
eke out, glimpse, oblivious, polity,
proportion, proposition, protagonist,
prototype, qua.
But it is perhaps hardly decent to
leave the subject without a single
concrete illustration. Here are one
or two less staled by frequent
occurrence than those mentioned
above : He thought it desirous that
the House of Lords should determine
the tests to be applied. /Mr - has
circulated what portends to be a reply
to a letter which I had previously
addressed to you./His capacity for
continuous work is incredulous.///
was a great humility to be kept waiting
about, after having been asked to come.
malapropos. Pronounce m41&-
propo'.
male. 1. M.) (masculine. The
distinction drawn between female &
feminine is equally true for m. &
masculine ; the reader will perhaps
be good enough to look through the
article female, feminine, & make
the necessary substitutions ; the
only modification needed is in the
statement about the original part of
speech of female ; male was not,
like that, a noun before it was an
adjective ; but this difference does
not affect present usage.
2. M. &c. in prosody. M. &
masculine, female & feminine, are
used to distinguish rhymes & line-
endings having a final accented
syllable (m. or masculine : Now is
the winter of our disconte'nt) from
those in which an unaccented syl¬
lable follows the last accented one
(female or feminine : To be or not
to be, that is the que'stion).
malign. 1. For the difference be¬
tween m. & malignant, see benign.
2. Pronounce the verb, as well as the
adjective, mali'n.
malignancy, -nity. These nouns
almost reverse the relation between
the adjectives to which they belong.
The general distinction between
malignant & malign is that the first
refers rather to intention & the
second rather to effect (see benign) ;
it would therefore be expected that
malignancy would be the word for
spitefulness, & malignity for harm¬
fulness ; but the medical use of
malignant (see benign 3) has so
strongly affected malignancy that
malignity has had to take over the
sense of spite, & almost lost that of
harm.
malinger. Pronounce mali'ngger.
Mall. Pronounce mS.1 ; the Mall
(m&l), but Pall Mall (p61m6'l).
malnutrition. A word to be avoid¬
ed as often as underfeeding will do
the work ; see Anti-Saxonism.
Mameluke. Three syllables (m&'-
mllook).
mam ilia. PI. -lae.
mam(m)a, mother. Spell mamma.
mamma, breast. PI. mammae.
man. For the inner, outer, m., see
Hackneyed phrases.
manageable. So spelt; see Mute e.
manageress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
mandamus. PI. -uses ; see -us.
Pronounce m&nda'mus.
mandatary, -tory. The -ary form
is noun only, = one to whom a man¬
date is given ; the -ory form is
primarily adjective, = of the nature
of a mandate, & secondarily a noun,
= mandatary. A distinction in
spelling between the personal noun
& the adjective is obviously con¬
venient, & the form mandatary is
therefore recommended for the
holder of a mandate from the
League of Nations. Similar per¬
sonal nouns, some of them with
associated forms in -ory of more or
less different sense, are accessary,
adversary, commissary, depositary,
emissary, notary, registrary (Cam¬
bridge form of registrar ), repository
(person confided in, cf. repository
storepJace), secretary (cf. the adjec¬
tive secretory), signatory, tributary.
MANDUCATE
342
MANNERISMS
manducate makes - cable ; see
manes, spirit of dead person.
Pronounce ma'nez ; a plural noun,
with plural construction though
singular in sense.
mangel, mangold. The first is ‘ in
English the now prevailing form *
(OED), &, as it is not less significant
to the Englishman, & nearer the
pronunciation, than the original
German mangold, it is as well that
it should continue to prevail.
mango. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
mangrove. Pronounce ma'nggrov ;
neither man nor grove is an element
in the word.
mangy. So spelt ; see -ey & -y.
Manichee. Pronounce -ke.
manifesto. PL -os ; see -o(e)s 7.
manifold. Pronounce m&n-, not
men-. Owing to this difference in
pronunciation between m. & many,
the word is no longer felt to be a
member of the series twofold, three¬
fold, thirtyfold, a hundredfold, &
attempts to treat it as such result in
unidiomatic English ; it is better to
coin many-fold for the occasion (cf.
business, busyness) than to imitate
the writers of the quotations below.
Both the uses illustrated in them are
called obsolete by the OED, & the
revival of them after centuries of
dormancy is perhaps accounted for
by the adaptation of the ‘ now
literary ’ word to a commercial use
in manifold writing, & its consequent
popularization. Such elimination
would recoup that expense, manifold,
by the saving which it would effect of
food valuable to the nation — namely,
salmon./This organization in capable
hands should repay in manifold the
actual funds raised on its behalf.
manikin. So spelt by the OED.
Manil(l)a. 4 The form Manila is
correct, but rare except in geo¬
graphical use ’—OED. The estab¬
lished -lla is recommended.
manipulate has -lable ; see -able 1.
mankind. Accent the second syl¬
lable for the ordinary sense of the
human race, but the first for the
special sense of the males of a
family &c.
MANNERISMS. Mannerism con¬
sists in the allowing of a form of
speech that has now & again served
us well to master us.
Pater has a so :— Ubiquitous, tyran¬
nous, irresistible, as it may seem,
motion, with the whole so dazzling
world it covers, is — nothing./Himself
so striking an instance of mobile
humour in his exposure of the un¬
reality of all movement, Zeno . . ./
Once for all, in harshest dualism, the
only true yet so barren existence is
opposed to the world of phenomena./
In the midst of that aesthetically so
brilliant world of Greater Greece.
Macaulay has an antithesis :— In
some points it has been fashioned to
suit our feelings ; in others, it has
gradually fashioned our feelings to
suit itself./At first they were only
robbers ; they soon rose to the dignity
of conquerors./To enjoin honesty, &
to insist on having what could not
be honestly got, was then the constant
practice of the Company./A system
which was, perhaps, skilfully con¬
trived for the purpose of facilitating &
concealing a great revolution, but
which, when that revolution was com¬
plete & irrevocable, could produce
nothing but inconvenience.
Carlyle has two superlatives :—A.
It is a sublime embodiment,. or
sublimest, of the soul of Christianity./
A mild pale splendour here & there,
as of an April that were leading to
leafiest summer./Sublime sorrow,
sublime reconciliation ; oldest choral
melody as of the heart of mankind./
B. Six hundred irresponsible senators
would make of all tyrannies the
insupportablest./jf think it is the
mournfullest face that ever was
painted from reality. It is perhaps of
all things the usefullest for us to do
in these loud times.
Bagehot has a repetition:
gave politics not an interesting aspect,
but a new aspect ./All these powers
were States of some magnitude, ce
MANNIKIN
343
MARQUIS
some were States of great magnitude./
A man like Walpole , or a man like
Louis Napoleon, is protected by an
unsensitive nature.
Meredith has a circumvention sys¬
tem for ‘ said so-&-so ’ : —‘ Now that
is too bad,’ she pouted./* I must see
Richard tomorrow morning/ Mrs
Doria ended the colloquy by saying./
* She did all she could to persuade me
to wait/ emphasized Richard./* Sing¬
ular child! ’ she mentally apostro¬
phized the girl./* At your age/ Adrian
relieved his embarrassment, * it is
natural.'/* You breakfast with us/
she freshened off again.
Mr Kipling has s But that is another
story'.
Mr Wells has a Came: — Came a
familiar sound./Came the green flash
again./Came that sense again of
unendurable tension.
And so on, & so on. Perhaps few
of those who write much escape
from the temptation to trade on
tricks of which they have learnt the
effectiveness ; & it is true that it is
a delicate matter to discern where
a peculiarity ceases to be an element
in the individuality that readers
associate pleasantly with the writer
they like, & becomes a recurrent &
Iooked-for & dreaded irritation.
But at least it is well for every
writer to realize that, for his as for
other people’s mannerisms, there is
a point at which that transformation
does take place.
mannikin. See manikin.
manoeuvre, vb, makes -vred, -vring;
see Mute e. For the n. & vb, see
-RE & -ER.
manqu6. See French words.
mantelpiece, -shelf). So spelt.
mantle, vb. . The common use in
which the subject is face, cheek, brow,
flush, blush, colour, blood, &c.,
appears to come not directly from
the original sense to clothe as with
a mantle, but from the special
application of that to liquor that
covers itself with foam &c.; other¬
wise the natural construction would
(as idiom does not make it) A
blush mantled her cheek & c., & not
(as idiom does make it) A blush or
The blood mantled in her cheek or
Her cheek mantled with a blush.
manumit makes -tied, -tting ; see
-T-, -TT-.
manuscript. The abbreviation is
MS. in singular, & MSS. in plural,
many. While there have been m. a
good-humoured smile about the Cody
* Cathedral', we may yet shortly
witness the advent of a flying-
machine which . . . M. a requires
always a singular verb. For similar
questions, see Number.
Maori. Pronounce mowr'i; pi. -is.
maraschino. Pronounce m&ra-
ske'no ; pi. -os, see -o(e)s 3.
margarin(e). The pronunciation
marj- instead of marg- is clearly
wrong, & is not even mentioned in
the OED as an alternative. It was
nevertheless prevalent before the
war, when the educated had little
occasion to use the word ; but now
that we all know the substance, its
g is coming to its own. Perhaps the
only English words in which g is
soft before a or o or u are gaol (with
its derivatives) & mortgagor. See -in
& -ine for the termination.
marginalia is plural ; see Latin
PLURALS.
mariage de convenance. So spelt.
See French words.
Marie, Mary. See -ey, -ie, -y.
marital. The OED gives m&'rital,
without even permitting mari'tal.
This is no doubt a shock to those—
& they are many—who know the
sound of maritus in Latin better
than that of m. in their own lan¬
guage ; see, however, False quan¬
tity for a batteryful of such shocks.
mark. For synonymy see sign.
markedly. Three syllables; see
-EDLY.
market, vb, makes -eted, -eting,
-etable ; see -T-, -tt-.
marquetry, -eterie. Spell -try, &
pronounce mar'kltri.
marquis, -ess. The spelling recom¬
mended is -is, pi. - ises . The OED
MARQUISE
344
MATERIAL
note is : c The prevailing spelling
in literary use appears to be marquis.
Some newspapers, however, use
marquess, & several English nobles
bearing the title always write it in
this way ’.
marquise (pronounce -kez) is French
for marchioness , not for marquis.
marquois. Pronounce mar'quoiz.
marriage. For m. of convenience,
see Gallicisms.
marriageable. So spelt; see Mute e.
marron glace. See French words.
marry. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 0.
Marseillaise. Pronounce marsela'z.
marshal, vb, makes -lied, -lling ;
see -LL-, -L-.
marteilo. PL -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
marten, -in. The beast has -en, the
bird -in.
marvel, makes -lied, -lling, -llous ;
see -LL-, -L-.
Mary, Marie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
masculine. See male.
mashie, -y, golfclub. Usually -ie.
Masorah, Masorete, &c., Mass-.
The OED gives the single -s- forms
as the standard ones,
massacre, vb, makes massacring.
massage, -eur, -euse. Pronounce
masah'zh, maser', m&ser'z.
masterful) (masterly. Some cen¬
turies ago both were used indiffer¬
ently in either of two very different
senses : (A) imperious or command¬
ing or strong-willed, & (B) skilful or
expert or practised. The Differ¬
entiation is now complete, -ful
having the A & -ly the B meanings ;
& disregard of it is so obviously
inconvenient, since the senses,
though distinct, are not so far apart
but that it may sometimes be un¬
certain which is meant, that it can
only be put down to ignorance.
Masterly is not misused ; but
masterful often appears, especially
in the sporting reporter’s produc¬
tions, instead of masterly. A few
examples follow, in all of which
masterly should have been the
word :— The Australians did not
collapse in the ordinary cricketing
acceptance of the word; they were
simply the occasional victims of the
always masterful attack ./When he
began to outplay the Englishman &
picked up hole after hole the crowd
was carried away by his masterful
work <£* driven to applauding./The
book is packed with characters master¬
fully managed, the most telling of
whom are not the most virtuous but the
most worldly./The influence of the
engineering & mechanical triumphs
of the staff of the canal zone has been
dealt with by masterful writers./
Yates played a truly masterful game
in defeating Reti.
masticate makes -cable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
mastodon. PL -ns ; see -on 3.
mat, lustreless. So spelt ; it is a
French adjective. The form matt is
no doubt due to an instinct of differ¬
entiation ; cf. set(t).
mate, checkmate. The full form is
now chiefly in metaphorical use,
while the shortened one is preferred
in chess.
mate (match), vb, makes matable ;
see Mute e.
materfamilias. Pl. matresfamilias
or materfamiliascs.
material, adj. There are at least
four current antitheses in aid of any
of which m. may be called in when
an adjective is required : there is
matter & form (m. & formal). ; there
is matter & spirit (m. & spiritual) ;
there is materiel & personnel (m. &
personal) ; & there is what matters
& what does not matter (m. &
trifling). Before using m., therefore,
with reference to any of these, the
writer should make sure that there
is no risk of confusion with another.
Agriculture, though the most m. ol
all our pursuits, is teaching us
beyond its own direct province./1 he
old bonds of relationship, & com¬
munity of m. interests./^ comparison
between the French V e< / s fl nt 'P r0 ‘
prietor & the English small-holder as
he might conceivably become under a
freehold system, a comparison , oe u
345
MAXILLA
materialize
said, to the m. advantage of the
former.
materialize. 1. M. makes -zable ;
gee Mute e. 2. The word has uses
enough of its own (Those who would
m. spirit. A soul materialized by
gluttony. Virgil having materialized
a scheme of abstracted notions. Ghosts
or promises of ghosts which fail to m.)
without being forced to do the work
of happen or be fulfilled or form :—
There would seem to be some ground
for hope that the strike will not m.
after all./Year after year passed &
these promises failed to m./Out of the
mist of notes & protocols a policy
seems gradually to be materializing).
In these latter senses m. is on the
level of transpire (happen), proposi¬
tion (job), eventuate (happen), nego¬
tiate (pass), unique (notable), indi¬
vidual fmanh & such abominations.
materiel. See French words ; in
antitheses with personnel, expressed
or implied, the French spelling &
pronunciation should be kept, & not
replaced by those of the English
material .
mathematics. For the gramma¬
tical number, see -ics 2.
matixtee. As morning performance
has the double disadvantage of
being very long & suggesting a wrong
time of day, m. is likely to prevail.
matins, matt-. The OED treats
matins as the standard form. For
m. & morning prayer , see morning.
matriculate makes -lable; see
-able 1.
matrix. For pi. see -ex, -ix, 4, &
•trix.
matter. The distribution shows
that, as exceptional bravery is confined
to no rank in the Army, so recognition
ts given to it by no matter whom
Jf' *® displayed. If elliptical phrases
like no matter who are to be treated
freely as units, care must be taken
that the ellipsis can be filled in
correctly. By it is no matter whom
" ** displayed is wrong, & it is no
goffer by whom it is displayed is
"gat; accordingly the order should
be no matter by whom. The principle
is—by all means save your reader
the trouble of reading more words
than he need, but do not save your¬
self the trouble of rehearsing the
full form by way of test. The real
cause of the mistake here is the
superstition against prepositions at
the end ; no matter whom it is dis¬
played by would have been correct ;
but the writer was frightened at his
final preposition, made a grab at it,
& plumped it down in a wrong
place ; see Superstitions, & Out
of the frying-pan. The offence is
aggravated by the inevitable im¬
pulse to connect by with is given.
mattress. So spelt, not -ass.
matutinal. Chiefly in Polysyl¬
labic humour. Here they were
found by a m. gardener.
maty, comrade. So spelt; see
-EY, -IE, -Y.
maudlin. So spelt, not -ing ; the
origin is the name magdalen.
maugre. See Wardour street.
maulstick. The OED gives this,
not mahl-, as the standard form.
maunder, meander. Though the
etymology of maunder is uncertain,
it is clear that it is not a corruption
of meander, its earlier sense being
definitely to complain, growl, grouse.
But it is also clear from the way
some people use meander that they
take the two words to be merelv
%/
variant pronunciations. Meander
means to follow a winding course,
was originally used of rivers, is still
often so used, describes frequent but
not violent change of direction
rather than aimlessness, & is applied
more often to actual locomotion
than to vagaries of the tongue,
Maunder is best confined to speech.
& suggests futility rather than
digression, dull discontent rather
than quiet enjoyment, & failure to
reach an end rather than loitering
on the way to it.
Mauser. Pronounce mow'zer.
mauvais sujet, quart d’heure, mau-
vaise honte. See French words.
maxilla. PI. - llae.
MAXIMUM
346
maximum. PI. -via, sometimes
-mums.
maybe ( = perhaps) has entered
upon its third phase of existence.
It was long ago normal English, as
natural as perhaps, or more so. It
then became a novclistic property,
the recognized rustic or provincial
substitute for perhaps. Having
acquired, during this rustication, a
certain unfamiliarity, it has now
emerged stylishly archaic, so that
perhaps & m. are a pair of Working
& stylish words. The following
quotation shows this use or abuse :
But no-one imagines that tee are not
on the eve of an exciting & maybe
embittered controversy. The word
has still however, a real function—
to replace perhaps in a context whose
tone demands a touch of primitive
dignity ; so Our Lord speaking quite
simply to simple Syrian people,
a child or two maybe at his knees.
mazedly. Three syllables; see -edly.
me is technically wrong in It
ivasn’t me &c: but, the phrase being
of its very nature colloquial, such
a lapse is of no importance ; & this
is perhaps the only temptation to
use me instead of 1. There is more
danger of using 1 for me, especially
when & me is required after another
noun or pronoun that lias taken
responsibility for the grammar &
has not a separate objective case ;
between you & 1 , let you & 1 try , are
not uncommon (see between, let),
& : Sir,—A rich friend of ours wrote
cfc asked my husband & I to dine at
the most expensive restaurant t& go to
the theatre on his birthday.
verb : My means were (never was)
much reduced. In the sense way to
an end &c. : a means takes singular
verb ; means, & the means, can be
treated as either singular or plural;
all means (pi.) & every means (sing.)
are equally correct; the means do
not, or does not, justify the end ; the
end is good, but the means are, or is,
bad ; such means are (not is) repug¬
nant to me, because such without a
is necessarily plural; cf. such a
means is not to be discovered; &
similarly with other adjectives, as
secret means were found, but a secret
means was found.
measure. Lord Curzon's policy has
been overthrown by the present an¬
nouncement, which to a great mea¬
sure restores Bengal to her former
greatness. To a great extent, but in
great measure; see Cast-iron idiom.
measure, v., makes -rable;
Mute e.
measuredly. Three syllables ;
see
see
meatus. PI. meatus (-us ; see -us),
or -uses.
medal makes -lied, -llist; see
“TjL* j *L“« §
medi(a)eval. The shorter spelling
is recommended ; see jz, ce.
mediatize. 1. To m. a ruler is to
reduce him to dependence on
another State, but without changing
his titular dignity. The word
originated in the Holy Roman
Empire, & meant that the pnnee
now owed mediate (i.e. indirect)
allegiance instead of immediate to
the Emperor. 2. M. makes -zable,
see Mute e.
meagre makes meagrish ; see Mute
e. See also -re & -er.
meal) (flour. See flour.
mealies. The singular (chiefly in
combinations as m.-ficld, m. por¬
ridge) is mealie, not -ly, the etymo¬
logical connexion being not with
meal & mealy, but with millet.
mean, adj., makes meanness.
meander. See maunder.
means, n. (number). In the sense
income &c., m. always takes a plural
mediatrix. For pi. see -trix.
medicate makes -cable; see - able .
medicine. Two syllables _(mj dsn),
mediocre. Pronounce me qiokct.
meditate makes -itable, -tor ; sc
-able 1, -or.
Mediterranean. So spelt.
medium. In the spiritualistic
sense, the plural is always * *
In all other senses—intervening o
enveloping substance, element, <1
vehicle, means or agency,
medlar
347
-MENT
-urns are botn in use, cc -a seems iu
be the commoner. See -um.
medlar (fruit). So spelt.
meerschaum. So spelt.
meet. For we are met together &c.,
see Intransitive p.p.
mein Herr. See mynheer.
meiosis. PI. - oses (-ez). For the
meaning, see Technical terms.
melange. See French words.
m£16e (m61a). So spelt, accented,
& pronounced.
meliorate, -ation, are common in
American usage ; the British forms
are amel-.
melodeon, -dion, -dium. The first
appears to be the prevalent spelling,
melodrama is a term generally used
with some contempt, because the
ieal of such plays as are acknow¬
ledged to deserve the title is especial¬
ly to the unsophisticated & illiterate
whose acquaintance with human
nature is superficial, but whose
admiration for goodness & detesta¬
tion of wickedness is ready &
powerful. The melodramatist’s task
is to get his characters labelled good
& wicked in his audience’s minds,
& to provide striking situations that
shall provoke & relieve anxieties on
behalf of poetic justice. Whether
a play is or is not to be called a
melodrama is therefore often a
doubtful question, upon which dif¬
ferent critics will hold different
opinions. The origin of the name is
in a form of play intermediate
between opera, in which all is sung,
& drama, in which music has no
essential part; the early m. was
2 a form of dramatic musical com¬
position in which music accom¬
panied the spoken words & the
action, but in which there was no
singing.. . „ . This is the source of
romantic dramas depending on
sensational incident with exagger¬
ated appeals to conventional senti¬
ment rather than on play of char-
& iu which dramatis personae
follow conventional types—the vil¬
lain, the hero wrongfully charged
with crime, the persecuted heroine.
the adventuress, &c.’— Enc. Brit.
What the m. now so called inherits
from the early form is the appeal
to emotion ; the emotional effect of
musical accompaniment is obvious,
& it is on emotional sympathy that
m„ still depends for success.
melody) (harmony. See harmony.
melt. Molten as in the verbal use
( will be molten &c.) is now confined
to poetry ; as an adjective (like
molten glass &c.) it can still be used
without archaism, but only in
literary contexts.
membership. The sense number of
members (of a club &c.) is, though
not a very desirable one, more or
less established (The necessity of
adding to the m. of the House ; A
large m. is necessary). Much less
desirable still is the extension from
number of members to members (the
Committee being chosen from the m.
of the two Houses of Parliament./The
employers' proposals may be distasteful
to a large section of our m.) ; needless
substitution of the abstract for the
concrete is one of the surest roads to
flabby style.
membran(e)ous. There is no differ¬
ence of meaning ; the -nous form is
recommended.
memento. PI.-os; see-o(E)s6. The
word is sometimes sounded momS'n-
to by the ignorant,
memorandum. PI. -da ; see -um.
memorize has -zable ; see Mute e.
menage. See French words.
menagerie. Pronounce min&'jerl,
& not as French.
mendacity, mendicity. The first is
the conduct of a liar, the second that
of a beggar.
meninx. PI. usu. meninges.
meningitis. See Greek g.
menstruum. PI. -ua.
-ment. For differences between
this & Aon, see -ion & -ment. The
stems to which -ment is normally
appended are those of verbs ; freaks
like oddment & funniment should not
be made a precedent of; they are
themselves due to misconception of
merriment , which is not from the
MENTALITY
348
*•«
adjective, but from an obsolete verb
merry to rejoice.
mentality. Sir,—The mentality of
the politician is a constant source of
amazement to the engineer. Twenty
years ago, no-one would have written
that. The word would have been
either mind or idiosyncrasy, accord¬
ing as the writer had a taste for
short or for long words ; in those
days we had not discovered m. ; in
Routledge's New English Dictionary
(first published in 1914, & equal to
all ordinary demands up to that
date) it was not even recorded as a
word. But we all know the sound
& the look of it now ; the meaning
we neither know nor are likely to
know so long as it retains its present
vogue ; for it is thrust into the
place of all the old familiar words—
mind, idiosyncrasy, disposition, char¬
acter, nerve, mood, intellect, & a
dozen others—for which it can
possibly be made to do duty.
Examples of it will be found in
Love of the long word. Some
like it because it is longer than mind ;
some because it is a Vogue-word ;
& some because it has a pseudo¬
scientific sound about it that may
impress the reader ; see Popu¬
larized technicalities. The best
thing we can do with it is to let it
lapse into its former obscurity ; its
meaning while it had one of its own
o
instead of many borrowed ones was
purely intellectual power, or more
often the preponderance of that over
the other faculties (An insecVs very
limited m./IIudibras has the same
hard m./Pope is too intellectual &
has an excess of m.) ; in which senses
intellectuality) was far more com¬
mon, so that m. is a truly Super¬
fluous word.
menu. See French words.
Mephistopheles. The adjective is
Mephistophelean (mSfistofile'an) or
Mephistophelian (miffstofe'liffn), the
latter perhaps more likely to last ;
See HERCULEAN.
mercy. For the tender mercies of,
see Hackneyed phrases.
metaphor
merge makes -geable ; see Mute e.
meringue. Pronounce merS'ng.
merino. PI. -05 ; see -o(e)s 3 .
merit makes - ited &c. ; see -t-, -tt-.
merriment. Nbt to be quoted in
defence of bad formations like
funniment ; see -ment.
merry. For the m. monarch see
Sobriquets.
mesalliance. See French words.
mesembrianthemum should be so
spelt. It is absurd not to correct,
in a cumbrous word whose length
can only be excused if it is at least
significant to the learned, the mis¬
spelling y for i ; the y at once puts
the Greek scholar off the track by
su gg es ti n g embryo or bryony (Greek
bruo swell, burgeon), & forbids him
to think of mesembria noon, which
is what he ought to be thinking of.
When a word like rhyme that is
familiar to everyone has settled itself
into our hearts & minds with a wrong
spelling, there is much to be said
for refraining from correction ; but
with the y of m. no-one has tender
associations.
mesmerize has -zable ; see Mute e.
messuage. Pronounce me'swij.
metal makes metalled, metalliferous ,
&c. ; see -ll-, -l-. For metal more
attractive, see Hackneyed phrases.
metamorphosis. Generally accent¬
ed on the middle syllable (-mor-) ;
but the more regular accent on
-pho- is still often heard ; &, as m.
seems to be the only word in -osis
irregularly accented, as it retains the
classical plural (-oses, pronounced
with -ez), & as the -osis ending is
now familiar in tuberculosis & other
medical terms, it may be expected
to revert to mStamorfo'sis ; cf.
metempsychosis, which is stated by
the OED to have formerly had the
accent on the -sy-, & has now
recovered.
METAPHOR. 1. Live & dead m.
2. Some pitfalls. 3. Self-conscious¬
ness & mixed m. 4. For m. &
simile, see simile & metaphor.
1. Live & dead m. In all discussion
of m. it must be borne in mind that
METAPHOR, 2
some metaphors are living, i.e., are disposal names something too little
offered & accepted with a conscious- vegetable or animal to consort with
ness of their nature as substitutes the metaphorical verbs. Education
for their literal equivalents, while (personified) may be stunted, but
others are dead, i.e., have been so means may not ./The measure of
often used that speaker & hearer Mt Asquith s shame does not consist
have ceased to be aware that the in the mere fact that he has announced
words used are not literal ; but the his intention to . . . Metaphorical
line of distinction between the live measuring, like literal, requires a
& the dead is a shifting one, the dead more accommodating instrument
being sometimes liable, under the than a stubborn fact.
stimulus of an affinity or a repulsion, 2. B. Overdone m. The days are
to galvanic stirrings indistinguish- perhaps past when a figure was
able from life. Thus, in The men deliberately chosen that could be
were sifting meal we have a literal worked out with line upon line of
use of sift ; in Satan hath desired relentless detail, & the follow-
to have you , that he may sift you as ing well-known specimen is from
wheat, sift is a live metaphor ; in Richardson :— Tost to <& fro by the
the sifting of evidence, the m. is so high winds of passionate control, 1
familiar that it is about equal behold the desired port, the single
chances whether sifting or examina- state, into which 1 would fain steer ;
tion will be used, & that a sieve is but am kept off by the foaming billows
not present to the thought—unless of a brother's & sister's envy, tfc by
indeed someone conjures it up by the raging winds of a supposed in-
saying All the evidence must first be vaded authority ; while 1 see in Love-
sifted with acid tests, or with the lace, the rocks on one hand, & in
microscope — ; under such a stimulus Solmes, the sands on the other ; &
our m. turns out to have been not tremble, lest 1 should split upon the
dead but dormant; the other word, former or strike upon the latter,
examine, will do well enough as an The present fashion is rather to
example of the real stone-dead m.; develop a metaphor only by way of
the Latin examino , being from burlesque. All that need be asked
examen the tongue of a balance, of those who tend to this form of
meant originally to weigh ; but, satire is to remember that, while
though weighing is not done with some metaphors do seem to deserve
acid tests or microscopes any more such treatment, the number of
than sifting, examine gives no times that the same joke can safely
convulsive twitches, like sift , at be made, even with variations, is
finding itself in their company ; limited ; the limit has surely been
examine , then, is dead m., & sift exceeded, for instance, with ‘ the
only half dead, or three-quarters. long arm of coincidence ’ ; what
2. Some pitfalls : A. Unsustained proportion may this triplet of quota-
m.; B. Overdone m. ; C. Spoilt m. ; tions bear to the number of times
D. Battles of the dead. E. Mixed m. the thing has been done ?— The long
2. A. Unsustained m. He yoas still arm of coincidence throws the Slifers
in the middle of those 20 years of into Mercedes's Cornish garden a
heglect which only began to lift in little too heavily./The author does not
1868 . The plunge into m. at lift, strain the muscles of coincidence's
which presupposes a mist, is too arm to bring them into relation./
sudden after the literal 20 years of Then the long arm of coincidence
neglect; years, even gloomy years, rolled up its sleeves & set to work with
do not lift./The means of education a .rapidity <& mgour which defy
at the disposal of the Protestants & description.
Presbyterians of the North were Modern overdoing, apart from
stunted & sterilized. The means at i burlesque, is chiefly accidental, &
METAPHOR, 2
349
METAPHOR, 2
350
METAPHOR, 2
results not from too much care, but
from too little : The most irrecon¬
cilable of Irish landlords are beginning
to recognize that we are on the eve of
iae dawn of a new day in Ireland.
On the eve of is a dead m. for about
to experience, & to complete it with
the dawn of a day is as bad as to say
It cost one pound sterling, ten, for
one pound ten.
2. C. Spoilt m. The essential merit
of real or live m. being to add vivid¬
ness to what is to be conveyed, it
need hardly be said that accuracy of
detail is even more needed in meta¬
phorical than in literal expressions ;
the habit of m., however, & the
habit of accuracy do not always go
together :— Yet Jauris was the Sam¬
son who upheld the pillars of the
Bloc./Yet what more distinguished
names does the Anglican Church of
the last reign boast than those of
F. D. Maurice, Kingsley, Stanley,
Robertson of Brighton, <& even, if we
will draw our net a little wider, the
great Arnold ?/He was the very essence
of cunning, & the incarnation of a
book-thief. Samson’s way with
pillars was not to uphold them ; we
draw nets closer, but cast them
wider ; & wliat is the incarnation of
a thief ? too, too solid flesh indeed !
2. D. Battles of dead metaphors.
In The Covenanters took up arms
there is no m. ; in The Covenanters
flew to arms there is one only— flew
to for quickly took up— ; in She
flew to arms in defence of her darling
there are two, the arms being now
metaphorical as well as the flying ;
moreover, the two metaphors are
separate ones ; but, being dead ones,
& also not inconsistent with each
other, they lie together quietly
enough. But dead metaphors will
not lie quietly together if there was
repugnance between them in life ;
e’en in their ashes live their wonted
fires, & they get up & fight :— It is
impossible to crush the Government’s
aim to restore the means of living &
working freely. Crush for baffle, aim
for purpose, are both dead meta¬
phors so long as they are kept apart ;
but the juxtaposition forces on us
the thought that you cannot crush
an aim ./National military training is
the bedrock on which alone we can
hope to carry through the great
struggles which the future may have
in store for us. Bedrock & carry
through are both moribund or
dormant, but not stone-dead./T/ie
vogue of the motor-car seems destined
to help forward the provision of good
road communication, a feature ivhich
is sadly in arrear. Good road com¬
munication may be a feature, & it
may be in arrear, & yet a feature
cannot be in arrear ; things that are
equal to the same tiling may be
equal to each other in geometry, but
language is not geometry ./They are
cyphers living Under the shadow of
a great man.
2. E. Mixed metaphors. For the
examples given in D, tasteless word-
selection is a fitter description than
mixed m., since each of the words
that conflict with others is not
intended as a m. at all. Mixed m.
is more appropriate when one or
both of the terms can only be con¬
sciously metaphorical. Little warn¬
ing is needed against it ; it is so
conspicuous as seldom to get into
speech or print undetected. This is
not the time to throw up the sponge,
when the enemy, already weakened &
divided, are on the run to a new
defensive position. A mixture of
prize-ring & battle-field.
In the following extract from a
speech it is difficult to be sure how
many times metaphors are mixed ;
readers versed in the mysteries of
oscillation may be able to decide :—
No society, no community, can place
its house in such a condition that it is
always on a rock, oscillating between
solvency cb insolvency. What I have
to do is to see that our house is built
upon a solid foundation, never allow¬
ing the possibility of the Society's
life-blood being sapped. Just in
proportion as you are careful in
looking after the condition of your
income, just in proportion as you deal
with them carefully, will the solidarity
METAPHOR, 3
351
of the Society's financial condition
remain intact. Immediately you
begin to play fast & loose with your
income the first blow at your financial
stability will have been struck.
3. Self-consciousness & mixed m.
The gentlemen of the Press regularly
devote a small percentage of their
time to accusing each other of
mixing metaphors or announcing
that they are themselves about to do
so (What a mixture of metaphors l
If we may mix our metaphors, or
change the m.), the offence apparently
being not to mix them, but to be
unaware that you have done it.
The odd thing is that, whether he
is on the offensive or the defensive,
the writer who ventures to talk of
mixing metaphors often shows that
he does not know what mixed m. is.
Two typical examples of the offen¬
sive follow :—The Scotsman says :
‘ The crowded benches of the Minis¬
terialists contain the germs of dis¬
integration. A more ill-assorted
majority could hardly be conceived,
& presently the Opposition must
realize of what small account is the
manoeuvring of the Free-Fooders or
of any other section of the party. If
the sling be only properly handled,
the new Parliamentary Goliath will be
overthrown easily enough. The stone
for the sling must, however, be found
on the Ministerial side of the House,
& not on the Opposition side'.
Apparently the stone for the sling will
be a germ. But doubtless mixed
feelings lead to mixed metaphors./
* When the Chairman of Committees
—a politician of their own hue —
allowed Mr Maddison to move his
amendment in favour of secular
education, a decision which was not
quite in accordance with precedent, the
floodgates of sectarian controversy
were opened, & the apple of discord —
the endowment of the gospel of
Cowper-Temple—was thrown into the
midst of the House of Commons .’
What a mixture of metaphor ! One
pictures this gospel-apple battling
with the stream released by the opened
floodgates.
METAPHOR, 3
In the first passage, we are well rid
of the germs before we hear of the
sling, & the mixture of metaphors
is quite imaginary. Since literal
benches often contain literal germs,
but crowded benches & germs of dis¬
integration are here separate meta¬
phors for a numerous party &
tendencies to disunion, our critic
had ready to his hand in the first
sentence, if he had but known it,
something much more like a mixture
of metaphors than what he mistakes
for one. In the second passage, the
floodgates & the apple are successive
metaphors, unmixed ; the mixing of
them is done by the critic himself,
not by the criticized ; & as to gospel-
apple, by which it is hinted that
the mixture is triple, the original
writer had merely mentioned in the
gospel phrase the thing compared
by the side of what it is compared
to, as when one explains the Athens
of the North by adding Edinburgh.
Writers who are on the defensive
apologize for change & mixture of
metaphors as though one was as
bad as the other ; the two things
are in fact entirely different ; a man
may change his metaphors as often
as he likes ; it is for him to judge
whether the result will or will not
be unpleasantly florid ; but he
should not ask our leave to do it ;
if the result is bad, his apology will
not mend matters, & if it is not bad
no apology was called for. On the
other hand, to mix metaphors, if the
mixture is real, is an offence that
should not have been apologized for,
but avoided. Whichever the phrase,
the motive is the same—mortal fear
of being accused of mixed m.:—
. . . showed that Free Trade could
provide the jam without recourse being
had to Protective food-taxes ; next
came a period in which (to mix our
metaphors) the jam was a nice slice
of tariff pie for everybody ; but then
came the Edinburgh Compromise, by
which the jam for the towns was that
there were to be . . . When jam is
used in three successive sentences in
its hackneyed sense of consolation.
METAPHOR, 3
352
METAPHYSICS
it need hardly be considered in the
middle one of them a live m. at all ;
however, the as-good-as-dead m. of
jam is capable of being stimulated
into life if anyone is so foolish as to
bring into contact with it another
half-dead m. of its own (i.e. the
foodstuff) kind ; & it was after all
mixing metaphors to say the jam
was a slice of pie ; but then the way
of escape was to withdraw either the
jam or the pie, instead of forcing
them together down our throats
with a ramrod of apology. /'Time
sifts the richest granary , cfc posterity
is a dainty feeder. But LyalVs words ,
at any rate—to mix the metaphor —
will escape the blue pencil even of
such drastic editors as they. Since
all three metaphors are live ones,
& they are the sifter & the feeder,
the working of these into grammati¬
cal connexion with the blue pencil
does undoubtedly mix metaphors.
But then our author gives us to
understand that he knows he is
doing it, & surely that is enough.
Even so some liars reckon that a lie
is no disgrace provided that they
wink at a bystander as they tell it ;
even so those who are addicted to
the phrase ‘ to use a vulgarism ’
expect to achieve the feat of being
at once vulgar & superior to vul¬
garity. /Certainly we cannot detect the
suggested lack of warmth in the speech
as it is printed, for in his speech, as
in the Prime Minister's, it seems to
us that (if we may change the meta¬
phor) exactly the right note was
struck./We may, on the one hand,
receive into our gill its precise content
of the complex mixture that fills the
puncheon of the whole world's litera¬
ture ; on the other—to change the
metaphor—-our few small strings may
thrill in sympathetic harmony to some
lyrical zephyrs db remain practically
unresponsive to the deep sea gale
of Aeschylus or Dante. Certainly,
gentlemen, you may change your
metaphors, if it seems good to you ;
but you may also be pretty sure
that, if you feel the necessity of
proclaiming the change, you had
better have abstained from it ./Two
of the trump cards played against the
Bill are (1) that ‘ it makes every
woman who pays a tax-collector in
her own house ’, & (2) that ‘ it will
destroy happy domestic relations in
hundreds of thousands of homes ’ ;
if we may at once change our meta¬
phor, these are the notes which are
most consistently struck in the stream
of letters, now printed day by day for
our edification in the Mail. This
writer need not have asked our
leave to change from cards to music ;
he is within his rights, anyhow, &
the odds are, indeed, that if he had
not reminded us of the cards we
should have forgotten them in the
three intervening lines ; but how
did a person so sensitive to change
of m. fail to reflect that it is ill
playing the piano in the water ?
a stream of letters, it is true, is only
a picturesque way of saying many
letters, & ordinarily a dead m. ;
but once put your seemingly dead
yet picturesque m. close to a piano
that is being played, & its notes
wake the dead—at any rate for
readers who have just had the word
m. called to their memories.
metaphysics & metaphysical are so
often used as quasi-learned &
vaguely depreciatory substitutes for
various other terms, for theory &
theoretical, subtle(ty), (the) super¬
natural, occult(ism), obscure & ob¬
scurity, philosophy & philosophic,
academic(s), & so forth, that it is
pardonable to forget that they have
a real meaning of their own—the
more that the usual resource of those
who suddenly realize that their
notion of a word’s meaning is hazy,
an appeal to its etymology, will not
serve. It is agreed that Metaphysics
owes its name to the accident that
the part of Aristotle’s works in
which metaphysical questions were
treated of stood after (meta) the part
concerned with physics (ta phusika),
& that the word’s etymology is
therefore devoid of significance.
What is wanted, then, is a defini'
metathesis
353
METICULOUS
tion plain enough not to perplex,
but precise enough not to mislead.
Metaphysics is the branch of philo¬
sophy that deals with the ultimate
nature of things, or considers the
questions. What is the world of
things we know ? &, How do we
know it ? ‘ Three kinds of definite
answers are returned. Metaphysical
materialism is the view that every¬
thing known is body or matter.
Metaphysical idealism is the view
that everything known is mind, or
some mental state or other. Meta¬
physical realism is the intermediate
view that everything known is
either body or soul, neither of which
alone exhausts the universe of
being *—Prof. T. Case in Enc. Brit.
Such being the subject of Meta¬
physics, it is not wonderful, in view
of the infinity of theories & subtlety
of arguments evoked, that it should
have come by some or all of the
wrong acceptations mentioned above;
but it is very desirable that the
plain man, who at best finds the
notion of it hard to grasp, should
not have his difficulties increased by
its being misapplied.
metathesis. See Technical terms.
PI. -eses (-ez).
metayage, metayer. See French
words.
mete makes -table ; see Mute e.
metempsychosis. PI. -oses (-ez).
Pronounce mltSmpsikS'sls.
-meter. For words like speedo¬
meter, see Hybrid derivatives.
For verse-names, see -meter in
Technical terms.
method. For m. in madness, see
Irrelevant allusion.
methodize has -zable ; see Mute e.
meticulous. What is the strange
charm that makes this wicked word
irresistible to the British journalist ?
does he like its length ? does he
pity its isolation (for it has no
kindred in England) ? can a Latin
scholar like him not get meticulosus
out of his head? can so accom¬
plished a Frenchman never be sure
whether mtticuleux or m. is the
1351
word he knows so well ? or what is
it ? At any rate, he must have the
word always with him, however
unsuitable the surroundings. It is
clear first that it is not a piece of
latinity that cannot be forgotten ;
* ante- & post-classical * say Lewis
& Short ; that is, you may read your
Cicero & Virgil & Horace & Livy
through & never meet it ; & when
it is unearthed in Plautus or some¬
where it means not what the journal¬
ists make it mean, but just fright¬
ened ; it is the word for the timid
hare, or the man who is gibbering
with fear ( Nullust hoc meticulosus
aeque . . . Perii, pruriunt dentes —
Was ever man in such a funk ? . . .
Lord, how my teeth chatter !). That
meaning, comprehensible enough
through the Latin metus fear to all
who have learnt any Latin, but not
to others, since metus by some odd
chance has given no common words
to English, meticulous had some
centuries ago ; but the word died
out. When it was resuscitated in
the nineteenth century, it was by
the literary critics with a new sense
for which it was not in the least
needed, scrupulous & punctilious
being amply sufficient ; but literary
critics are given to gallicizing, &
mtticuleux appeared in the French-
Academy dictionary in 1835, i.e., had
lately become fashionable in France.
The question is whether we are
going to allow the word to be
imposed upon us for general use, now
that the journalist of the daily
papers has caught it up from the
literary critic. It is, for the un¬
educated, far less intelligible than
scrupulous & punctilious, which have
well-known nouns associated ; it is,
for the educated, divorced from its
etymological meaning ; it is, for the
Englishman, a Gallicism. It might,
indeed, have had a distinct shade of
meaning that would have justified
its existence, if it had been applied
only to the care that has its origin
in terror of being caught breaking
rules or mis-stating facts ; but how
far it is from being so limited -will be
N
METICULOUS
354
MICKLE
plain from the quotations below.
It should have been a negative
o
complement to punctilious, the two
covering between them the positive
accuracy that omits no detail & the
negative accuracy that admits no
error. The journalist enjoys a laugh
at the man in the street with his
‘ chronic * for serious ; but his own
m. for exact lays him open to the
same charge of leaving out the
essential meaning of a word & using
it promiscuously whether it is
applicable or not ; had he not better
consent to its being relegated to the
list of Superfluous words ? In
the long collection of examples, the
first illustrates fairly the legiti¬
mate sense in which shrinking from
any possible wrong element is the
point ; the last is ludicrous in that
it excludes not merely the idea of
fear, but even that of care ; & the
intermediate ones are arranged
roughly in a descent from the less
bad to the worse :— It will be good
for the New Englanders to contem¬
plate Mr Joseph Southall's quiet & m.
craftsmanship, as in ‘ Tadmarton ’
( 38)./That on the French artillery,
with its plea for less m. care & more
simplicity in our own batteries, should
be read & digested by . . ./Japanese
writers have not yet acquired either
the methods of our art criticism or the
rn. attention to detail which our habits
demand./Should amj English reader
think that the question of ‘ sources ’
is somewhat too meticulously studied,
let him turn to . . . / With the aid of the
prodigious & m. survey being made
under the famous, much-abused ‘ Fin¬
ance ( 1909-10) Act, 1010 an en¬
tirely new method zvill be adopted of
treating the soil./Gone is the wealth
of m. detail with which he loved to
elaborate his finely finished pictures./
More complete & satisfying, from
their breadth & directness, their superb
amplitude of handling, <& from the
absence of the m. detail with which
the master might have overlaid them./
Who know how their output is affected
by minor wage disputes, by the m.
<& indecisive criticism of Admiralty
inspectors, by shortage of men & of
material./We are told that in 1909-10
there were approximately 10300 (ob¬
serve the m. 300 ) super-men./There
was nothing to indicate that the actor
did more than carry out admirably the
very clever ideas of the author—an
author, by the way, who happens to be
very m. about having his ideas carried
out./With method, with meticulous¬
ness, with machinery, . . . with the
terrorism of bombs, poison gases, &
outrages according to programme,
decadent nations were to be taught the
might of the Hohenzollern ‘ kultur ’./
Mr -, who has succumbed to the
wounds inflicted upon him ten days
previously by a pet lion, had his fate
foretold with m. accuracy more than
2000 years ago by the greatest Greek
dramatist.
metier. See French words.
metonymy. See Technical terms.
metope. The OED gives three
syllables (me'topi) ; disyllabic pro¬
nunciation (mS'tbp) as in French is
perhaps equally common ; but cf.
epitome, strophe, systole, catastrophe,
as analogous Greek words.
metre, -ter. See -re & -er.
mews, originally a plural, but now
used freely as singular with a, is best
provided with a fresh plural mewses.
mezzanine. See floor.
mezzo-rilievo. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 6.
The above is the Italian spelling, &
the corresponding pronunciation is
m£'dzo rilya'vo ; if the spelling is,
as often, corrupted to rel-, pro¬
nounce mS'dzd rlle'vo.
mezzotint. Pronounce mSdz-.
miaow, miaul. It is better to be
content with mew & caterwaul than
to multiply phonetic approxima¬
tions.
miasma. PI. usually -ata.
mickle & muckle are merely
variants of the same word, & the
not uncommon version Many a
mickle makes a muckle is a blunder ;
the right forms are Many a little
(or Mony a pickle) makes a mickle
(or muckle ), with other slight
variations.
microbe
microbe, micro-organism* See
SCHIZOMYCETES .
mi d has superl. midmost ; mid air
should not be hyphened, see Hy¬
phens.
middle. M. class is hyphened as
an adjective ( middle-class educa¬
tion), but not as a noun ( belongs to
the middle class) ; see Hyphens.
For middle ( article) & middle voice
see Technical terms.
middling(ly). The -ly is unusual &
undesirable : a middling good crop ;
did middling well; it went only
middling. See Unidiomatic -ly.
midwifery. Three syllables ; mi'd-
wifrl is perhaps usual, but both
ml'dwlfr! & mi'difri are also heard ;
cf. housewife.
855
MINIFY
milli on. 1. A m. <& a quarter , two
millions & a half, rather than one
db a quarter million(s) & two <& a half
millions ; see half.
2. It is safe to say, therefore (adds
the * Times ’), that the total is con¬
siderably less than 2j millions,
although it must he well over mil¬
lion. This change from 2i millions
to li million is wrong c'see one*
unless 1£ million is meant merely
for the printed form that is to be
said as * a million & a half ’.
3. Forty-five million people rather
than forty-five millions of people (on
the analogy of dozen, score, hundred,
& thousand) ; but, with a few &
many, millions of is perhaps the
more usual form.
4. Amongst the eight million are a
mighty. In the colloquialism m.
fine &c., mightily should not be sub¬
stituted ; see Unidiomatic -ly.
mignon, migraine. See French
words.
mikado. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
milage. So spelt; see Mute e.
milden. See -en verbs.
few hundred to whom this does not
apply rather than millions, hundreds ;
but He died worth three millions
rather than million ; this because
‘ a million ’ is an established noun
(as distinguished from a mere
numeral) in the sense £1,000,000,
but not in the sense a million people.
Milesian (Irish) is now chiefly a
resource of the Elegant varia-
tionist ; see also Polysyllabic
humour.
millenarian, of the, believer in the,
millennium. The apparent incon¬
sistency in spelling (-n-, -nn-) results
from the fact that millenarian, like
millenary, does not contain the stem
of the Latin annus year, which is
present in millennium ; if it were
formed from millennium, the form
would be millenniarian ; millena¬
rian strictly means thousander, not
thouSand-yearer. Cf. centenary.
millenary. The OED pronounces
mninari; but see centenary.
millennium. Pi. -ms, -ia ; see -um.
mill!-. See kilo-.
milliard means a thousand millions ;
it is chiefly a French term, though
perhaps advancing in general cur¬
rency. In France it is the equi¬
valent in ordinary use for the
mathematical French (which differs
«om the English) billion.
Milly. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
milor(d). See French words.
mimic, vb, makes -eked, -eking;
see -c-, -ck-.
minacious, minatory. Both words
smack of pedantry ; but while the
first is serviceable only for Poly¬
syllabic humour, the second is not
out of place in a formally rhetorical
context.
mince, vb, makes - ceable ; see
Mute e.
mine. For (my or) mine & your
future depends upon it Sec., see
Absolute possessives.
mine, vb, has -nable ; see Mute e.
mineralogy is a syncopated form
(the syncopation done in French)
for minerotology, & should not be
quoted in defence of proposed wrong
forms in -alogy ; cf. pacifist.
minify, minimize, diminish. Minify
is a badly formed & little used word ;
it owes its existence to the desire for
a neat opposite to the correctly
MINIMUM
356
formed magnify , but is now chiefly
used by people who, rightly enough
offended by the extension of minim¬
ize to improper meanings, are too
ready to catch at the first alterna¬
tive ; a slight further search would
bring them through minish (to
which the only but fatal objection is
that it is archaic) to diminish.
Minimize is both a rightly formed
& a current word, but unfortun¬
ately current in more senses than it
has any right to. It should be
kept strictly to the limits imposed
by its derivation from minimus (not
less or little, but least), & therefore
always mean either to reduce to the
least possible amount (We must
minimize the f riction ) or to put at the
lowest possible estimate (It is your
interest to minimize his guilt). The
meanings given to minimize in the
following quotations, i.e. reduce &
underestimate, ignore the essential
superlative element :— The utility
of our convoy would have been con-
siderablv minimized had it not
included one of these./The Shipping
Federation has left little scope for
unions of the men ; nobody who
knows anything of that combination
is likely to minimize its power. /An
open window or door would greatly
minimize risk.
Minify should be given up as a
Superfluous word ; minimize
should be kept to its proper senses ;
magnify should have as its opposite,
in one of its senses diminish (the
diminishing end of the telescope), &
in another underestimate (neither
magnify nor underestimate the diffi¬
culties). See also belittle.
minimum. PI. usually -ma.
minister. The tendency to apply
the word, in the sense m. of religion,
to dissenters, & to avoid applying it
to Anglicans, noteworthy seeing that
m. is common in the Prayer-Book
rubrics, is explained by historical
circumstances ; it was adopted as
an acceptable name ‘ at first chiefly
by those who objected to the terms
priest & clergyman as implying
MINOTAUR
erroneous views of the nature of the
sacred office ’—OED.
Minnie. So spelt; see -ey, -ie,
-y. .
minor (in logic). See Technical
TERMS.
minority is like majority, only
more so, in its meanings, with which
odd tricks can be played. Corre¬
sponding to the A, B, & C, of major¬
ity, m. has. A, inferiority of number
or fewerness or pauciority, B, a
party having a pauciority, & C, less
than half of any set of people.
‘ More so ’, because, if one presses
one’s rights, one may say that a
small m. (sense B) is in a considerable
m. (sense A) or is the vast m.
(sense C), both of which statements
happen to sound absurd ; & again,
in a Board of 51 am. of one may be
either 25 persons (A) or one person
(B). The point need not be laboured,
but should be appreciated. There
is a tacit convention, in the interests
of lucidity, that adjectives naturally
appropriate to magnitude shall not
be used with m. to emphasize small¬
ness of number, & another that a m.
of one shall always mean one person.
But the first is not always kept to :—
With a considerable minority of the
votes polled, the Tory Party have
obtained a clear <£ substantial major¬
ity over all other parties in the House.
Oddly enough, the newspaper whose
own words are those has this para¬
graph about a fellow offender :—
Says a motoring writer in a Sunday
paper: * It is time that a period were
put to the era of the trap on the open
road, cfc that the interests of the public
at large were considered by attacking
the real evil—the dangerous & incon¬
siderate driver. Fortunately, he con¬
stitutes the vast minority of motor-car
owners db drivers ’. We know what
is meant, but ‘ the vast minority ’ is
a very unfortunate way of saying it.
In the first passage m. is used in
sense A, & in the second in sense C ;
but the convention is applicable to
both or neither.
Minotaur. Generally pronounced
V «
mint sauce
357
MISQUOTATION
min-, though the i is long in Greek
& Latin ; but see False quantity.
mint sauce should not be hyphened
if the stress is on the second word,
as it usually is ; see Hyphens.
minuscule. See Technical terms.
miocene. A typical example of the
monstrosities with which scientific
men in want of a label for some¬
thing, & indifferent to all beyond
their own province, defile the lan¬
guage. The elements of the word
are Greek, but not the way they are
put together, nor the meaning
demanded of the compound. See
Hybrid derivatives (w.f.).
misalliance, though formed after
the French misalliance , is so natural
an English word that it is free of the
taint of gallicism, & should always
be preferred to the French spelling.
MISAPPREHENSIONS of which
many writers need to disabuse them¬
selves. Discussion of each will be
found under the word printed in
small capitals.
That a devil’s advocate, or advo-
catus diaboli, is a tempter or the like.
That a percentage is a small part.
That a leading question is a
searching one.
That cui bono ? means What is the
good or use ?
That One touch of nature makes
the whole world kin means much the
same as A fellow-feeling makes one
wondrous kind.
That polity is a scholarly word
for policy.
That more HONOURed in the breach
than the observance means more
often broken than kept.
That ilk means clan or the like.
That arithmetical, & geometrical ,
progression mean fast, & very fast,
progress.
That the comity of nations means
the members of a sort of league.
That any order of words that avoids
a Split infinitive is better than
any that involves it.
That proportion is a sonorous im¬
provement on part.
That SUBSTITUTE i8 an imnrnvc.
ment on replace in the sense take the
place of.
That protagonist is an improve¬
ment on champion & leader.
That an exception strengthens a
rule.
That good writers do not end a
sentence with a preposition.
That Frankenstein was a mon¬
ster.
miscegenation. See Hybrid de¬
rivatives (w.f.).
miscellany. Pronounce mi'selanl
or misS'lam ; the OED puts the
former first, & Recessive accent
is in its favour.
mise-en-sc6ne. See French words.
miserere, misericord, hinged seat.
The first is labelled an incorrect form
in the OED.
misogynist. See Greek g.
Misprints to be guarded
AGAINST. Adverse & averse, de¬
precate & depreciate, inculcate &
inoculate, interpellate & interpolate,
principal & principle, recourse &
resource & resort, risible & visible,
-tion & -live (e. g. a corrective & a
correction), are common confusions
worth providing against by care in
writing & vigilance in proof-cor¬
recting. Concensus (non-existent)
appears perhaps more often than
the real word consensus, & to signal
out (non-existent in the sense meant)
more often than to single out.
Misquotation. The correct
words of a few familiar sayings that
are more often wrongly than rightly
quoted may be useful. The mis¬
quoting of phrases that have sur¬
vived on their own merits out of
little-read authors (e. g. of Fine by
degrees &c. from Prior, usually
changed to Small &c.) is a very
venial offence ; & indeed it is almost
a pedantry to use the true form
instead of so established a wrong
one ; it would be absurd to demand
that no-one should ever use a trite
quotation without testing its verbal
accuracy. Again, the established
change made in the Leave-not-a-
MISQUOTATION
358
rack-behind quotation by shifting
the baseless fabric of a vision from
some lines earlier into the place of
another phrase that does not suit
general use so well, though most
people no doubt make it without
knowing what they are doing, might
reasonably enough be made know¬
ingly, & is no offence. Examples of
these two kinds are placed at the
end of the list. But when a quota¬
tion comes from such a source as
a well-known play of Shakspere, or
Lycidas, or the Bible or Prayer Book,
to give it wrongly at least requires
excuse, & any great prevalence of
such misquotation would prove us
discreditably ignorant of our own
literature. Nevertheless, such words
as A poor thing, but my own, are
often so much more used than the
true form that their accuracy is
sure to be taken for granted unless
occasional attempts like the present
are made to draw attention to them.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread (not broiv).
To gild refined gold, to paint the
lily (not gild the lily).
Pride goeth before destruction, & an
haughty spirit before a fall (not
pride before a fall).
Screw your courage to the sticking-
place (not point).
I will a round unvarnished tale
deliver.
An ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine
own (not poor).
Let not him that girdeth on his
harness boast himself as he that
putteth it off (not putteth on).
That last infirmity of noble mind
(not minds).
Make assurance double sure (not
doubly).
Tomorrow to fresh woods & pas¬
tures new (not fields).
The devil can cite Scripture for his
purpose (not quote).
A goodly apple rotten at the heart
(not core).
Chewing the food of sweet & bitter
fancy (not cud).
I am escaped with the skin of my
teeth (not by).
-M-, -MM-
And, like this insubstantial pageant
faded. Leave not a rack behind.
Passing rich with forty pounds a
year.
He that complies against his will Is
of his own opinion still.
Fine by degrees & beautifully less.
When Greeks joined Greeks, then
was the tug of war.
Miss. The Misses Smith &c. is the
old-fashioned plural, still used when
formality is required, e.g. in printed
lists of guests present &c. ; else¬
where the Miss Smiths is now usual.
mis-shapen &c. The hyphen is
usual in compounds of mis- with
words beginning with s.
missile. Usually pronounced -il.
missis. See mistress.
missy. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
mistake makes -kable ; see Mute e.
For the p.p. meanings in error &c.,
see Intransitive p.p.
mistaken makes - nness .
mistral. See wind, n.
mistress. The title Mrs is pro¬
nounced mi'siz ; the noun missis
(joe. or illit. for wife) is pronounced
W / V
mi sis.
mite makes mity ; see -ey & -y.
mitigate makes -gable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
mitrailleuse. See French words.
mitre, -ter. See -re & -er.
mixed metaphor. See Metaphor.
miz(z)en. The OED treats mizen
as the standard form.
-M-, -MM-. Monosyllables ending
in m double it before suffixes begin¬
ning with a vowel if it is preceded
by a single vowel (a, e, i, o, u, or y),
but not if it is preceded by a diph¬
thong or a doubled vowel or a vowel
& r : hammy, gemmed, dimmest,
drummer ; but claimant, gloomy,
xvorming. Words of more than one
syllable follow the rule for mono¬
syllables if their last syllable is a
word in composition, as bedimmed,
overcramming, but otherwise do not
double the m ( bemadamed, bedlamite,
balsamic, diademed, emblematic, pil¬
grimage, victimize, seldomer, venom-
359
MOLECULE
ous, unbosomed , blossoming, bottomed
fruxomest, harmoniumist, vellumy) ;
but words in -gram double the m
(compare epigrammatic, diagram¬
matic, with systematic).
mobilize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
mobocracy. See Hybrid deriva¬
tives.
moccasin, which suggests the pro¬
nunciation better, is now preferred
to the formerly current mocassin.
mocha, coffee. Pronounce mo'ka.
model makes - lied, -lling, &c. ; see
-LL-, -L-.
moderate makes - rable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
modern makes -nness. For the m.
Athens, the m. Babylon, see Sobri¬
quets.
modernize has -zable ; see Mute e.
modest makes -er, -est.
modify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 6.
modish. So spelt ; see Mute e.
modulate makes -lable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
modulus. PI. -li (-!).
modus vivendi (literally way of
living) is any temporary comprom¬
ise that enables parties to carry
on pending settlement of a dispute
that would otherwise paralyse their
activities.
Mogul. Accent the second syllable.
For the spelling Mughal see Didac¬
ticism, Mahomet.
Mohammed(an). See Mahomet.
moiety, apart from uses as a legal
term & a Formal word, exists
merely for the delight of the E le -
GANT-VARiATiONist in such triumphs
as: The Unionist candidate was
returned by exactly half the number of
votes polled, the other moiety being
divided between a Labour & an
Independent opponent.
moire)(moir§. Moire , or moire
antique, is the name of the watered
silk material; moiri is first an
adjective meaning watered like
moire (often of metal surfaces), &
secondly a noun meaning watered
surface or effect. A moire dress ;
velvets db moire antiques ; a moird
surface ; the moire has been improved
by using the blowpipe. Pronounce
mwahr, mwar'a.
moisten. The t is silent ; see
Pronunciation.
molasses is used as a singular.
molecule, atom, electron, corpuscle.,
To the mere literary man without
scientific knowledge, the relations of
these words to each other are puz¬
zling, & not easy to learn, even in an
elementary way, from consulting
each by itself in dictionaries. Some
sentences picked out from the Enc.
Brit, article on molecule may throw
light ; but here, first, are the
etymological meanings : molecule,
small mass ; atom, uncuttable (par¬
ticle) ; electron, amber ; corpuscle,
small body.
‘ The doctrine that matter can be
divided into, or regarded as com¬
posed of, discrete particles (termed
atoms by early writers, & molecules
by modern ones) has at all times
played an important part in meta¬
physics & natural science.’
‘ Democritus was the founder of the
atomic theory, while Anaxagoras
propounded that of continuity.’
* The atoms, they [the atomists]
said, do not fill up the universe ;
there are void spaces between them
. . . The opposite school maintained
then, as they have always done, that
there is no vacuum—that every part
of space is full of matter, that there
is a universal plenum.’
* Molecule, the minutest particle of
matter capable of separate existence.
The word appears to have been
invented during the 17th century,
& remained synonymous with atom
... until the middle of the 19th
century, when a differentiation was
established.’
* An enormous mass of experi¬
mental evidence now shows quite
conclusively that matter cannot be
regarded as having a continuous
structure, but that it is ultimately
composed of discrete parts. The
smallest unit of matter with which
physical phenomena are concerned
MOLLIFY
360
is the molecule. When chemical
phenomena occur the molecule may
be divided into atoms ; & these
atoms, in the presence of electrical
phenomena, may themselves be
further divided into electrons or
corpuscles .*
mollify. For inflexions, see Verbs
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 6.
Molly. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
molten. See melt,
momentarily, momently. The first
means for a moment (he was momen¬
tarily abashed ), the second from
moment to moment or every moment
(am momently expecting a wire from
him). The differentiation is well
worth more faithful observance than
it gets ; & the substitution of either,
which sometimes occurs, for in¬
stantly or immediately or at once is
foolish Novelty-hunting.
momentary, momentous. The first
means lasting only for a moment, or
transitory ; the second means of
moment, i. e. of great consequence.
momentum. PL usually -ta.
monachal, monastic, monkish. Each
has its own abstract noun— monach-
ism, monasticism, monkery. Of the
three sets monastic(ism) is the one
that suits all contexts ; it is useful
that monkish & monkery should also
exist, as serving the purpose of
those who wish to adopt a certain
tone. Monachal & monachism,
though they would have passed well
enough if monastic(ism) did not
exist & were not much better known,
seem as it is to have no recommenda¬
tion unless it is a good thing that
scholars writing for scholars should
have other names for things than
those generally current, even though
the meaning is the same. If that is,
on the contrary, a bad thing,
monachal & monachism should be
allowed to die.
monadism)(monism. Both terms
owe their existence to the meta¬
physical problem of the relation
between mind & matter. The view
that regards mind & matter as two
MONOCLE
independent constituents of which
the universe is composed is called
dualism. In contrast with dualism,
any view that makes the universe
consist of mind with matter as a
form of mind, or of matter with
mind as a form of matter, or of a
substance that in every part of it is
neither mind nor matter but both,
is called monism (see also meta¬
physics). Monadism is the name
given to a particular form of monism,
corresponding to the molecular or
atomic theory of matter (see mole¬
cule), & holding that the universal
substance (according to the third
variety of monism described in the
previous sentence) consists of units
called monads.
monarchical, -chic, -chal, -chial.
The first is the current form ; -chic
is occasionally used for antithetic
purposes (the monarchic, the aristo¬
cratic, db the democratic branches oj
our constitution) ; -chal with a slight
rhetorical difference, where kingly
might serve (the royal harangue has
a certain monarchal tone) ; -ial seems
superfluous.
monastic(ism). See monachal.
Monday. For He is coming M.,
&c., see Friday.
monde. See French words.
monetary, monetize. See Pro¬
nunciation for the question be¬
tween mon & mun.
moneyed, moneys, not monied,
monies.
mongoose. PI. -ooses.
mongrel makes -lly ; see -ll-, -l-.
See mulatto 1 for synonyms,
monism. See monadism.
monitress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
monk. For m. & friar, see friar.
monkey, n. PI. -eys.
monkey, vb. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie, -y, -ye, 2.
monoecious. Pronounce -nesh-;
for -noe-, - noe -, see m, ce.
monocle. That this, a Hybrid
derivative, a Gallicism, & a word
with no obvious meaning to the
Englishman who hears it for the
E,
MONOLOGIST 361 MORAL(E)
first time, should be ousting the
entirely satisfactory eyeglass is a
melancholy illustration of the popu¬
lar taste in language.
monologist. See Greek g.
monologue, monometer. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
monopolize makes - zable ; see
Mute e.
monotonic, -nous. The secondary
sense oi monotonous (same or tedious)
has so nearly swallowed up its
primary (of one pitch or tone) that
it is well worth while to remember
the existence of monotonic , which
has the primary sense only.
Monroe doctrine. Its status is that
of a manifesto addressed by the
U.S.A. to all whom it may concern,
not that of a treaty or a piece of
international law.
Its contents are not definite, nor
expressed as a legislative enactment,
nor extractable from a single docu¬
ment, but are in course of develop¬
ment, having varied from the view
that European Powers must not
interpose with a view to securing
control of independent American
States, nor establish fresh colonies
in America, to the principle that
every portion of the American con¬
tinent must be free from European
control.
Its name is taken from President
Monroe, who in 1823 made a de¬
claration to Congress to the effect
stated above in summary as the
first view.
The original policy at least had the
official approval of Great Britain.
monseigneur, monsieur. See
French words.
monsignor, -ore. Pron. -enyor'(£).
PI. -ori (-e).
monsoon. See wind, n.
mood. It may save misconcep¬
tions to mention that the grammar
word has nothing to do with the
native word meaning frame of mind
&c., & is merely a variant of mode .
moollah. See mullah.
mora. The Italian finger-flashing
morra.
moral, adj. 1. For distinctions
between m. & ethical, morals &
ethics, see ethical 5, 6. 2. M. wc-
torxy, m . certainty. The first is often
applied to an event that is from
another point of view a defeat ; the
second is always applied to what is
in fact an uncertainty. It is so easy
to see why m. victory should mean
what it does, & so hard to see why
m. certainty should, that anyone
considering the point by the mere
light of nature is tempted to guess
that m. certainty is the illegitimate
offspring of m. victory, & perhaps to
abstain from using it as a solecism.
The OED quotations show that, on
the contrary, it is much the older of
the two phrases ; &, though this
peculiar sense of practical or vir¬
tual in combination with certainty ,
& of tantamount to demonstrative in
combination with evidence, is hard
to account for, it is established as
idiomatic.
moral(e), n. Is a combination of
pedantry & Gallicism to bully us
into abandoning the English word
morale ? For, until a few years ago,
we all wrote that without thinking
twice about it ; & to this day you
will meet it in the local newspapers
that have not time to keep up with
the latest tricks of the London
Press, & in those parts of the
London Press itself that have to use
a tongue understanded of the people.
The case for the spelling moral is
that (1) the French use the word
moral for what we used to call
morale, & therefore we ought to do
the same ; & that (2) the French
use morale to mean something differ¬
ent from what we mean by it.
The case against moral is (1) that
it is a new word, less comprehensible
to ordinary people, even now after
its wartime currency, than the old
morale ;. (2) that it must always be
dressed in italics owing to the occa¬
sional danger of confusion with the
English word moral , & that such
MORAL(E) 362 MORE
H | , a ^_ !■—m
artificial precautions are never kept The French word morale has never
up ; (3) that half of us do not know
whether to call it mo'ral, mor&'l, or
morah'l, & that it is a recognized
English custom to resolve such
doubts by the addition of -e or
other change of spelling.
The view here taken is that the
case for moral is extraordinarily
weak, & that against it decidedly
strong, & in fact that the question
is simply one between true pedantry
& true English. A few remarks may
be made on the points already
summarized.
Here are two extracts from book-
reviews in The Times : He per¬
sistently spells moral (state of mind
of the troops, not their morality) with
a final e, a sign of ignorance of
French./The purist in language might
quarrel with Mr -’s title for this
book on the psychology of war, for he
means by morale not 4 ethics ’ or
4 moral philosophy ’, but 4 the temper
of a people expressing itself in action ’.
But no doubt there is authority for the
perversion of the French word. Is it
either ignorance of French or a per¬
version of the French word ? @r
would a truer account of the matter
be that we have never had any¬
thing to do with the French word
morale (ethics, morality, a moral,
&c.), but that we found the French
word moral (state of discipline &
spirit in armies &■ the like) suited
to our needs, & put an -e on to it
to keep its sound distinct from that
of our own word moral, just as we
have done with the French local
(English locale ) & the German Choral
(English chorale), & as, using con¬
trary means for the same end of
fixing a sound, we have turned
French d'plomate into English diplo¬
mat ? Our English forte (,geniality
is not his forte, &c.) is altered from
the French fort without even the
advantage of either keeping the
French sound or distinguishing the
spoken word from our fort ; but who
proposes to sacrifice the reader s
convenience by correcting its 4 ignor¬
ant ’ spelling ?
had any currency in English, though
it is no doubt used by misguided
gallicizers from time to time, & it
certainly need not be taken into
account as an objection to spelling
the French moral as suits our
convenience.
If we reinstate the once almost
universal morale, we need no italics,
& there is no fear of confusion; if we
adopt moral, we need italics, & there
is no hope of getting them ; it is
at present printed oftener without
than with them. The following five
extracts, in some of which the
English adjective moral, & in some
the French noun moral, is meant,
have all the same type for moral as
for the rest. They are printed here,
except for the italicizing of the
whole, exactly as they appeared, &
they are enough to suggest how easy
it would be for real doubts to arise
about which word is being used :—
An astounding decrease in the moral
discipline & patriotism of German
soldiers (Has, or has not, a comma
dropped out after moral ?)./It is
indeed a new proof of the failing
moral & internal troubles of the
German people (Moral & internal ?
Oh dear no !)./A true arbitrator,
a man really impartial between two
contendants & even indifferent, to
their opposing morals./The Russian
army will recover its moral & fighting
power ./The need of Poland, not only
for moral, but for the material support
of the Allies.
The right course is to make the
English word morale, use ordinary
type, call it morah'l, & ignore or
abstain from the French word
morale, of which we have no need.
See for other examples of pedantry
with French words, a l’outrance
& DOUBLE ENTENDRE J cf. alSO
GUERILLA.
moralize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
morbid makes -est ; see -er
-EST 4*
morbidezza. Pronounce -6tsa.
more. 1. For limitations on the
MORGUE
363
MOST(LY)
use of the more, see the. 2. For the
common confusion between much m.
& much less, see Illogicalities,
less, and much. 3. M. than one,
though its sense is necessarily plural,
is treated as a sort of compound of
one, following its construction, &
agrees with a singular noun & takes
a singular verb : m. t. o. workman
was killed, m. t. o. was killed, not
workmen or were. 4. For m. in
sorrow than in anger, see Hackneyed
phrases. 5. The new dock scheme
affects the whole of the northern bank
of the Thames in a more or less
degree. This is wrong because,
though a less degree is English, a m.
degree is not; & the reason for that
again is that while less still pre¬
serves to a certain extent its true
adjectival use (= smaller) as well
as its quasi-adjectival use ( = a
smaller amount of), the former use
of m. (= larger) has long been obso¬
lete, & it retains only the latter
sense, a larger amount of. Less
butter, less courage, a less degree, &
even a less price, are possible ; but
not a m. degree or a m. price , only
m. butter or courage. The m. part, &
More ’s the pity , are mentioned by
the OED as survivals of the other¬
wise obsolete sense.
morgue. See French words.
morning. 1. M. Service, M. Prayer,
Matins. The first is perhaps the
usual unofficial term; the other
two are official, & the last is
especially in High-Church & musical
use. Similarly Evening Service,
Evening Prayer, Evensong. 2. M.
performance. See matinee.
morocco. PI. - os ; see -o(e)s 3.
morphia, morphine. The meaning
is the same, the second being the
scientific term, but the first sur¬
viving in ordinary use.
morra. See mora.
mortal. For all that was m. of, &
the m. remains of, see Hackneyed
phrases, & Stock pathos.
mortgagee, -ger, -gor. i. As the
word mortgager is one that could be
formed at will from the verb
mortgage even if it were, as it is not,
unrecorded, the maintenance of the
form -gor, pronounced -jor, seems
an absurdity; the only other
English words in which g is soft
before a or o or u are perhaps gaol
& its derivatives, & the debatable
margarine. 2. The mortgagee is
the person who lends money on the
security of an estate, the mortgager
or -or the person who pledges his
property in order to get the loan.
But, as the owner of a mortgaged
estate is often himself described as
* mortgaged up to the eyes ’ &c.,
& as -ee suggests the passive, & -or
& -er the active party, those who
are not familiar with the terms are
apt to have the meanings reversed
in their minds.
mortifledly. A bad form; see
-EDLY.
mortify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie, -y, -ye, 6 .
mortise, -ice. The first is better.
In m. & tenon, the m. is the receiving
cavity.
moslem, muslim. The OED treats
the first as the ordinary English
form, & there is no doubt that it is so.
Correction into muslim is to be
deprecated ; see Didacticism. M.
can be used as adjective or as noun,
& the plural of the noun is prefer¬
ably -ms, but sometimes the same as
the singular ; the use of the plural
moslemin or muslimin is bad didac¬
ticism. See also Mussulman.
mosquito. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
-most. The commoner words with
this ending are best pronounced
-ost, not -ost, though mistaken
effort is often expended on satisfying
the supposed demands of the spell¬
ing. The origin was not the word
most, but a double superlative suffix
-mest, & it is not unlikely that the
ordinary colloquial pronunciation
records this fact. Foremost, inner¬
most, uppermost , topmost, inmost,
utmost, hindermost, are examples of
the words in which the obscure o is
better than the clear 5.
most(ly). The internecine conflict
MOT
364
MOUTH
has largely killed sentiment for any
of the factions, & the Powers mostly
concerned have simply looked on
with a determination to localize the
fighting. The only idiomatic sense of
mostly is for the most part ( The
goods are mostly sent abroad./Twenty-
seven millions, mostly fools). But it
is often wrongly used for most, as in
the quotation ; see Unidiomatic
-ly.
mot. See French words. The
mot juste is a pet Literary critics’
word, which readers would like to
buy of them as one buys one’s
neighbour’s bantam cock for the sake
of hearing its voice no more. It
has the disadvantage that you can
find it, if you want to know more
about it, neither in French diction¬
aries (at any rate, not in Littre) nor
in English, & must be content to
associate it vaguely with Flaubert.
Yet, after meeting it in such a
passage as the following, where the
m. j. seems a trifle long, one does
feel a curiosity about its meaning :—
The epitaph which she wrote for her¬
self at an early age contains the mot
juste : ‘ Here lies Sylvia Scarlett,
who was alivays running away. If
she has to live all over again & be the
same girl, she accepts no responsi¬
bility for anything that may occur ’.
moth. The collective use ot moth
in the senses of moths or the moth or
the ravages of moths ( furs harbour
moth ; moth is the most destructive
of these ; proof against moth ; to
prevent moth) is neither defined nor
illustrated in the OED, but has at
least a colloquial currency. The
well-known Bible passages, however,
on which this use is perhaps based,
cannot in fact be quoted in defence
of it, since in all of them the word
may be taken in the ordinary sense,
if one supposes the rhetorical omis¬
sion of the article that is common
enough in paired or contrasted
phrases ( eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard), which has no resemblance to
the examples of moth given above.
The Bible words meant are : where
moth cfc rust doth corrupt; where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt;
where no thief approacheth, neither
moth corrupteth.
mother. For the M. of Parliaments,
see Sobriquets.
mother-of-pearl, -o’-pearl. The
dictionaries favour the of form ; the
other gives the usual pronunciation,
& perhaps is what most people
would print if the compositors would
let them.
moths. For pronunciation see -th
& -DH.
motif. See French words.
motive. The victorious party has
every motive in claiming that it is
acting not against the Constitution,
but in its defence. An or every
interest in doing, but a or every
motive for doing. See Analogy, &
Cast-iron idiom.
motley, n. PI. -eys.
motto. For synonymy, see sign.
PI. -oes, see -o(e)s 1 ; adj. motto’’d,
see -ed &’d. _
moujik, muzhik. Pronounce moo'-
zhik. The first is the established
form, & correction to the second
does no-one any good & perplexes
those who have just come to know
what the old word means; see
Didacticism.
mould. The three common words
so spelt (shape n. & vb ; earth;
fungous growth) are probably all
unconnected ; but the identity of
form has no doubt caused the second
to be tinged with the meaning of
the third, & the original notion of
powdery earth has had associated
with it the extraneous one of
rottenness. See True & false
ETYMOLOGY.
mount, vb. For mounted men &c.,
see Intransitive p.p.
mouse. Pronounce the noun -s, tne
verb & its agent-noun -z(er). M.
makes mousy, not -sey ; see -ey <& -y.
mousseline. See French words.
mouth. Pronounce the verb, & tn
pi. of the noun, with -dh, foul-
mouthful
365
MUCH
mouthed &c. -dhd, & mouthy -dhi;
see -th & -dh.
mouthful. PI. - Is ; see -ful.
move makes - vdble, not -veahle ; see
Mute e.
mow, stack or cock. Pron. mow.
mow, grimace. Pron. mow or mo.
mow, vb. The p.p., when used as
an adjective, should be mown (the
mown, not mowed, grass; new-
mown &c.); when it is verbal, both
forms are current (the lawn was
mown, or mowed, yesterday).
M.P. Four forms are wanted:
ordinary singular, ordinary plural,
possessive singular, & possessive
plural. They are easily supplied :
M.P. (He is a M.P.); M.P.s ( M.P.s
now travel free) ; M.P.’s ( What is
your M.P.'s name?) ; M.P.s’ (What
about income tax & M.P.s ’ salaries ?).
The following newspaper extract
contains two of the parts, but repre¬
sents them both by the same form,
& that one belonging to another :
M.P.’S PIGEON RACE
A pigeon race, organized by M.P.’s,
took place on Saturday. Read (1)
M.P.S’, (2) M.P.s.
Mr, Mrs. See Period for the
question whether Mr & Mrs or Mr.
& Mrs. are better.
much. 1. For the use of m. rather
than very with participles (m.
pleased &c.), see very.
2. M. more & m. less. The adverbs
more, & less, are used in combination
with m. or still to convey that a
statement that is being or has been
made about something already
mentioned applies more forcibly yet
to the thing now to be mentioned :
The abbreviating, m. more the garbling,
of documents does great harm./
Garbling was not permitted, m. less
encouraged. The choice between
more & less is under some circum¬
stances a matter of difficulty even
for those who are willing to be at
the pains of avoiding illogicality, &
a trap for the unwilling.
With sentences that are affirmative
both in effect & in expression it is
plain sailing ; m. more is invariable.
With sentences that are negative in
expression as well as in effect there
is as little doubt; m. less is in¬
variable : 1 did not even see him,
m. less shake hands with him. It is
when the effect is negative, but the
expression affirmative, even if tech¬
nically affirmative only, that doubts
arise. The meaning of technically,
& the distinction between effect &
expression must be made clear. It
will be a year before it is done ; the
effect of that is negative, since it
means that the thing will not be
finished in less than twelve months ;
but its expression is simply affirma¬
tive, there being no negative word
in it. It is not possible to do it under
a year ; the effect & the expression
of that are obviously both negative.
It is impossible to do it under a year ;
the effect of that is negative, but the
expression is technically affirmative.
Though the difference in meaning
between the last two is undiscover-
able, the difference of expression
decides between more & less : It is
not possible to do it under a year,
m. less in six months ; It is im¬
possible to do it under a year, m. more
in six months. What governs the
decision is the right words required
to fill up the ellipsis : It is not
possible to do it under a year, much
-? (is it possible to do it) in six
months ; It is impossible to do it
under a year, much -? (is it
impossible) to do it in six months.
Careless writers make the mistake
of letting the general effect run away
with them instead of considering the
expression. In the example that has
just been worked out the fault is
a slight one, because the wrong
filling up of the ellipsis with changed
words (is it possible instead of is it
impossible) is so easy as to seem to
the reader not less natural than to
the writer. In less simple examples
the fault is much more glaring. In
all the following quotations more
should have been written instead of
less :—
It is a full day's work even to open .
MULATTO
MUCHLY 36 G
m. less to acknowledge, all the pre¬
sents, the letters, <£* the telegrams,
which arrive on these occasions . The
(concealed) negative effect is : Yon
could not open them under a day ; but
the expression is, more than tech¬
nically, allirmative, & the words to
be supplied are is it a full day's
work./The machine must be crushed
before uny real reforms can be
initiated, m. less carried. Negative
effect: You cannot initiate till the
machine is crushed. Expression,
fully affirmative. /But of real inven¬
tion cfc spontaneity, m. less anything
approaching what might be classed as
inspiration, there is little enough.
Expression technically affirmative./
It would be impossible for any ruler
in these circumstances, m. less a ruler
who xvas convinced of his own in¬
fallibility, to guide the destinies of an
empire. Supply would it be im¬
possible for before choosing between
more & less./1 confess myself altogether
unable to formulate such a principle,
m. less to prove it. Supply unable.
M. less, where m. more is required,
is in fact so common that it must be
classed among the Sturdy inde-
fensibl.es,
muchly. See Worn-out humour.
mucilage, gum. See Formal
words.
mucous, -cus. The first is the
adjective, the second the noun ;
mucous membrane.
mud. Mud pie or mudpie, not
mud-pie ; see Hyphens.
mudir, muezzin. Pronounce moo-
der', mooe'zln.
Mughal. See Mogul.
mugwump, highbrow. As many of
us are uncertain whether these
American words mean the same or
different things, the following de¬
finitions are extracted from the
Standard Dictionary :—
Mugwump : A chief among the
Algonkian Indians ; A conceited or
self-consequential person ; A voter
identified more particularly with one
party but claiming the right to vote
with another party.
Highbrow : A person observed or
imagined to take a superior attitude
toward the generality of mankind;
Any person of the intellectual
classes.
Muhammad(an). See Maiiomet.
mulatto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
mulatto & other words of race
mixture.
1. M., half breed, half caste, Eurasian,
hybrid, & mongrel, all denote in¬
dividuals of mixed race, but each
has a more special application from
or to which it has been widened or
narrowed. These are : m., white &
negro ; halfbreed, American-Indian
& white or negro ; halfcaste, Euro¬
pean & East-Indian ; Eurasian,
European & East-Indian ; hybrid,
cross-bred plant or animal; mon¬
grel, cross-bred dog.
2. M., quadroon, octoroon. The
first is the offspring of a white &
a negro (or other completely non¬
white person) ; the second that of
a white & a mulatto, having a quar¬
ter negro (&c.) blood; the third
that of a white & a quadroon, having
an eighth negro (&c.) blood.
3. Creole does not imply mixture
of race, but denotes a person either
of European or (now rarely) of
negro descent born & naturalized
in certain West-Indian & American
countries.
4. East-Indian, half caste, Eurasian,
Anglo-Indian, are all sometimes
used of persons whose descent is
partly European or British & partly
Indian. That is the proper sense of
halfcaste & Eurasian, the latter
being a polite substitute for the
former. East-Indian would more
properly mean (as it was used in 1
above) a full native of India, in
contrast with American-Indian, but
is not common in that sense ; it
was formerly what Eurasian is now,
the escape from halfcaste. Anglo-
Indian, again, would properly mean
a halfcaste, & is now sometimes
preferred in that sense to Eurasian
as a further step in politeness ; but
its traditional meaning, confusion
MULE
367
MUTE E
with which accounts for its being
^referred, is an Englishman who has
spent most of his life in India.
mule makes mulish.
muleteer. So spelt; three syllables,
mullah, moollah. The OED treats
the first as the standard form,
multiply. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 6.
Mumbo Jumbo. PI. Mumbo Jum¬
bos ; see -o(e)s 3.
m ummif y. For inflexions
Verbs in -ie, -y, -ye, 6.
mummy, mother. So spelt ;
-EY, -IE, -Y.
mumps. Usually treated as singu-
Jar ; sec Plural anomalies.
Munchausen. The OED pro¬
nounces -chawzn.
murderess. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
murex. For pi., see -ex, -ix.
MUSES. The nine were daughters
of Zeus & Mnemosyne (-o'zme),
Memory. Their names & provinces
are ;— Clio , history ; Melpomene
(-8'mim), tragedy ; Thalia (-1 'a),
comedy; Euterpe (-pi), music;
Terpsichore (-i'kori), dance ; Erato
(8'ra-), lyric ; Calliope (-i'opi), epic ;
Urania, astronomy ; Polyhymnia,
rhetoric.
museum. PI. -ms ; see -um.
muslim. See Moslem.
muslin makes -lined ; see -N-, -nn-.
mussel, bivalve. So spelt,
mussulman. PI. - ans , not -en, the
last syllable not being the English
word man. It is perhaps to im¬
partial dislike of the incorrect - men
& the queer -mans that the com¬
parative disuse of m. is due ; the
plural is needed at least as often as
the singular, & Mahometan, Mo¬
hammedan, So Moslem, being resorted
to for the plural, get the preference
in the singular also.
must) (need. The following ques¬
tions with their positive & negative
®jOswers illustrate a point of idiom —
Must it be so ? Yes, it must; No, it
not./Need 1 do it f No. you
weed not ; Yes, you must.
mustachio. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 4. M.
is now archaic for moustache, but the
adjective derived from it is often
preferred to the other ; spell
mustachio'd, see -ed So ’d.
muster. Dental treatment was also
kept very prominently before their
consideration, so that , at the time of the
Armistice, the general condition of
these women's mouths would pass a
very fair muster. M. in the phrase
pass m. means an inspection ; & to
pass an inspection very fairly is
quite a different thing from passing
a very fair inspection. Pass m. is
one of the many idioms that must
be taken as they are or left alone.
mute. For the phonetic use, see
Technical terms.
MUTE E. Needless uncertainty
prevails about the spelling of in¬
flexions So derivatives formed from
words ending in mute e. Is this -e
to be retained, or omitted ? It is a
question that arises in thousands of
words. So especially in many that
are not separately recorded in the
dictionaries, so that the timid speller
cannot get it answered in a hurry.
It is also one to which different
answers are possible ; every dic¬
tionary-maker probably thinks that
if he were recording all words with
an internal-mute-e problem he would
answer the question with paternal
but arbitrary wisdom for each word ;
but he also knows that it would be
absurd for him to attempt to give
even all those that are likely to be
wanted. The need is not for such
a gigantic undertaking, but for a rule
of the simplest kind & with the
fewest exceptions, to deliver us from
the present chaos.
To get an idea of the number of
words concerned, the reader should
consider the following questions, &
realize that some of the items stand
for thousands, some for hundreds, &
some for dozens, of similar cases.
Does stale make staleish or stalish ?
love, loveing or loving ? mile, mileage
or milage ? live, liveable or livable ?
strive, striveing or striving ? excite.
MUTE E
368
MUTUAL
exciteable or excitable ? time, timeous
or timous ? move, moveable or
movable ? like, likely or likly ? dote,
doteard or dotard ? judge, judgement
or judgment ? hinge, hingeing or
hinging ? singe, singeing or singing ?
gauge, gaugeable or gaugable ? notice,
noticeable or noticable ? mouse,
mousey or mousy ? change, changeing
or changing , changeling or changling ?
hie, hieing or hiing ? glue, gluey or
gluy ? due, duely or duly ? blue,
blueish or bluish ? whole, wholely or
wholly ? Whether such questions
are idle was decided for me, as this
article was being written, by the
following in an evening paper :—
The almost ungaugable Forces which
make history & Jorge the destinies of
the race will not be hurried.
The only satisfactory rule, excep¬
tions to which are very few, is this :
If the suffix begins with a consonant,
the mute e is retained ; if the suffix
begins with a vowel, the mute e is
dropped. Applying this to the list
above, we get (with the wrong results
in italics, as a basis for exceptions) ;
stalish ; loving ; milage ; livable ;
striving ; excitable ; timous ; mov¬
able ; likely ; dotard ; judgement ;
hinging ; singing ; gaugable ; notic¬
able ; mousy ; changing; change¬
ling ; hiing ; gluy ; duely ; bluish ;
wholely.
The chief exception ( gaugeable,
noticeable, singeing) is that e remains
even before a vowel when the soft
sound of c or g is to be made
possible (as before -able) or to be
insisted on (as in distinguishing the
participles of singe & sing). There
are no other general exceptions ;
duly, truly, & wholly, are individual
ones merely ; hieing is specially so
spelt to avoid consecutive is, much
as clayey has an e actually inserted
to separate two ys ; & gluey, bluey,
are due to fear that gluy, bluy, may
be pronounced after buy & guy.
For practical purposes, then, a
single rule, with a single exception,
suffices—stated again below. The
only sacrifice involved is that of
the power (most arbitrarily & incon¬
sistently exercised at present) of
indicating the sound of an earlier
vowel by insertion or omission of
the e (mileage for fear that milage
may be pronounced mil-). The
history of dispiteous is perhaps the
best comment ; from despite came
despitous (dlspi'tws) ; when the
spelling changed to despiteous (cf.
the recent lineage, li'nij), the pro¬
nunciation changed to dispi'tiws (cf.
the old-established lineage, li'niSj),
& out of this came a false association
with piteous, cutting the word off
from its etymology & attaching it
to pity instead of to spite.
RULE
When a suffix is added to a word
ending in mute e, the mute e is
dropped before a vowel, but not
before a consonant.
EXCEPTION
The e is kept even before a vowel
if it is needed to preserve or em¬
phasize the soft sound of a preceding
g or c.
EXAMPLES
change, changeling, changing,
changeable ; singe, singeing ; hinge,
hinging; trace, traceable ; fake,
fakable ; line, linage ; mite, mity ;
Strive, striving ; pale, palish ; judge,
judgement.
mutilate makes -lable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
mutiny. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 6.
mutism. So spelt ; see Mute e.
mutual is a well-known trap. The
essence of its meaning is that it
involves the relation, x is or does to
y as y to x ; & not the relation, x is
or does to z as y to z ; from which
it follows that our mutual friend
Jones (meaning Jones who is your
friend as well as mine), & all similar
phrases, are misuses of m. An
example of the mistake, which is
very common, is : On the other hand,
if we [i.e., the Western Powers]
merely sat with our arms folded there
would be a peaceful penetration oj
MUZHIK
369
mythopoeic
Russia by the country [i.e., Germany]
which was the mutual enemy [i.e., of
both Russia & the Western Powers].
In such places common is the right
word, & the use of m. betrays
ignorance of its meaning. It should
be added, however, that m. was
formerly used much more loosely
than it now is, & that the OED,
giving examples of such looseness,
goes no further in condemnation
than « Now regarded as incorrect ’,
* Commonly censured as incorrect,
but still often used in the colloca¬
tions m. friend, m. acquaintance, on
account of the ambiguity of common '.
The Dickens title has no doubt
much to do with the currency of m.
friend. .
Another fault is of a different kind,
betraying not ignorance, but lack of
the taste or care that should prevent
one from saying twice over what it
suffices to say once. This happens
when m. is combined with some part
of each other, as in : It is this frater¬
nity of Parliament-men serving a
common cause, mutually compre¬
hending each other’s problems Ac
difficulties, db respecting each other's
rights db liberties, which is the founda¬
tion of the structure. It may fairly
be said that the sole function of
mutually) is to give the sense of
some part of each other when it
happens to be hard to get each other
into one’s sentence ; if each other not
only can be, but is, got in, m. is
superfluous; in the quotation it
adds nothing whatever, & is the
merest tautology.
A few bad specimens follow :— The
ring was mutually chosen by the Duke
db Lady Elisabeth last Wednesday./
They have affinities beyond a m. ad¬
miration for Mazzini./M.. exchange
of prisoners./A m. exchange of berth-
age accommodation at Southampton
db Bremen./It involves . . . m. semi-
bankruptcy of employers db employed./
M. quotation of each other.
For the distinction between m. &
reciprocal , see reciprocal.
muzhik. See moujik.
my. For my db your work &c. (not
mine), see Absolute possessives.
mynheer, mein Herr, Herr. The
first is Dutch & can mean gentleman,
sir, or Mr ; the second is German
for sir ; the third is German for
gentleman & Mr.
myriad is generally used of a great
but indefinite number ; but it is
well to remember that its original
sense, still occasionally effective, is
ten thousand.
mystic has been much slower than
mysterious in becoming a popular
word & thereby losing its definitely
spiritual or occult or theological
implications. Everything that puz¬
zles one has long been called mys¬
terious (who committed the latest
murder, for instance), but not
mystic. It is very desirable that
mystic should be kept as long as
possible from such extension. Un¬
fortunately the Novelty-hunters,
tired of mysterious, have lately got
hold of it : But I don't want to be
mystic, db you shall hear the facts db
judge me afterwards.
mystifiedly. A bad form; see -edly.
mystify. For inflexions, see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
myth is a word introduced into
English less than a century ago as
a name for a form of story char¬
acteristic of primitive peoples &
thus defined by the OED : A purely
fictitious narrative usually involving
supernatural persons, actions, or
events, db embodying some popular
idea concerning natural or historical
phenomena. By those who wish to
mark their adherence to this original
sense the word is still often pro¬
nounced mlth. But the meaning
popularly attached to the word is
little more than a tale devoid of
truth or a non-existent person or
thing or event; always in these
senses, & usually even in the original
one, the pronunciation is mith. See
Popularized technicalities.
mythopoeic, -pccic. See m. as.
370
NARCOSIS
N
n. To the nth. As a mathematical
symbol, n means an unspecified
number ; it is a dummy occupying
a place until its unknown principal
comes along, or a masquerader who
on throwing off the mask may turn
out to be anything. It does not
mean an infinite number, nor the
greatest possible number, nor neces¬
sarily even a large number, but
simply the particular number that
we may find ourselves concerned
with when we come to details; it
is short for ‘ one or two or three or
whatever the number may be \ It
follows that the common use of to
the nth for to the utmost possible
extent ( The Neapolitan is an Italian
to the nth degree./Minerva was
starched to the nth) is wrong. It is
true that sentences can be con¬
structed in which the popular &
the mathematical senses are recon¬
ciled ( Though the force were increased
to the nth, it would not avail), & here,
no doubt, the origin of the misuse
is to be sought. Those who talk
in mathematical language without
knowing mathematics go out of their
way to exhibit ignorance. See
Popularized technicalities.
nacrous, nacreous. The first is
better.
naiad. PI. -ds or -des (pron. -dez).
naif. If we were now adopting the
French word for the first time, &
were proposing not to distinguish
between masculine & feminine, but
to choose either -f or -ve for all uses,
something might be said for the
masculine form (in spite of pensive,
effective, &c.) as being the French
word before inflexion. But both
forms have been with us for cen¬
turies representing both genders,
& it is undeniable that naive is now
the prevalent spelling, & the use of
naif (either in all contexts or when¬
ever the gender :1s not conspicu¬
ously feminine) a conscious correc¬
tion of other people’s supposed
errors. Such corrections are pe¬
dantic when they are needless ; on
the needlessness of correcting estab¬
lished mis-spellings of foreign words
see morale. ’
naff. Hit the (right) n. on the head.
It is clear from the OED quotations
that right, which blunts the point
by dividing it into two, is a modern
insertion ; all the quotations up to
1700 are without it, & all after 1700
have it ; it is better omitted.
naive, naivete, naive, naivety. The
slowness with which the naturaliza¬
tion of the words has proceeded is
curious & regrettable. For it will
hardly be denied that they deserve
a warm welcome as supplying a
shade of meaning not provided by
the nearest single English words.
The OED definition, for instance,
‘ Natural, unaffected, simple, art¬
less ’, clearly omits elements—the
actor’s unconsciousness & the ob¬
server’s amusement—that are essen¬
tial to the ordinary man’s idea of
naivetd. Unconsciously & amus¬
ingly simple ; naive means not less
than that, & is therefore a valuable
word: but, as long as the majority
of Englishmen are kept shy of it by
what is to them queer spelling &
pronunciation, its value will not be
exploited. The difficulty is rather
with the noun than with the
adjective ; many by this time write
naive, & many call it nav; but
naivety, though it was used by Hume
& other 18th-century writers, has
not yet made much headway against
naivete ; till it wins, these potentially
useful words will be very much
wasted.
name makes namable ; see Mute
e.
name-part. Title-rdle is the estab¬
lished word ; what is the matter
with it ? See Noveety-hunting.
naphtha. So spelt. Pronounce
n&f-, not n&p-.
napkin should be preferred to
serviette.
narcissus. PI. -ssuses or -ssi.
narcosis. PI. -oses (-osez).
narghile 371
narghile. Pron. -gfii.
narrate makes -table, -tor ;
-able 1, -or.
narratress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
nasal. For n. organ see Pedantic
humour. For the phonetic sense
see Technical terms.
nath(e)less. The OED puts first
the spelling naiheless & the pro¬
nunciation na'thlis.
nationalize, naturalize, make -zable;
see Mute e. _ .
nature. 1. Periphrasis. The word
is a favourite with the lazy writers
who prefer glibness & length to
conciseness & vigour. The accident
was caused through the dangerous
nature of the spot, the hidden char¬
acter of the by-road, & the utter
absence of any warning or danger-
signal. The other way of putting
this would be The accident happened
because the spot was dangerous, the
by-road hidden, & no warning given./
It must not be supposed that when we
speak of Mr Balfour as unwilling to
snatch at office we are suggesting any
feeling of a converse nature in Mr
Asquith. ‘ Any feeling of a con¬
verse nature ’ means the converse
(or rather, perhaps, the opposite)
feeling./It is true that nature slips
readily off the tongue or pen in such
contexts, but the temptation should
be resisted ; see Periphrasis.
2 . One touch of nature makes the
whole world kin. What Shakspere
meant was: There is a certain
tendency natural to us all, viz that
specified in the following lines
( Troilus & Cressida, hi. iii. 176 - 9 ),
which is, so far as one word may
express it, fickleness. What is
meant by those who quote him is :
A thing that appeals to simple
emotions evokes a wonderfully wide
response; this is both true &
important; but to choose for the
expression of it words by which
Shakspere meant nothing of the
kind is unfair both to him & to it.
That the first words of a cynicism
appropriately put in the mouth of
the Shaksperian Ulysses should be
NECESS(IT)ARIAN
the stock quotation for the power of
sympathy is an odd reversal.
naught, nought. The variation of
spelling is not a modern accident,
but descends from Old English. The
distinction, however, now usually
observed between the senses borne
by each form is a matter of con¬
venience only, & by no means
universally recognized. This dis¬
tinction is that nought is simply the
name of the cipher 0, while the
archaic, poetic, & rhetorical uses in
which the word is substituted for
nothing in any other than the arith¬
metical sense now prefer naught :—
one, nought, nought, one ; noughts &
crosses ; bring or come to, or set at,
naught; availeth naught ; give all
for naught.
nautilus. PI. -li.
navigate makes -gable ; see -able.
navy. For n. & army, see army.
near(ly). The use of near in the
sense of nearly (Not near so often ;
near dead with fright; near a century
ago) has been so far affected by the
vague impression that adverbs must
end in ly as to be obsolescent ; see
Unidiomatic -ly for other words in
which the process has not gone so
far. Those who still say near for
nearly are suspected, if provincialism
& ignorance are both out of the
question, of pedantry; it is a
matter in which it is wise to bow to
the majority.
nebula. PI. -lae.
necessarian. See necessitarian.
necessary. For essential, n., &
requisite, see essential.
neeess(it)arian. The existence of
two forms of a word, unless they are
utilized for differentiation, is incon¬
venient, putting those who are not
thoroughly familiar with the matter
to the needless pains of finding out
whether the two do in fact stand for
different things or for the same.
It would therefore be well if one of
this pair could be allowed to lapse.
There is no valid objection to the
formation of either; but neces-
nectar
372
sitarian is the better word, (1) as
having a less unEnglish or a some¬
how more acceptable sound, (2)
because its obvious connexion with
necessity rather than with necessary
makes the meaning plainer, & (3)
as being already the more usual
word. Necessarian should be re¬
garded as a Needless variant.
nectar has kept the word-makers
busy in search of its adjective ;
nectareal, nectarean, nectared, nec -
tareous, nectarian, nectariferous , nec¬
tarine, nectarious, & nectarous, have
all been given a chance. Milton, j
with nectared, nectarine, & nectarous, 1
keeps clear of the four-svllabled
forms in which the accent is drawn i
away from the significant part ; &
we might do worse than let him
decide for us.
need, lie seems to think that the
Peronne bridge-head teas abandoned
earlier than need have been. It teas
*
assumed that .Marshal Foch's reserves
cb army of manoeuvre had been used
up and need no longer to be taken into
account as a uniform, effective bodtj.
Th cse extracts sufiice to show that
lapses in grammar or idiom may
occur with need. The first looks like
some confusion between the verb &
the noun need ; at least the two
right ways of putting it would be
(a) earlier than it (i.e. the bridge¬
head) need have been (sc. abandoned),
where need is the verb, A (b) earlier
than need it'as (sc. to abandon it),
where need is the noun.
With uncertainties whether need
is a noun or a verb, whether needs is
a verb or a plural noun or an
adverb, A: what relation is borne to
the verbal needs A needed bv the
abnormal need often substituted for
them, there are certain difficulties.
The writer of the second extract has
missed the point of idiom that,
while needs A needed are ordinarv
verbs followed bv infinitive with to,
the abnormal need is treated as a
mere auxiliary, like must , requiring
no to ; the reserves needed no longer
to be taken, or did not need any
I
I
i
i
i
i
i
NEEDLESS VARIANTS
longer to be taken, but need no
longer be taken, into account. The
rules for the use of need instead of
needs & needed are :—It is used only
in interrogative & negativesentences;
in such sentences it is more idiomatic
than the normal forms, which are
however permissible ; if need is
preferred, it is followed by infinitive
without to, but needs & needed
require to before their infinitive.
Idiomatic form, They need not be
counted ; normal form, They did not
need to be counted, or They needed
not to be counted; wrong forms,
They need not to be counted, They
needed not (or did not need) be
counted.
needle. A n. in a bottle of hay is
the right wording, bottle being an
old word, now dialectal only, for
bundle ; it is often mistaken for
a mistake, & changed to bundle of
hay or haystack.
needleful. 1*1. needlefuls ; sec- ful.
Needless variants. Though it
savours of presumption for any
individual to label words needless,
it is certain that words deserving
the label exist ; the question is
which thev are, A who is the censor
that shall disfranchise them. Every
♦
dictionary-maker would be grateful
to an Academy that should draw up
an index expurgatorius A relieve
him of the task of recording rubbish.
There is no such body, A the
dictionary-maker must content him¬
self with recognizing, many many
years after the event for fear he
should be precipitate, that a word
here & there is dead, aware the
while that he is helping hundreds of
others to linger on useless by adver¬
tising them once more. Natural
selection does operate, in the worlds
of talk A literature ; but the dic¬
tionaries inevitably lag behind. It
is perhaps, then, rather a duty than
a piece of presumption for those
who have had experience in word-
judging to take any opportunity?
when they are not engaged in actual
dictionary-making, of helping things
needless variants
373 NEGATIVE AND AFFIRMATIVE
simulation have a right to be heard
on by irresponsible expressions of
opinion. In this book, therefore,
reference is made regarding many
words that either are or ought to be
dead, but have not yet been buried,
to the present article or to that
called Superfluous words. Those
only belong here which can be con¬
sidered by-forms differing merely in
suffix or in some such minor point
from other words of the same stem
& meaning. Sometimes the mere
reference has been thought suffi¬
cient ; more often short remarks
are added qualifying or explaining
the particular condemnation ; an
incomplete list of these references is
given below to enable the reader to
examine details. Here the general
principle may profitably be laid
down that it is a source not of
strength, but of weakness, that
there should be two names for the
same thing, because the reasonable
assumption is that two words mean
two things, & confusion results when
they do not. On the other hand, it
may be much too hastily assumed
that two words do mean the same
thing; they may, for instance,
denote the same object without
meaning the same thing if they
imply that the aspect from which it
is regarded is different, or are appro¬
priate in different mouths, or differ
in rhythmic value or in some other
matter that may escape a cursory
examination. To take an example
or two: it is hard to see why
necessarian & necessitarian, or hydro¬
cephalic & hydracephalous, should
coexist & puzzle us to no purpose
by coexisting ; but correctitude by
the side of correctness had once, if it
has not now, a real value, since it
was expressly made to suggest by its
sound conscious rectitude & so pre¬
sent correctness in an invidious
light; again, it would be rash to
decide that dissimulate was a need¬
less variant for dissemble on the
grounds that it means the same &
is less used & less clearly English,
without thinking long enough over
it to remember that simulate & dis-
on the question.
Some of the words under which
reference to this article is made (not
always concerning the title-word
itself) :—acquaintanceship, askant,
blithesome, bumble - bee, burden,
-cephalic, chivalry, cithern, compet¬
ence, complacence, concernment,
concomitance, corpulence, correcti¬
tude, covert n., debark, depicture,
diminishment, direful, disgustful,
dismission, dissemble, infinitude,
necessitarian, quieten.
ne’er-do-weel, ne’er-do-well. The
Scotch spelling is recommended.
The OED’s remark is : ‘ The word
being of northern & Sc. origin, the
form -z veel is freq. employed even by
southern writers
negative. * The answer is in the
negative ’ is Parliament language,
but deserves much severer con¬
demnation (as a pompous Peri¬
phrasis for No, sir) than most of the
expressions described as unparlia¬
mentary language.
NEGATIVE & AFFIRMATIVE IN
PARALLEL CLAUSES. Of actual
blunders, as distinguished from
lapses of taste & style, perhaps the
commonest, & those that afflict
their author when he is detected
with the least sense of proper shame,
are various mishandlings of nega¬
tives. Writers who appear educated
enough to know whether a sentence
is right or wrong will put down the
opposite of what they mean, or
something different from what they
mean, or what means nothing at all,
apparently quite satisfied so long as
the reader can be trusted to make
a shrewd guess at what they ought
to have said instead of taking them
at their word ; to his possible gram¬
matical sensibilities they pay no
heed whatever, having none them¬
selves. It is parallel clauses that
especially provide opportunities for
going wrong, the problem being to
secure that if both are negative the
negative force shall not be dammed
up in one alone, & conversely that
NEGATIVE
374
if one only is to be negative the
negative force shall not be free to
spill over into the other. Some
classified specimens of failure to
secure these essentials may put
writers on their guard ; the cor¬
rections appended are designed
rather as proofs of the error than as
satisfactory, or at any rate as the
best, emendations.
1. If you start with a negative
subject you may forget on reaching
the second clause to indicate that
the subject is not negative there
also :—No lots will therefore he put
on one side for another attempt to
reach a belter price , but must be sold
on the day appointed (but all must
be sold)./No nation which is given
a tract of territory by the Conference
will want the decision to be set aside,
or will consider it an injustice if it
is set aside (any such nation will at
least consider)./[During a Paris air¬
raid] Very few people even got out
of bed, & went through their ordeal
by fire as an inescapable fate (& the
majority went). /English mines were
laid in the Cattegat, but none were
laid at a depth of less than thirty-five
feet, & were consequently not danger¬
ous to commerce (& they were)./
Neither editor nor contributors are
paid, but are moved to give their
services by an appreciation of the
good work (but all are).
2. You may use negative inversion
in the first clause, & forget that the
second clause will then require to
be given a subject of its own because
the inversion has imprisoned the
original subject :—Nor does he refer
to IlubrecliVs or GaskelVs theories, &
dismisses the paleontological evidence
in rather a cavalier fashion (& he
dismisses). /Not only was Lord Cur-
zon’s Partition detested by the
people concerned, but was adminis¬
tratively bad (it was). /In neither case
is this due to the Labour Party, but
to local Socialist aspirations (This is
due in neither case).
3. Intending two negative clauses,
you may enclose your negative
between an auxiliary & its verb in
AFFIRMATIVE
the first & forget that it cannot
then act outside its enclosure in the
second :— There is scarcely a bis
hotel, a brewery company , or a large
manufactory, which has not sunk
a well deep into the London chalk &
is drawing its own supply of water
from the vast store (& succeeded in
drawing; if has continues, not does
so with it)./No scheme run by Civil
Servants sitting in a London office is
likely to succeed if these gentlemen
have not themselves lived on the
land, & by experience are able to
appreciate actual conditions of agri¬
culture (& learnt to appreciate).
4. Conversely, intending a negative
& an affirmative clause, you may so
fuse your negative with a construc¬
tion common to both clauses that it
carries on to the second clause when
not wanted :— These statements do
not seem well weighed, & to savour
of the catchword (& savour—cutting
the connexion with do not seem)./
If the Colonial Secretary is not going
to use his reserve powers when trial
by jury breaks down, & to acquiesce
in the view that no consequences need
follow when a settler shoots a native
for stealing a sheep, he may as well
give up the business of governing
altogether (& acquiesces—cutting the
connexion with is not going).
5. You may negative in your first
clause a word that when supplied
without the negative in the second
fails to do the work you expect of
it :— To raise the standard of life
of the many it is not sufficient to
divide the riches of the few but also
to produce in greater quantities the
goods required by all (it is also
necessary to produce).
6. You may so misplace the nega¬
tive that it applies to what is com¬
mon to both clauses instead of, as
was intended, to what is peculiar to
one :— It is not expected that to¬
morrow's speech will deal with peace,
but will be confined to a general
survey of . . . (It is expected .. . will
not deal).
7. You may treat a double negative
expression as though it were form-
NEGATIVES
375
NEITHER
ally as well as virtually a positive
one .— It would not be difficult to
quarrel with Mr Rowley's views about
art, but not with Charles Rowley
himself (It would be easy )./He has
cast about for & neglected no device
chemical or mechanical that might
add to his ability (& tried every
device).
NEGATIVES. It has been men¬
tioned in the preceding article, which
is directed against the most insidious
form of the danger, that blunders
with negatives are extraordinarily
frequent. Such blunders require
only care for their avoidance, to be
conscious of the danger is enough to
induce that care, & those who would
realize the danger may easily do so.
Abundant illustrations of it will be
found in the articles on neither,
NO, NOR, NOT, NOTHING LESS THAN,
& Negative & affirmative in
parallel clauses. For those who
do not care for the trouble of
turning up special articles, nor
require detailed discussion, a few
miscellaneous specimens are here
collected without comment: — Were
it not for its liking for game eggs, the
badger could not but be considered
other than a harmless animal./Sir
Willoughby is one of the staunchest of
Liberals; his defeat in North St
Pancras at the General Election was
hardly less creditable to the electors
than his rejection at the L.C.C.
election some years ago./When the
boys come home the old club will
start again; in the meantime who
shall deny that the * Muddied Oafs ’
have not made good?/Manifestly we
can grant no armistice while they
occupy French or Belgian territory,
or delude ourselves into thinking that
a. League of Nations is possible
while . . ./To consider <fc report
whether the Council should not dis¬
continue altogether the direct manage¬
ment of the service & should dispose
of or lease the boats, piers, db plant./
No rival is too small to be over¬
looked, no device is too infamous
not to be practised, if it will .. ./Not
a whit undeterred by the disaster
which overtook them last week./ Is it
quite inconceivable that if the
smitten had always turned the other
cheek the smiters would not long
since have become so ashamed that
. . ?/I do not think it is possible that
the traditions & doctrines of these
two institutions should not fail to
create rival schools./But it would not
be at all surprising if, by attempting
too much , Mr Sichel has not to some
extent defeated his own object./How
can Mr Balfour tell but that two
years hence he may not be too tired
of official life to begin any new
conflict ?/They could hardly fail to
regard it as anything but an expres¬
sion of want of confidence in our
whole South-African policy. /No age
can see itself in a proper perspective,
& is therefore incapable of giving its
virtues & vices their relative places.
n6glig§. So spelt & accented.
negligible, -geable. The first spel¬
ling is better ; cf. incorrigible ,
dirigible. The prevalence at one
time of -geable is perhaps explained
by the word’s having been familiar¬
ized chiefly in the translated or
untranslated French phrase quan¬
tity negligeable.
negotiate makes -liable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -or. The use of the verb in
its improper sense of tackle success¬
fully is comparable in faded jocu¬
larity with the similar use of in¬
dividual (see also materialize), &
stamps a writer as iiterarily a bar¬
barian. Novelty is what makes
such misuses attractive, & when the
novelty is gone people of sense
discard them. See also Poly¬
syllabic humour.
negro, negrillo, negrito. PI. negroes ,
but negrillos & ncgritos ; see -o(e)s
1 , 6 .
neighbourhood. In the n. of (e.g.
£100) for about is a repulsive com¬
bination of Polysyllabic humour
& Periphrasis.
neither. 1. Pronunciation. 2.
Meaning. 3. Number of the pro-
NEITHER, 1
376
noun & adjective. 4. Number &
person of verb after neither . . . nor.
5. Position of neither . . . nor. 6.
Neither ... or. 7. Neither as con¬
junction. 8. Neither pleonastic.
1. The pronunciation recommended
is ni'dher ; see either.
2. The proper sense of the pronoun
(or adjective) is ‘ not the one nor
the other of the two ’. Like either ,
it sometimes refers loosely to num¬
bers greater than two (Heat, light,
electricity, magnetism, are all corre¬
latives ; neither can he said to he the
essential cause of the others) ; but
none or no should be preferred ; cf.
EixnER 3. This restriction to two
does not hold for the adverb ( Neither
fish nor flesh nor fowl).
3. The number of the adjective &
pronoun is properly singular, & dis¬
regard of this fact is a recognized
grammatical mistake, though, with
the pronoun at least, very com¬
mon : — The conception is faulty for
two reasons, neither of which are
noticed by Plato./What at present
I believe neither of us know ; gram¬
mar requires is noticed, & knoivs.
The same mistake with the adjective
is so obviously wrong as to be almost
impossible ; not quite, however :
Both Sir Harry Verney & Mr Glad¬
stone were very brief, neither speeches
exceeding fifteen minutes. An almost
equally incredible freak with the
pronoun is : Lord llothfield & Lord
Reay were born the one in Paris &
the other at The Hague, neither being
British subjects at the time of his
birth (as indeed neither could be
unless he were twins).
4. Number & person after neither
. . . nor. If both subjects are singu¬
lar & in the third person, the only
need is to remember that the verb
must be singular & not plural. This
is often forgotten ; the OED quotes,
from Johnson, Neither search nor
labour are necessary, &, from Ruskin,
Neither painting nor fighting feed
men, where is & feeds are undoubt¬
edly required. The right course is
not to indulge in bad grammar our¬
selves & then plead that better men
NEITHER, 5
like Johnson & Ruskin have done
it before us, but to follow what is
now the accepted as well as the
logical rule. Complications occur
when, owing to a difference in
number or person between the sub¬
ject of the neither member & that
of the nor member, the same verb-
form or pronoun or possessive
adjective does not fit both : Neither
you nor I (was ?, were ?) chosen;
Neither you nor I (is ?, am ?, are ?)
the right person ; Neither eyes nor
nose (does its ?, do their ?) work;
Neither employer nor hands will
say what (they want ?, he wants ?).
The wise man, in writing, evades
these problems by rejecting all the
alternatives—any of which may set
up friction between him & his
reader—& putting the thing in some
other shape ; & in speaking, which
does not allow time for paraphrase,
he takes risks with equanimity &
says what instinct dictates. But,
as instinct is directed largely by
habit, it is well to eschew habitually
the clearly wrong forms (such as
Neither chapter nor verse are given)
& the clearly provocative ones (such
as Neither husband nor wife is com¬
petent to act without his consort).
About the following, which are
actual newspaper extracts, neither
grammarians nor laymen will be
unanimous in approving or. dis¬
approving the preference of is to
are or of has to have ; but there will
be a good majority for the opinion
that both writers are grammatically
more valorous than discreet
Neither apprenticeship systems nor
technical education is likely to in¬
fluence these occupations (why not
have omitted systems ?). /Neither
Captain C. nor 1 has ever thought it
necessary to . . . (Neither to Captain
C. nor to me has it ever seemed .. .)•
5. Position of neither . . • nor -
Which neither suits one purpose nor
the other. Suits being common to
both members should not be in¬
serted in the middle of the neither
member. Such displacement has
been discussed & illustrated under
NELLY
377
NEXT
either 5, & need only be mentioned
here as a mistake to be avoided.
6. Neither ... or. When a negative
has preceded, a question often arises
between nor & or as the right con¬
tinuation, & the answer to the
question sometimes requires care;
see nor, or. But when the pre¬
ceding negative is neither (adv.), the
matter is simple, or being always
wrong. Examples of the mistake :
Diderot presented a bouquet which was
neither well or ill received./Like the
Persian noble of old, I ask ‘ that I
may neither command or obey ’.
Here again, to say that Morley &
Emerson have sinned before us is
a plea not worth entering.
7. Neither alone as conjunction.
This use, in which neither means
‘ nor yet ’, or ‘ & moreover . .. not ’,
& connects sentences instead of the
ordinary da not or nor (I have not
asked for help , neither do I desire it ;
Defendant had agreed not to interfere,
neither did he) is much less common
than it was, & is best reserved for
contexts of formal tone.
8. Neither with the negative force
pleonastic, as in I don't know that
neither (instead of either ), was for¬
merly idiomatic though colloquial,
but is now archaic & affected.
Nelly, or Nellie; see -ey, -ie, -y.
nepenthe(s). Three syllables,
whether with or without the -s.
The -s is part of the Greek word,
& should have been retained in
English ; but it has very commonly
been dropped, probably from being
mistaken for the plural sign as in
pea for pease &c. The prevailing
form (except in Botany, where the
classical word is naturally used) is
now - the .
Nereid. Pronounce ner'nd.
Nero. Pi. -os, see -o(e)s 8.
nervy. So spelt; see -ey & -y.
■ness. For the distinction between
conciseness & concision , & similar
pairs, see -ion & -ness.
nestle, nestling. Pronounce with¬
er* the -t-; see Pronunciation,
Silent t. *
net. In the commercial sense (free
from deduction, &c.) the spelling
should, as elsewhere, be net , not
nett. See set(t).
nether. For n. garments, n. man.
&c., see Pedantic humour.
neurasthenia. The OED gives -the-,
not -the-. See False quantity.
neuroma. PI. -ata.
neurosis. PI. - oses (-ez) ; see
Latin plurals 2.
neuter. See common, & epicene,
for some distinctions,
neutralize has -zable ; see Mute e.
neve. See French words.
never so, ever so, in conditional
clauses ( refuseth to hear the voice oj
the charmer, charm he never so
wisely). The original phrases, going
back to Old English, are never so, &
never such. The change to ever,
* substituted from a notion of
logical propriety ’ (OED), seems to
date from the later seventeenth
century only, & never so is very
common in the Bible & Shakspere.
Ever so, however, is the normal
modern form, not never so, & it is
in vain that attempts are occasion¬
ally made to put the clock back &
restore never in ordinary speech.
In poetry, & under circumstances
that justify archaism, never so is
unimpeachable ; but in everyday
style the purism that insists on it is
futile. As to that ‘ notion of logical
propriety ’, it w^as perhaps that there
was nothing negative in the sense ;
but that is not true, if ‘charm he
never so wisely ’ is a compressed
form of ‘ charm he so wisely as never
else ’; we can at least see how the
never idiom may have arisen ; to
account for ever (except as a mis¬
taken correction of never) is a much
harder problem. But the modern
phrase, explicable or not, & logical
or not, is ever so.
news. The number varied (the n.
is bad, are bad) for more than two
centuries, but has now settled down
permanently as singular.
next. 1. The n. three &c. 2. N.
Friday, June , &c. 3. N.important &c.
NEXUS
1. For the question between the
next three &c. & the three &c. next ,
see first 4.
2. Next June, n. Friday, &c., can
be used as adverbs without a pre¬
position ( Shall begin it next June) ;
but, if next is put after the noun,
idiom requires a preposition ( may be
expected in June next , on Monday
next). See Friday.
3. The ‘ No Surrender ’ party had
the rank & file at their back because
they fought to the last ditch to save the
grandest institution in the country;
do they expect support now in wreck¬
ing the two next important institu¬
tions ? The two next important
institutions is clearly used in the
sense ‘ the two institutions next in
importance ’. The OED quotes no
example of such a use, but it is
perhaps not uncommon colloquially,
& must be a conscious or uncon¬
scious experiment in extending the
convenient next best idiom. That
idiom requires a superlative, & such
words as oldest, worst, narrowest,
weightiest, suit it well ; but it is
ugly with adjectives having no
superlative but that with most, &
there is a temptation to try whether,
for instance, next important will not
pass for next most important. It
should be resisted ; the natural
sense of the two next important
institutions is ‘ the two next institu¬
tions that are of importance ’, which
need by no means be the two that are
next in importance.
nexus. The English plural nexuses
is intolerably sibilant, & the Latin,
nexus (-us), not nexi (see -us),
sounds pedantic ; the plural is
consequently very rare.
nice. 1. N. makes nicish ; see
Mute e.
2. Nice & as a sort of adverb =
satisfactorily (I hope it will be n. a.
fine ; Aren't we going n. a. fast ?) is
an established colloquialism, but
should be confined, in print, to
dialogue.
3. Meaning. N. has been spoilt,
like clever, by its bonnes fortunes ;
378 -N-, -NH
it has been too great a favourite with
the ladies, who have charmed out of
it all its individuality & converted
it into a mere diffuser of vague &
mild agreeableness. Everyone who
uses it in its more proper senses,
which fill most of the space given
to it in any dictionary, & avoids the
modern one that tends to oust them
all, does a real if small service to
the language.
Nicene. The name of the place
from which the creed is so called is
spelt Nicaea or Nicea, not Nicoea.
nic(e)y, sweetmeat. Omit the e;
see -ey, -IE, -y.
nickel makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l*.
nick-nack. See knick-knack.
nict(it)ate, -ating, -ation. The
forms with the extra syllable are the
commoner, & those without it are
Needless variants.
nidus. PI. -duses, -di (-1).
niello. PI. -li (-e), -los, see -o(e)s 3.
nigger, applied to others than full
or partial negroes, is felt as an insult
by the person described, & betrays
in the speaker, if not deliberate
insolence, at least a very arrogant
inhumanity.
nighty (night-gown). So spelt; see
-EY, -IE, -Y.
nihilism, -ist. Pronounce nil-,
with the h silent ; see Pronuncia-
For nim-
tion.
nimbus. PI. -bi (-1).
bus(s)ed see -s-, -ss-.
nineties, ’nine-. See twenties.
nitre, -ter. See -re & -er.
nitrify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
-N-, -NN-. Monosyllables ending
in n double it before suffixes begin¬
ning with vowels if the sound pre¬
ceding it is a single vowel (a, e, i, o,
u, y), but not if it is a diphthong or
a double vowel or a vowel & r:
mannish, but darning ; fenny, but
keener ; winning, but reined; con¬
ned, but coined ; runner, but tu f n ^
Words of more than one syllable
follow the rule for monosyllables \
their last syllable is accented, but
379
NO, 4
otherwise do not double the n:
japanned & beginner, but dragoon¬
ed, womanish, turbaned, awakening,
musliny.
no. 1. Parts of speech. 2. Con¬
fusion of adjective & adverb. 3. No
in negative confusions. 4. Negative
parentheses. 5. Writing of com¬
pounds. 6. Plural.
1. No is (A) an adjective meaning
in the singular not a (or not any),
& in the plural not any ; it is a
shortened form of none, which is
still used as its pronoun form : No
German applied; No Germans ap¬
plied ; None of the applicants was,
or were, German. No is (B) an
adverb meaning by no amount &
used only with comparatives : 1 am
glad it is no worse. No is (C) an
adverb meaning not & used only
after or, & chiefly in the phrase
whether or no : Pleasant or no, it is
true ; He munt do it whether he will
or no. No L (D) a particle repre¬
senting a negative sentence of which
the contents are clear from a pre¬
ceding question or from the con¬
text : — Is he there? — No (i.e., he is
not there). No, it is too bad (i.e.,
I shall not submit; it is too bad).
No is (E) a noun meaning the word
no, a denial or refusal, a negative
vote or voter : Don't say no ; She
will not take a no ; The Noes have it.
2. Confusion of adjective & adverb.
If the tabulation in 1 is correct, it
is clear how the worse than super¬
fluous a, the, & her, made their way
into the following extracts. The
writer of each thought his no was
a B or a C adverb, against which
the absence of the invariable accom¬
paniments should have warned him,
& did not see that it was the adjec¬
tive, which contains a in itself & is
therefore incompatible with another
a, or the, or her. We can hardly give
the book higher praise than to say of
it that it is a no unworthy companion
of Moberly's * Atonement * (Omit a,
or write not for no)./The value of gas
taken from the ground there & sold
amounted to the no insignificant
value of 54,000,000 dols (the not)./
Paintings by Maud Earl, who owes
her no small reputation as an artist
to the successes which . . . (her reputa¬
tion, no small one)./A fourth ex¬
ample is more excusable because
the conditions are obscured by the
accidental presence of a compara¬
tive : We could ask for no more
cheerful a by-product of our discon¬
tent than a second volume of this most
patriotic of Christmas books. Such
a sentence as The second volume will
be no more cheerful a by-product than
the first would be right, no being
there actually the adverb. But the
phrase in its present setting means
no by-product that shall be more
cheerful, & no is the adjective &
contains a & refuses to have another
thrust upon it.
3. No, used in the first of two
parallel clauses, ensnares many a
brave unwary writer ; the modi¬
fications necessary for the second
clause are forgotten, & bad gram¬
mar or bad sense results. See Nega¬
tive & AFFIRMATIVE IN PARALLEL
clauses ; some specimens are :—
He sees in England no attempt to
mould history according to academic
plans, but to direct it from case to
case according to necessity (it is
rather directed )./There is no reason
to suppose that the Government will
accept any vital amendments, & most
certainly not an amendment to
exclude Home Pule (& it will cer¬
tainly not accept one)./ Although no
party has been able to carry its own
scheme out, it has been strong enough
to prevent any other scheme being
carried (each has been)./No place
of any importance, & a good many
of none at all, are now without their
bowling greens (All places of impor¬
tance . . . now have).
4 . Negative parentheses. The rule
here to be insisted on concerns nega¬
tive expressions in general, & is
stated under no only because that
word happens to be present in
violations of it oftener perhaps than
any other. The rule is that ad¬
verbial qualifications containing a
NO, 5
380
NOMENCLATURE
negative must not, like qualifica¬
tions that, not being negative, do
not so vitally affect the sense, be
comma’d off from the words they
belong to as though they were mere
parentheses. The rule only needs
stating to be accepted ; but the
habit of providing adverbial phrases
with commas often gets the better
of common sense. It is clear, how¬
ever, that there is the same essential
absurdity in writing lie will, under
no circumstances, consent as in
writing He will, never, consent, or
He will, not, consent. It is worth
while to add, for the reader’s con¬
sideration while he glances at the
examples, that it would often be
better in these negative adverbial
phrases to resolve no into not . . .
any &c. We are assured that the
Prime Minister will, in no circum¬
stances <& on no consideration what¬
ever, consent (will not in any . . .
or on any ... Or omit the commas,
at the least). /And Paley db Butler,
no more than Voltaire, could give
Bagshot one thousandth part of the
confidence that he drew from . . .
(could not, any more than ... Or
could no more than Voltaire give)./
We are, of course, reminded that the
doctors, no more than the friendly
societies, are completely satisfied (are
not, any more than the societies . . .
Or omit the commas). /Proposals
which, under no possible circum¬
stances, would lead to any substantial,
or indeed perceptible, protection for
a home industry (which would not
lead under any ... Or which would
under no possible circumstances
lead).
5. Writing of compounds. About
no ball (noun) & no-ball (verb),
nobody, & nohow, doubts are need¬
less ; the forms given are the right
ones. No one, on the principles
explained in Hyphens (3b, & 2),
should be written either noone or
no-one, since it both has a specialized
& has lost its second
accent ; noone is disqualified by its
monosyllabic look ; but there is no
objection to no-one, & that form is
meaning
recommended, with the warning
that printers are attached to no one •
for fuller discussion, see everyone!
The adverbs noways & nowise are
best so written ; but in nowise,
which is often used instead of the
correct in no wise, is as absurd as
by nomeans or on no-account would
be ; cf. any 1.
6. PI. noes ; see -o(e)s 2.
noblesse. See French words.
nodus. PI. -di (-!).
nomad makes -adic ; see -d-, -dd-.
nom de guerre, nom de plume,
pen name, pseudonym. Nom de
guerre is current French, but, owing
to the English currency of nom de
plume, is far from universally in¬
telligible to Englishmen, most of
whom assume that, whatever else
it may mean, it can surely not mean
nom-de-plume. Nom de plume is
open to the criticism that it is
ridiculous for English writers to use
a French phrase that does not come
from France ; not perhaps as
ridiculous as the critics think (see
morale), but fear of them will at
any rate deter some of us. Nobody
perhaps uses pen-name without
feeling either ‘ What a good boy am
I to abstain from showing off my
French & translate nom de plume
into honest English ! or else ‘ I am
not as those publicans who suppose
there is such a phrase as nom de
plume ’. For everyone is instinc¬
tively aware that pen-name, how¬
ever native or naturalized its ele¬
ments, is no English-bred word,
but a translation of nom de plume.
Pseudonym, lastly, is a queer out-of-
the-way term for an everyday thing.
But it is perhaps the best of the
bunch except for those who take
the commonsense view of nom de
plume —that it is the established
word for the thing, & its antecedents
do not concern us.
nomenclature. The dictionaries
that give a list of synonyms with
each word do a very doubtful service
to literature. One can hardly be¬
lieve but that the authors of the
nominal
381
extracts below have ooxea up =
in search of some longer & more
imposing word, some (shall we say ?)
adequately grandiose vocable. That
nomenclature does not mean a name,
but a system of naming or of names,
is to such writers what they would
perhaps call a mere meticulosity ;
see Love of the long word. 1 tie
forerunner of the present luxurious
establishment was the well-known
Gloucester Coffee House, the nomen¬
clature of which was derived from that
Duke of Gloucester who .. ./A small
committee of City men has just
launched a society , under the nomen-
clature of the ‘ League of Interpreters ,
with the object of .. ./The most impor¬
tant race of the season for three-year-
old fillies; the nomenclature was
obtained from Lord Derby's seat,
4 The Oaks \ in the little hamlet of ...
nominal. For this as the adjective
of noun, see noun.
no mina te makes - nable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
nominatival(ly), -tive(ly). See
ABL ATTVELY .
no mina tive. The grammatical word
is always pronounced no'minativ ;
the adjective connected in sense with
nominate & nomination (e.g.in partly
elective & partly n.) is often, & per¬
haps more conveniently, no'minativ.
nominativus pendens. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
non-. On non-moral & amoral, see
A-, AN-.
non avenu. See French words.
nonchalant, -ance. Pronounce
nd'nshalant, -ans (i.e. as English
words, but with -sh-).
none. 1. It is a mistake to suppose
that the pronoun is sing, only &
must at all costs be followed by
sing, verbs &c.; the OED explicitly
states that pi. construction is com¬
moner. 2. The forms none so, none
too, are idiomatic (if is none so
pleasant to learn that you have only
six months to live ; The look he gave
me was none too amiable), but are
perhaps seldom used without a
certain sense of condMwndino
the vernacular as an aid to heartiness
of manner or emphasis ; & con¬
descension is always repellent.
nonentity, in the now rare abstract
sense of non-existence, should have
the non pronounced clearly n5n, &
perhaps be written with a hyphen
(non-entity). In the current concrete
sense of a person or thing of no
account, it is written nonentity &
said with the o obscured (non&'n-
1 Wl W \
nonesuch, nonsuch. The first is
the original form, but the second
the now usual one.
nonet(te). Spell -et ; see duet.
nonpareil. Pronounce nonpare'l.
nonplus makes -ssed, -ssing, &c. ;
see -s-, -ss-.
non sequitur. See Technical
TERMS.
nonsuch. See nonesuch.
no-one, no one. See one 1.
nor is a word that should come
into our minds as we repeat the
General Confession. Most of us in
our time have left undone those
things which we ought to have done
(i.e. failed to put in nor when it was
wanted) & done those things which
we ought not to have done (i.e.
thrust it in when there was no room
for it). The negative forms of He
moves & speaks, He both moves &
speaks, are He moves not nor speaks,
He neither moves nor speaks ; or,
with the verb resolved as usual in
modern negative sentences, He dots
not move or speak, He does not either
move or speak. The tendency to go
wrong is probably due to confusion
between the simple verbs (moves &c.)
& the resolved ones ( does move &c.) ;
if the verb is resolved, there is often
an auxiliary that serves both clauses,
&, as the negative is attached to the
auxiliary, its force is carried on
together with that of the auxiliary
& no fresh negative is wanted. Two
cautions are necessary on this
carrying on of the negative force &
consequent preference of or to nor.
The first is that it will not do to
repeat the auxiliary & yet use or
under the impression that the
382
previous negative suffices ; that is
what has been done in : Sir Guy
Granet was naturally & properly at
pains to prove that his company had
not acted negligently or carelessly or
had been unduly injluenced by reasons
of economy (There was a choice here
between or been & and had not been ;
or had been makes nonsense).
The other caution, much more
often required, is that if the negative
is attached not to an auxiliary (or
other word common to two clauses)
that will carry it forward, but to
some other part of the first clause,
the negative force is cut off & has
to be started afresh by nor. The
following five examples illustrate
the danger ; in each or must be
corrected into nor if the rest of the
sentence is to remain as it is,
though some slight change of
arrangement such as is indicated
would make or possible :— President
Wilson has determined that no troops
shall march, or anything resembling
a military or naval demonstration be
carried out (that troops shall not
march, or)./In its six months of
power it has offered not one con¬
structive measure or done a single
thing to relieve suffering (it has not
offered one). /It is with no un¬
friendly intention to Germany or
with any desire to question her right
or her need to possess a powerful
Navy (it is not with any)./Mani¬
festly we can grant no armistice
while they occupy French & Belgian
territory , or delude ourselves into
thinking that a League of Nations is
possible (we cannot grant an). /He
did nothing without consulting Lovel,
or failed in anything without expect¬
ing & fearing his admonishing (he
did not do anything ... or fail).
The above are the ordinary types
of mistake with nor. Others that
should hardly require mention are
either ... nor, & the poetical omission
of the first negative. Either . . . nor
is as bad as neither ... or ; but :
There was not, either in 1796 in
Italy, nor on the Mediterranean
coast of Spain in 1808, any British
_ _NOT
force at work which . . ./As we have
not got the world's tonnage production
for April, nor yet either the British
nor the world's losses for the same
month, it is only possible to . . .
Do nor undo is legitimate in poetry,
but not in prose of so ordinary a*
kind as : For her fingers had been
so numbed that she could do nor undo
anything.
normalcy (= normality) is a Hybrid
derivative of the 4 spurious hybrid ’
class, & seems to have nothing to
recommend it.
north-. Compounds ( n.-east &c.)
are pronounced with th. Of the
derivatives, northern & northerly
have dh, but northward(s), norther,
& northing, have th.
northerly. For the special uses &
meanings of this set of words, see
EASTERLY.
nostril makes (-)nostrilled; -ll-, -l-.
nostrum. PI. -urns, not -a ; -um.
nosy, nosey. See -ey & -y in
ADJECTIVES, & -EY, -IE, -Y.
not. 1. Not all)(all... not. 2. Not
in meiosis & periphrasis. 3. Not in
exclamations. 4. Not pleonastic.
5. Not . . . but. 6. Not only.
1. Not all)(all . . . not. All is not
gold that glisters ; Every land does
not produce everything. Precisians
would rewrite these sentences as
Not all is gold that glisters (or Not
all that glisters is gold) & Not every
land produces everything. The nega¬
tive belongs logically to all & every,
not to the verbs, & the strict sense
of the first proverb would be that
glistering proves a substance to be
not gold. A valued correspondent
w r rites—‘ Do not you think that the
use of all .. . not ought to be re¬
stricted to propositions of the type
All A is not-B, & where Not all A
is B is meant, that should be the
order ? Of course that never has
been a rule, from “ All of you have
not the knowledge of God ” on¬
wards, but it would save a great deal
of ambiguity if it could be made
one. I notice that Somerville &
Byrne, in their German Grammar,
383
NOT, 2
NOT, 4
with Nicht alle Menschen sprechen
Deutsch before them, translate it
“ All men do not speak German ,
neglecting the plain guidance of their
original This gentleman has logic
on his side, logic has time on its
side, & probably the only thing
needed for his gratification is that he
should live long enough. The older
a language grows, & the more con¬
sciously expert its users become,
the shorter shrift it & they may be
expected to grant to illogicalities &
ambiguities. All .. . not for Not all,
like the two first for the first two,
the displacements of both & neither
& only, the omission of not in than
you can help, & the use of much
less for much more, is already
denounced by those who have time
to spend on niceties ; but it is still,
like many other inaccuracies, the
natural & idiomatic English ; it will
pass away in time, for magna est
veritas et praevalebit ; in the mean¬
time it is worth anyone’s while to
get on speaking terms with the new
exactitudes (i. e., to write Not all
himself), but worth nobody’s while
to fall foul of those who do not
choose to abandon the comfortable
old slovenries.
2. Not in meiosis & periphrasis.
‘ We say well & elegantly, not un¬
grateful, for very grateful ’—OED
quotation dated 1671. It is by this
time a faded or jaded elegance, this
replacing of a term by the negation
of its opposite ; jaded by general
over-use ; faded by the blight of
Worn-out humour with its not a
hundred miles from, not unconnected
with, & other once fresh young
phrases. But the very popularity
of the idiom in English is proof
enough that there is something in it
congenial to the English tempera¬
ment, & it is pleasant to believe that
it owes its success with us to a
stubborn national dislike of putting
things too strongly. It is clear too
that there are contexts to which
e. g. not inconsiderable is more suit¬
able than considerable ; by using
it we seem to anticipate & put
aside, instead of not foreseeing or
ignoring, the possible suggestion
that so-&-so is inconsiderable. The
right principle is to acknowledge
that the idiom is allowable, & then
to avoid it except when it is more
than allowable. Examples in which
their authors would hardly claim
that elegance or point was gained
by the double negative, & would
admit that they used it only
because they saw no reason why
they should not, occur in every
day’s newspapers ; such are :— The
style of argument suitable for the
election contest is, no doubt, not
infrequently different from the style
of argument suitable for use at West-
minster (often). /One may imagine
that Mr - will not be altogether
unrelieved when his brother actor
returns tomorrow (will be much
relieved).
3. Not in exclamations. But if you
look at the story of that quadrilateral
of land, what a complex of change
& diversity do you not discover! A
jumble of question & exclamation.
The right exclamation would be :
What a complex you discover ! The
possible question would be : What
complexity do you not discover ?
What a complex, & the stop, are
essentially exclamatory: not is
essentially interrogative ; do is
characteristically interrogative, but
not impossible in exclamations.
The forms in a simpler sentence
are :—Exclamation: What 1 have
suffered ! ; Question : What have
I not suffered ? ; Exclamation with
inversion : What have I suffered ! ;
Confusion: What have I not suffered!
See Stops (question & exclamation
marks).
4. Not pleonastic. The point dis¬
cussed in 3 was the intrusion of a
not , unnecessary indeed but ex¬
plicable, into exclamations that are
confused with rhetorical questions.
Much less excusable, as needing no
analysis to show that it is wrong &
often destructive of the sense, is the
not that is evoked in a subordinate
clause as a mere unmeaning echo
NOT, 5
384
NOT, 6
of an actual or virtual negative in
the main sentence. We all know
people who habitually say I shouldn't
wonder if it didn’t turn to snow soon
when they mean if it turned. But
the same mistake in print is almost
as common as it is absurd :—
Nobody can predict with confidence
how much time may not be employed
on the concluding stages of the Bill./
Is it impossible to imagine that, in
consequence of the growing friendship
between the two great peoples on both
sides of the Channel, an agreement
might not one day be realized?/I do
not of course deny that in this, as in
all moral principles, there may not
be found, here & there, exceptional
cases./He is unable to say how much
of the portraiture of Christ may not
be due to the idealization of His life
& character./It would not be at all
surprising if, by attempting too much,
Mr - has not to some extent
defeated his own object./Who knows
but what agreeing to differ may not
be a form of agreement rather than
a form of difference ?
5. Not . . .but. Mrs Fraser's book,
however, is not confined to filling up
the gaps in Livingstone's life in
England <fc the after-history of his
children, but it deals most interest¬
ingly with her father's own early
adventures in Africa & . . . See
but 3 for more flagrant mishandlings
of not followed by but. The differ¬
ence between right & wrong often
depends on the writer’s seeing that
the subject, for instance, of the not
sentence must not be repeated (or
taken up by a pronoun) in the but
sentence, but allowed to carry on
silently. The above double sen¬
tence, which is not idiomatic English
as it stands, is at once cured by the
omission of it. The relation between
one form & the other is exactly that
between It is not black, but it is
white (which is impossible except in
special conditions) & It is not black,
but white.
6. Not only out of its place is like
a tintack loose on the floor ; it
might have been most serviceable
somewhere else, & is capable of
giving acute & undeserved pain
where it is. To read the following
extracts one after another, all of
them requiring only a preference for
order over chaos to have tidied them
up, must surely call a blush to the
Englishman’s cheek for his journal¬
ists’ slovenly ways :— Ireland, unlike
the other Western nations, preserved
n. o. its pre-Christian literature, but
when Christianity came, not direct
from Rome but from Britain & Gaul,
that literature received a fresh im¬
pulse from the new faith (N. o. did
Ireland . . . preserve). /He referred
his audience to a time when n. o. was
the Regular Army in no difficulty of
finding recruits, but actually got
them as soon as compulsion for home
defence had been introduced (when
the Army n. o. had no difficulty)./
Professor Dicey's argument could be
used most convincingly to prove that
n. o. ought self-government never to
have been granted to the Colonies but
ought also immediately to be with¬
drawn from the English people itself
(to prove that self-government n. o.
ought never). /N. o. had she now
a right to speak, but to speak with
authority (She had now a right n. o.
to speak)./ Up to the last of them
it is assumed n. o. that the Allies
are not parties to the correspondence,
but are even officially ignorant of
its existence (that the Allies n. o. are
not parties). /N. o. does the propor¬
tion of suicides vary with the season
of the year, but with different races
(The proportion of suicides varies
n. o. with)./N. o. would this scheme
help the poorer districts over their
financial difficulties, but would re¬
move from London the disgrace that
in some parts of London the streets
are . . . (This scheme would n. o.
helpJ./iV’. o. was the audience drawn
from central London ; those privileged
to hear the speech came from all parts
(The audience was not drawn from
central London only. The blunder 10
here double, & this tintack must be
not merely picked up, but smashed
up, before it can be harmless).
NOTE
385
NOUN & VERB ACCENT
note, n. For synonymy see sign.
note, v., makes - table ; see Mute e.
nothing less than. The OED re¬
marks :—‘ The combination nothing
less than has two quite contrary
senses & gives as the first ‘ quite
equal to, the same thing as with,
for illustration. But yet methinks my
father's execution Was nothing less
than bloody tyranny ; & as the
second ‘ far from being, any thing
rather than ’, with, for illustration,
Who, trusting to the laws, expected
n. 1.1. an attack. To the second
sense it adds the description ‘ Now
rare As a matter of grammar,
either sense is legitimate, less being
different parts of speech in the two,
as appears in the light of para¬
phrases :—my father’s death was
no smaller thing than tyranny (i. e.,
less is an adjective) ; they expected
nothing in a lower degree than they
expected an attack (i.e., less is an
adverb) ; grammar, then, leaves the
matter open. But the risks of
ambiguity are very great. If the
sense of they expected n. 1. t. an
attack did not happen to be fixed by
trusting to the laws, who would dare
decide whether they expected it
very much or very little ? The
sense called by the OED 4 now rare ’
should, in the interests of plain
speaking, be made rarer by total
abandonment. It is unfortunately
less rare than the label would lead
one to suppose ; passages like the
two that follow are not uncommon,
& are to many readers very puz¬
zling :— It recognizes also both the
necessity of reform & liberation from
dead dogmas & rubrics, & the im¬
possibility of reform coming from
a House of Commons desiring no¬
thing less than to occupy its debates
with discussions of the validity of the
thirty-nine articles./Now we are intro¬
duced to inspired ‘ crowd-men * or
heroes who have a passion for making
order out of the human chaos &
finding expression for the real soul
of the people ; these heroes or crowd-
men resemble n. 1.1. the demagogue
as popularly conceived.
1351
notice makes -ceable ; see Mute e.
notify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -v, -ye, 6.
nought. See naught.
noumenon. Pronounce now'minon;
pi. -ena, see -on 1. ,
noun has two adjectives —nominal
& 4 nounal, but is comfortable with
neither. The objection to the first
is that it is a word much used in
other senses. This has induced
grammarians to form the word from
which they of all people should
have shrunk— nounal. It is what
is described in the article Hybrid
derivatives as a spurious hybrid ;
see that article for a discussion of
coastal & similar words. The gram¬
marian’s right course is to work
with the word noun as far as
possible, &, when an adjective or
adverb is indispensable, use nomin¬
ally )•
Noun & adjective accent. When
a word of more than one syllable
is in use both as a noun & as an
adjective, there is a certain ten¬
dency, though much less marked than
the corresponding one with nouns
& verbs (see next article), to differ¬
entiate the sound by accenting the
last syllable in the adjective, but
not in the noun ; thus He is an
exper't golfer, but He is an e'xperl
in handwriting. A few examples
are given, of w r hich the first four are
undisputed, & the rest questionable ;
from these the reader will be able
to form an opinion for application
to similar cases :—compa'ct a.,
co'mpact n. ; exper't a., e'xpert n. ;
insti'nct a., i'nstinct n.; minu'te a.,
mi'nute n. ; conte'nt a., co'ntent(s)
n. (sometimes) ; conver'se a. (some¬
times ; & cf. the adv. conver'sely),
co'nverse n. (= contrary &c.) ;
supi'ne a. (usually ; & cf. the adv.
supi'nely ), su'pine n. ; suspe'et a.,
su'spect n. (= suspect person; some¬
times) ; uprigh't a. (sometimes ; &
cf. the n. uprightness ), u'pright n.
( = post &c.).
Noun & verb accent, pronunci¬
ation, & SPELLING. When there
O
NOUN & VERB ACCENT, 1 386 NOUN & VERB ACCENT, 2
is both noun & verb work to be discourse v. ; escor't v., e'scort n. •
done by a word, & the plan of form- essay' v., e'ssay n. ; e'xploit n7
ing a noun from the verb, or a exploi't v. ; extra'ct v., e'xtract n.**
verb from the noun, by adding a ferme'nt v., fer'ment n. ; fore'taste
formative suffix (as in stealth from n., foreta'ste v. ; foreto'ken v.,
steal) is not followed, but the one fore'token n. ; impor't v., i'mport
word doubles the parts, there is n. ; impri'nt v., i'mprint n, ; in-
a strong tendency to differentiate by crea'se v., i'ncrease n. ; insu'lt v.,
pronunciation, as in use (n. us, vb i'nsult n. ; interdi'ct v., i'nterdict
uz) ; such a distinction is some¬
times, as in use, unrecorded in
spelling, but sometimes recorded as
n. ; pre mise n., premi se v. ; pro-
du'ce v., pro'duce n. ; recor'd v.,
re'cord n. See also Participles 5.
in calf & calve. It is not possible to
draw up a complete list of the words
affected, because the impulse is still
active, & the list would need con¬
stant additions, especially of words
whose pronunciation can be modified
without change of spelling. But,
as the consequence is that the pro¬
nunciation of many words is for
a time uncertain, a slight analysis
of a fair number of examples may
help those who are in doubt. It can
be laid down, to start with, that
Differentiation is in itself an aid
to lucidity, that this form of differ¬
entiation is making way, & therefore
that, when one does not suspect
oneself of being the innovator, &
the only question is between accept¬
ing & rejecting a distinction initiated
by others, acceptance is wisdom.
1. The largest class is that of words
whose accent is shifted ; these, not
being monosyllables, are mostly of
foreign origin. A. Words in which
the differentiation is established :—-
a'ccent n., acce'nt v. ; commu'ne v.,
co'mmune n. ; compou'nd v., co'm-
pound n. ; compre'ss v., co'mpress
n. ; concer't v., co'ncert n. ; con-
du'ct v., co'nduct n. ; confi'ne v.,
co'nfine(s) n. ; confli'ct v., co'nfiict
n. ; consor't v., co'nsort n. ; co'n-
test n., conte'st v. ; contra'ct v.,
co'ntract n. ; contra'st v., co'ntrast
n. ; conver'se v., co'nverse n. (talk) ;
conver't v., co'nvert n. ; convi'ct
v., co'nvict n. ; convoy' v., co'nvov
n. ; decrea'se v., de'crease n. ;
de'scant n., desca'nt v. ; dicta'te v.,
di'ctate(s) n. ; dige'st v., di'gest n. ;
discor'd v., di'scord n. ; di'scount
n„ t discou'nt v. ; di'scourse n.,
B. Words in which accent-shifting is
tentative only:—construe' v. (doubt¬
ful), co'nstrue n. ; co'stume n.
(doubtful), costu'me v.; defi'le
(pass) v., de'file n. (doubtful);
de'tail(s) n., detai'l v. (doubtful);
entai'l v., e'ntail n. (doubtful);
excer'pt v., e'xcerpt n. (doubtful);
fina'ncier n. (doubtful), financier'
v.; incli'ne v., i'ncline n. (doubtful);
inde'nt v., i'ndent n. (doubtful);
inlay' v., i'nlay n. (doubtful); inter¬
change v., interchange n. (doubt¬
ful) ; invi'te v., i'nvite n. (doubtful).
C. Words in which some speakers
shift the accent, & others go half
way by giving the last syllable of
the verb with a clear instead of an
obscure vowel ; so complement,
compliment, experiment, implement,
&c.; You pay me a co'mpliment
(-ent), but You complime'nt or
co'mpliment me.
2. Other words, especially but not
only monosyllables, are differen¬
tiated not by accent but by a
modification in noun or verb of the
consonantal sound at the end, which
is hard in the noun & soft in the
verb. D. This difference is often
3 r the ear only & does not affect
pelling ; so abuse, close (hard s
i cathedral close), excuse, grease,
ouse, misuse, mouse, mouth. In this
lass, as in B & C, are words about
rhich usage varies & material for
omparison is therefore useful. E.
lore often the change of sound is
ecorded in the spelling ; about such
Fords no doubts arise; but ex-
mples are worth giving to confirm
he fact that the distinguishing of
he parts of speech by change of
NOVELESE
887
Bo un d is very common, & that its
extension to words whose spelling
fails to show it is natural. If the
soldier’s now well-known leaf for
leave (furlough) is an instinctive
application of the principle, it pro¬
vides a rare specimen still in the
making to set beside the fully
developed ones of which this class
Thinl y consists. Examples are :—
advice & advise, bath & bathe, be¬
lief & believe, brass & braze, breath
& breathe, calf & calve, cloth &
clothe, deaf & deave, device &
devise, glass & glaze, grass & graze,
grief & grieve, half & halve, life &
five, loss & lose, proof & prove,
relief & relieve, safe & save, sheath
& sheathe, shelf & shelve, strife &
strive, thief & thieve, teeth & teethe,
troth & betrothe, wife & wive, wreath
& wreathe.
NOVELESE. This heading is not
to be taken as a suggestion that
writers of novels are all alike in
yielding to certain professional
weaknesses. A single warning only
is intended, & that on a point so
elementary that it concerns only the
beginner; but it is the novelist
tiro rather than other sorts of tiro
that needs it. What is here meant
by novelese is the set phrases that
the young writer remembers to have
had his emotions stirred by in the
days when he was reading novels
instead of writing them, & relies
upon to affect his own readers in
turn. The phrases have had some
wear & tear since he was first struck
by them, & the emotional value
of such things depreciates quickly.
Influences that ‘ have come into ’
somebody’s 4 life ’, tempted ones
who 4 will not do this thing ’, fallen
ones 4 more sinned against than
sinning ’, unfortunates 4 hoping
against hope *, strong silent men,
living deaths, that supreme moment,
demoniacal glee, demonic energy,
diabolical malignity, & devilish in¬
genuity, magnetic personalities &
sinister machinations, utter abandon
& pathetic indifference, innocent
guile & serpentine charm, all these
& hundreds of the like phrases,
which thrilled our own youth, will
not thrill but bore those on whom
we sanguinely try the same experi¬
ment. The emotions may be
sempiternal ; the stimuli to which
they will react lose their power with
use, & must be varied.
NOVELTY-HUNTING, or the casting
about for words of which one can
feel not that they give one’s meaning
more intelligibly or exactly than
those the man in the street would
have used in expressing the same
thing, but that they are not the ones
that would have occurred to him,
is a confession of weakness. Anyone
can say improvement & complexity &
conception & ancestors & title-rdle ;
I will say betterment & com¬
plicacy & CONCEPT & FOREBEARS &
name-part. Why ? Obviously be¬
cause, there being nothing new in
what I have to say, I must make
up for its staleness by something
new in the way I say it. And if that
were all, if each novelty-hunter
struck out a line for himself, we
could be content to register novelty¬
hunting as a useful outw r ard sign
of inward dullness, & leave such
waiters carefully alone. Unluckily
they hunt in packs, & when one of
them has such a find as asset or
HAPPENINGS or FORCEFUL or MEN¬
TALITY they are all in full cry after
it, till it becomes a Vogue-word, to
the great detriment of the language.
Further notes on the point wdll be
found under most of the words
already mentioned. Other speci¬
mens are bookman for author &c.,
clamant for flagrant or crying,
demesne for domain, feasible for
possible, momently for instantly,
likely for probably, adverbs like
embarrassedly (see -edly), & the
comparatives & superlatives men¬
tioned in -er & -est 5.
noyau,nuance. See French words.
nth. For to the nth, see n. An
example of the misuse is : One mar»
vels at the extraordinary French
NUCLEUS
388
capacity & pertinacity in exploiting
<& exhausting a given motive , working
it out to the nth power. a
number,
PI. -lei (-Hi).
Pronounce nu'ge or nu'je.
For inflexions see Verbs
nucleus,
nugae.
nullify.
IN -IE, -Y, -YE, 6.
Number. Several kinds of mistake
are common, & various doubts arise
w 7 ^°i! Ving tlle Action of number!
With some of them pure grammar
is competent to deal; in others
accommodations between grammar
are necessar y or usual or
debatable ; rarely a supposed con¬
cession to sense issues in nonsense,
the following numbered sections
are arranged accordingly, the purely
grammatical points coming first.
1. Subject & complement of different
numbers. 2. Subject of mixed num-
bers. 3. Or. 4. Red herrings. 5.
Harking back with relatives. 6
Nouns of multitude. 7. Singular
verb preceding plural subject, &
n 1C< >-»^ e ^ Sa * 8 * ^ s follow(s) & c .
9. Other(s). 10. What. 11. Pro¬
nouns & possessives after everyone
&c. 12. Quantity words. 13. Non-
sense.
1. If subject & complement are of
different numbers, how is the num¬
ber of the verb to be decided ? That
is, to come to particulars in the
simplest form, shall we use are in
Clouds are vaporized water , & was in
-The last. crop was potatoes, because
the subject clouds is plural & the
singular, or shall we
prefer is & were to suit the number
of the complements water & potatoes ?
The natural man, faced with these
examples, has no doubt : ‘ Of
course, Clouds are. The crop was,
whatever may be going to follow \
The sophisticated man, who thinks
of The wages of sin is death, hesitates,
but probably admits that that is
an exception accounted for by the
really singular sense of wages ( =
guerdon). It may in fact be fairly
assumed that when the subject is
a straightforward singular without
complications about nouns of multi¬
tude (as in party & c .), orTstufioht'
forward plural without cdmphcl
tions about a virtually singular
sense (as in wages) or separate items
(as in he & she), the verb follows tta
that ^of tL the Sl j b j ect ’ whatever
that of the complement may be
That it is not as needless as it miaht
seem to set this down will be pl|“
from the following extracts, some
of the simplest form, all violating
the rule :—Our only guide were the
stars./Its strongest point are the
diagrams./For Germany's great need
are colonies./The plausible sugges¬
tions to the contrary so frequently put
Jorward is an endeavour to kill two
birds with one stone./Mr Shortfs
quotations from, seditious literature
was, m the view of most members
poor evidence to support the new
cnarges which, he brought./Mr Coulton
contests the idea that the pre-Reforma-
tion days was an age of religious
instruction. The only comment
necessary on these is that when, as
in the first three examples, it makes
no difference to the meaning which
of two words (stars or guide, point or
diagrams, need or colonies) is made
the subject & which the comple¬
ment, the one that is placed first
must (except in questions) be re¬
garded as subject & have the verb
suited to its number: Our only
guide was the stars, or The stars were
our only guide.
When the words which or what take
the place of the subject, mistakes
are more intelligible, but still mis¬
takes ; is should be are in The grass
plots intersected with gravelled drives
which is the ordinary achievement of
the English gardener in India ; but
which does not bear its number on
its face. The traps laid by what
are so many & various (Whatpuzzles
us most are the references to . . ., &c.)
that it is better to refer the reader
to that word.
2. Subject of mixed numbers. In
Mother db children were killed we
have a compound subject; in
Mother or children are to die we have
not one compound subject, but two
number
389
NUMBER, 5
alternative subjects ; the rules for
the number of the verb differ in the
two types. The compound subject
is necessarily plural, whether its
components are both plural, of
different numbers, or both singular.
To make the verb singular, as has
been done in the extracts below, is
accordingly wrong ; at least, it is
ungrammatical, though grammar
may sometimes, when there is a
better justification than carelessness
or ignorance, be overridden ; the
reason why the rule is broken. as
often as it is is perhaps confusion
between the two forms, compound
& alternative, distinguished above,
the latter admitting sometimes of
a singular verb. Wrong examples:—
Those who have been encouraging
one-half of these peoples to believe
that their lives, their liberties, db their
religion is in danger have assumed
a great responsibility./The Allies are
even prepared to retire troops & cease
operations if & when proper pledges
& security is given.
If the verb in sentences of this type
precedes the compound subject
(There were a table & some chairs in
there), it becomes legitimate to use
a singular verb under some circum¬
stances (see 7 below).
3. Or. If the facts are as your
correspondent (or your printer) state,
Egypt must be an odd sort of country.
State should be states ; see 2 for the
difference between a compound sub¬
ject with and & two or more alter¬
native subjects with or. When, as
here, both alternatives are singu¬
lar in grammar & in sense ( you is
plural in grammar even when
singular in sense ; army may be
plural in sense though singular in
grammar, see 8), the verb can only
be singular. So Mother or child is
(not are) to die. But when the
alternatives differ in number, as in
Mother or children are to die. Is the
child or the parents to be blamed?,
the methods in order of merit are :
(a) Evade by finding a verb of
common number : Mother or children
must die. Shall the child nr the
parents be blamed ? ; (b) Invoke
ellipsis by changing the order : The
mother is to die, or the children, Is the
child to be blamed, or the parents ?
(c) Give the verb the number of the
alternative nearest it : Mother or
children are to die, Is the child or the
parents to be blamed ? What should
not be said is Mother or children is
to die. Are the child or the parents to
be blamed ?
4. Red herrings. Some writers are
as easily drawn off the scent as
young hounds. They start with
a singular subject; before they
reach the verb, a plural noun
attached to an of or the like happens
to cross, & off they go in the plural;
or vice versa. This is a matter of
carelessness or inexperience only,
& needs no discussion ; but it is so
common as to call for a few illus¬
trations :— Further acquaintance with
the memoirs of Prince Chlodwig zu
Hohenlohe-Schillingsfiirst enable us
the better to appreciate . . ./The
results of the recognition of this truth
is . . ./The foundation of politics are
in the letter only./An immense
amount of confusion & indifference
prevail./The partition which the two
ministers made of the powers of
government were singularly happy./
Those dangerous influences whose
appearance were the chief cause of
our action.
5. Harking back with relatives.
Who, which, & that, can in them¬
selves be singular or plural, & there
is a particular form of sentence in
which this produces constant blun¬
ders. He is one of the best men that
have ever lived (with which compare
He is one that has lived honestly).
In the first sentence there are two
words capable of serving as ante¬
cedent to that, viz one (as in the
bracketed sentence) & men. A
moment’s thought shows that men
is the antecedent necessary to the
sense : Of the best men that have
ever lived (or of the best past &
present men) he is one. But with
one & men (or their equivalents) to
attach the relative to. writers will
NUMBER, 6
hark back to one in spite of the
nonsense it gives, & make their
verbs singular :—He is another of
the numerous people who is quite
competent in the art of turning what
he has to say into rhyme & metre./
1 hey have gone through one of those
complete changes of occupation which
does everybody good./One of the
many well-known actresses who wears
Sandow s corset./An account which,
in our opinion, is one of the most
suggestive contributions to animal &
human psychology which has ever
been published./It is quite one of the
brightest productions that has been
seen for a long time. It will be
observed that the critic of poets is
no more proof against the tempta¬
tion than the advertiser of under¬
clothing.
An example or two offering pecu¬
liarities may be added Mr Edwin
Pugh is one of those intriguing people
who can write well in any style, &
does ; but who constantly leaves us
ivith the impression that he is not
quite serious ; this writer wants to
have it both ways ; who is to be
plural with can, but singular with
does & leaves ; read <& he does , but./
Describing him as one of those busy
men who in some remarkable way
find time for adding to his work ;
to have got safely as far as find,
then break away with his, is an
odd freak. /Houdin was a wonderful
conjurer, & is often reckoned the
greatest of his craft who have ever
lived ; this reverses the usual mis¬
take : Is the greatest who has. Is
one of the greatest who have.
6. Nouns of multitude. Such words
as army, fleet, Government, company,
party, pack, crowd, mess, number,
majority, may stand either for a
single entity or for the individuals
who compose it, & are called nouns
of multitude. They are treated as
singular or plural at discretion—-
& sometimes, naturally, without
discretion. The Cabinet is divided
is better, because in the order of
thought a whole must precede divi¬
sion ; & The Cabinet are agreed is
890 NUMBER, 7
better, because it takes two or more
to agree. That is a delicate distinc¬
tion, & few will be at the pains to
• 1 . t * broader ones that few
will fail to know are that between
1 he army is on a voluntary basis
& The army are above the average
civilian height, & that between The
party lost their hats & The party lost
its way. In general it may be said
that while there is always a better
& a worse in the matter, there is
seldom a right & a wrong, & any
attempt to elaborate rules would be
l a bour. A single example
will illustrate sufficiently :— More
money will be wanted if the number
of teachers are to be adequate. No-
one will misinterpret that; yet
everyone will admit that the singular
would have been what the plural is
not, foolproof; the writer meant
if there are to be enough teachers ;
he did not mean what his words
ought to mean—if the numerous
teachers are to be skilful enough.
But if the decision whether a noun
of multitude is to be treated as a
singular or as a plural is often
a difficult business, & when ill made
results at worst in a venial blemish,
failure to abide by the choice when
made, & plunging about between
it & they, have & lias, is & their, &
the like, can only be called insults
to the reader. A waiter might as
well serve one on a dirty plate as
a journalist offer one such untidy
stuff as :— The University of London
Press hopes to have ready the following
additions to their series of . . ./The
latter Government has noiv attempted
to link up with the Czechs & have
published a programme./! 1 he milage
is at work now db ready to do their
bit./The Tory party has never pros¬
pered when they have given over their
policy into the keeping of the Ulster
group./The Government, with the
Clarke award before them, is yet
unable to enforce it./The Hoggin
family have come down in the world,
& consists first of .. .
7. Singular verb preceding plural
subject & vice versa. The excuse
NUMBER, 8
391
NUMBER, 11
for this in speaking—often a suffi¬
cient one—is that one has started
one’s sentence before fixing the
precise form of the subject, though
its meaning may have been realized
clearly enough. But the writer both
can & ought to do what the speaker
cannot, correct his first words before
the wrong version has reached his
audience. If he does not, he too,
like the waiter with the dirty plate
(see 6), is indecently & insultingly
careless. Examples :— For the first
time there is introduced into the
Shipyard Agreement clauses which
hold the balance equally./A book
entitled ‘ America's Day '"by Ignatius
Phayre, in which is discussed the
pressing problems of home 6s foreign
policy that . . ./On these questions
there is likely to be acute differences
among the political groups 6s parties./
Instead, we had the Board of Trade
figures upon which was reared succes¬
sive agitations for increases in wages./
Where only three years ago was pas¬
ture land now stands vast engineering
shops, miles of railway sidings, 6s the
constant hum of machinery.
The converse mistake is seldom
made ; in the following, the influ¬
ence of these no doubt accounts for
are : The Thames has certain natural
disadvantages as a shipbuilding cen¬
tre ; to these are added an artificial
disadvantage.
When the verb precedes a subject
compounded of singular & plural,
some questions of more interest than
importance may arise. There were
a table 6s some chairs in there ; were
is better because the compound
subject is compact. There were
a plain deal table in there 6s some
wicker armchairs which Jorgenson
had produced from somewhere in the
depths of the ship. The alteration
of were to was would now be an
improvement; but why, if were
was best in the bare framework
given first ? How has the author
elaborated it ? First & least, he
has made table & chairs less homo¬
geneous, less the equivalent of
r some articles of furniture by
describing one as plain deal & the
others as wicker ; secondly, he has
attached to chairs & not to table
a long relative clause ; third & most
important, he has had, in order to
cut off the relative clause from table,
to shift in there to an earlier place.
But it results that the verbal phrase
(there were ... in there) is so arranged
that it encloses one item of the
compound subject (table) & leaves
the other (chairs) out in the cold.
The author would have done better
to write was & let the second part
be elliptical with there were in there
to be understood out of there was
in there.
8. As follow(s), concern(s), regard(s),
&c. For higher incomes than £1,000
the new rates will be as follow. As
follow is not English ; as follows
is ; for discussion of the point see
FOLLOW.
9. Other(s). The wrecking policy is,
like other of their adventures in
recent times, a dangerous gamble .
Other should be others ; for discus¬
sion see OTHER.
10. What. What provoke men's
curiosity are mysteries. See w hat for
the question whether it can be plural.
11. Pronouns & possessives after
each, every, anyone, no-one, one, &c.
Everyone without further delay gave
themselves up to rejoicing./But, as
anybody can see for themselves, the
quotation of the actually relevant
portion of the argument in our
columns would have destroyed . . .
Each & the rest are all singular ;
that is undisputed ; in a perfect
language there would exist pronouns
& possessives that were of as doubt¬
ful gender as they & yet were, like
them, singular; i.e., it would have
words meaning him-or-her, himself-
or-herself, his-or-her. But, just as
French lacks our power of distin¬
guishing (without additional words)
between his, her, & its, so we lack
the French power of saying in one
word his-or-her. There are three
makeshifts :—A, as anybody can see
for himself or herself ; B, as anybody
can see for themselves ; & C, as any-
NUMBER, 12
body can see for himself. No-one
who can help it chooses A ; it is
correct, & is sometimes necessary,
but it is so clumsy as to be ridiculous
except when explicitness is urgent,
& it usually sounds like a bit of
pedantic humour. B is the popular
solution ; it sets the literary man’s
teeth on edge, & he exerts himself
to give the same meaning in some
entirely different way if he is not
prepared, as he usually is, to risk C ;
but it should be recorded that the
OED, which quotes examples under
every , they, & themselves, refrains
from any word of condemnation.
C is here recommended. It involves
the convention that where the matter
of sex is not conspicuous or impor¬
tant he & his shall be allowed to
represent a person instead of a man,
or say a man (homo) instead of
a man (vir). Whether that, with
A in the background for especial
exactitudes, & paraphrase always
possible in dubious cases, is an
arrogant demand on the part of
male England, everyone must decide
for himself (or for himself or herself,
or for themselves). Have the
patrons of B made up their minds
yet between Everyone was blowing
their noses & Everyone were blowing
their noses ?
12. Quantity words. There are
heaps more to say , but I must not tax
your space further. The plurals
heaps & lots used colloquially for
a great amount now always take a
singular verb unless a plural noun
with of is added : There is heaps of
ammunition, but There are heaps of
cups ; There is lots to do, but Lots of
people think so. Compare the use of
half in Half of it is rotten, but Half
of them are rotten.
13. Nonsense. He comes for the
first time into the Navy at an age
when naval officers—unless they are
so meritorious or so fortunate as to be
one of the three Admirals of the Fleet
—are compelled by law to leave it.
Naval officers cannot be one ad¬
miral ; & what is wrong with unless
they are Admirals of the Fleet ?
392
-O-
numerous is not, as the following
extract makes it, a pronoun:—
i hese men have introduced no fewer
than 107 amendments, which they
know perfectly well cannot pass, db
numerous of which are not meant to
pass. See various, which is much
more often misused in the same way.
nuncio. PJ. - os ; see -o(e)s 4.
nurse makes -sable ; see Mute e.
nurs(e)ling. The form recommend¬
ed, though rather less common
hitherto than the other, is nurseling :
see Mute e for the criterion.
nursy, not -sey ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
O
"9" * s . a connecting vowel of Greek
origin, its extended modem function
being so to shape the end of a Greek
or Latin word that when a suffix or
another word is applied to it the
two will coalesce recognizably into
a single derivative or compound.
Three points should be noticed :—
1. The thing ending in -o- is not
a word, but essentially the begin¬
ning only of a word ; We owe it to
the genius of Hertz that we are now
able to measure directly the velocity
of electro & magnetic waves ; electro
is there used as an adjective in¬
stead of electric, & is indefensible.
The use of Curtailed words such
as dynamo, photo, chromo, & electro
itself, for dynamo-electric machine,
photograph, chromolithograph, &
electro-plate, is another matter.
2. The words fit for the -o- treatment
are, if not necessarily authentic
ancient Greek or Latin, at least such
as may pass for Greek or Latin.
If the ancient Romans did not call
the Russians Russi or talk of
America & Americani, we can sup¬
pose that was only because they had
not the chance, & are therefore
entitled to make Russo-, Americo-,
& Americano- ; but the Greeks &
Romans knew what speed was, &
yet no-one supposes they called it
speed, whence it follows that speedo-
& speedometer are barbarisms. 3. It
OAF
393
OBJECT-SHUFFLING
is not enough that the word to be
treated should be actual or possible
Latin or Greek ; the shaping must
be done in the right way. We must
take account of religio -philosophic
speculations with regard to the nature
of Eternal Life ; Latin, it is true,
has both religio & religiosus, but
only the second admits of the -o-
treatment, & it gives religioso-
philosophic. See also Hybrid de¬
rivatives.
oaf. PI. -fs, rarely -ves ; see -ve(d).
oaken. See -en adjectives.
O & oh. Usage has changed, oh
having formerly been prevalent in
many contexts now requiring O, &
is still by no means fixed. The
present tendency is to restrict oh
to places where it has a certain
independence, & prefer O where it is
proclitic or leans forward upon what
follows ; which means for practical
purposes that as the sign of the
vocative (O God our help ; O mighty-
mouthed inventor of harmonies) O is
invariable, & as an exclamation the
word is O when no stop immediately
follows it, but before any stop oh
( Oh, what a lie ! ; Oh ! how do you
know that ? ; O for the wings of a
dove! ; O who will o'er the downs
with me ? ; O worship the King /).
oasis. PI. oases, pron. -ez.
oaten. See -en adjectives.
oath. PI. pron. odhz; -th & -dh.
obbligato. So spelt. PI. -os; see
-o(e)s 3.
obdurate, adj. The OED quota¬
tions show Shakspere, Milton, &
Barham, for obdur'at, <te Shelley for
5'bdurat. The former is still some¬
times heard, but is old-fashioned.
See Pronunciation.
obedient. For yours obediently &c.,
see Letter forms.
obeisance. Pronounce -as-.
obelus. PI. -li (-1).
obfuscate makes - cable , -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
object, vb 1. O. makes objector ;
see -or. 2. France rightly objects to
allow Germany to assume a position
in Morocco which . . ./The cabdrivers
object to pay their proportion of the
increase. To allow, or to allowing ?
to pay, or to paying ? The infinitive
is deprecated & the gerund recom¬
mended ; for this see Gerund 3.
objectify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie, -y, -ye, 6.
objection. They have been blocked
by the objections of farmers & land¬
lords to provide suitable land. Or
to providing ? see Gerund 3.
objective genitive. See Technical
TERMS.
Object-shuffling. The confer¬
ring of a name on a type of mistake,
making it recognizable & avoidable,
is worth while if the mistake is
common. Object-shuffling describes
what unwary writers are apt to do
with some of the many verbs that
require, besides a direct object,
another noun bearing to them a
somewhat similar relation, but at¬
tached to them by a preposition.
You can inspire courage in a person,
or inspire a person with courage ;
the change of construction is object¬
shuffling, which, with the verb
inspire, is legitimate & does not
offend against idiom ; but with
instil the object-shuffling would be
wrong ; you can instil courage into
a person ; to instil a person with
courage is contrary to idiom. Wher¬
ever reference is made under any
word to this article, the meaning is
that with that word object-shuffling
is not permissible. Most of the
verbs liable to this maltreatment
are derived from Latin verbs com¬
pounded with prepositions & there¬
fore beginning wdth in-, sub-, pre -,
&c. The Latin scholar, aware that
the verbal parts of substituo &
instillo & praefigo mean to put &
to pour & to fasten, instinctively
chooses for their direct objects the
stopgap, the influence, & the ap¬
pendage, not the thing displaced,
the person influenced, & the main
body; & in writing of the more
educated kind his example is follow¬
ed. But the non-Latinist, if he is
OBJURGATE
894
also unobservant, gives substitute
the construction of replace, instil
that of fill, & prefix that of preface.
it is seldom that the mistake is
made with native words ; an ex¬
ample will be found under foist.
Two or three specimens may be here
given ; the reader who wishes for
more will find them under the words
substitute, prefix, inculcate, inflict,
infuse, enforce, affix, ingratiate, en¬
join, & others. The attempt to con¬
vict Mr Masterman yesterday of an
indiscreet utterance in a public speech
ab to affix the Government with
responsibility therefor utterly failed
(& to affix responsibility to the
Government)./^ quarterly which is
doing so much to initiate into the
minds of the British Public what is
requisite for them to know (to initiate
the B.P. in what is requisite)./T7ie
ecclesiastical principle was substi¬
tuted by the national (the national
principle was substituted for the
ecclesiastical).
objurgate makes -tor ; see -or.
obligated as a synonym for obliged
(having received a favour &e.) is
now a mere solecism ; but in the
full sense of bound by law or duty
to do something it is still used, esp.
in legal language.
obligato. See obbligato.
obligatory. The pronunciation re¬
commended is obli'gatorl.
oblige makes -ging ; see Mute e.
The derivatives of o. & obligate (see
obligated above) are troublesome ;
there are two possible adjectives in
-able (see -able 1), viz, obligable
from obligate ( = that can be legally
bound ; pronounce o'bligabl), &
obligeable from oblige (= that can
have a favour conferred ; pron.
obli'jabl). Obligee & obligor belong
in sense to obligate, & have curious
meanings : obligor, not one who
confers an obligation, but one who
binds or obligates himself to do
something ; obligee, not one who is
obliged, but one to whom a service
is due (towards whom a duty has
been undertaken).
OBLIVIOUS
oblique complement. See Tech¬
nical terms.
obliqueness)(obliquity. Thereissome
tendency to confine the latter to
the secondary or figurative senses:
obliquity of mind or judgement or
outlook, but obliqueness of the ground
a Chinaman's eyes, or the alignment •
cf. opacity, & see -ty & -ness. It
is perhaps well to fall in with such
Differentiation.
obliterate makes -rable, -tor; see
-able 1, -or.
oblivious. A word badly misused
in two ways. 1. Its right sense is
no longer aware or no longer mindful;
it is not simply unaware or uncon¬
scious or insensible. The following
examples all offend against this
principle :— A contempt to which the
average Englishman in his happy
self-sufficiency is generally oblivious./
He may have driven off quite oblivious
of the fact that any harm had been
done./And they are ingenuously
oblivious to the ‘ howlers' so con¬
stantly perpetrated. /General von Stein
denied that the propaganda in the
army was political, & he added, quite
oblivious of the import of what he
was saying : ‘ The soldier had to be
instructed as to the reasons of the
war './Singly or in groups, oblivious
to the traffic in the streets, they pursued
their eager quest. 2. Even when the
word might bear its true sense of
forgetful (as opposed to unaware),
it is often followed by the wrong
preposition (to) ; this is an indirect
result of the mistake explained in
1 ; it will be noticed that a majority
of the quotations there given show
to instead of of: that is on the
analogy of insensible to. But in the
following examples to has been used
even where the meaning might
otherwise be the correct one of
forgetful :— Each of them oblivious to
the presence of anybody else, & in¬
tent on conversation./A principle to
which the romances of the eighteenth
century were curiously oblivious./Mr
Humphreys is always oblivious to the
fact that the minority in one part
OBNOXIOUS
395
OCCIPUT
of the kingdom is represented by the
majority in another part./In England
the very completeness of the defeat of
Roman Catholicism has rendered the
people oblivious to the danger of its
aggression.
The making of these mistakes is
part of the price paid by those who
reject the homely word, avoid the
obvious, & look about for the
imposing ; forgetful, unaware, un¬
conscious, unmindful, & insensible,
while they usually give the meaning
more precisely, lay no traps.
obnoxious has two very different
senses, one of which (exposed or
open or liable to attack or injury)
requires notice because its currency
is now so restricted that it is
puzzling to the uninstructed. It is
the word’s rightful or de-jure mean¬
ing, & we may hope that scholarly
writers will keep it alive, as they
have hitherto succeeded in doing.
Meanwhile the rest of us need not
scruple to recognize the usurping
or de-facto sense offensive or objec¬
tionable ; this has perhaps no right
to exist (‘ apparently affected by
association with noxious ’ says the
OED), but it does & will, &, unlike
the other, it is comprehensible to
everyone.
oboe. See hautboy.
observance)(observation. The use¬
ful differentiation in virtue of which
neither word can be substituted for
the other, & each is appropriated to
certain senses of observe, should not
be neglected. Observance is the
attending to & carrying out of a
duty or rule or custom ; it has none
of the senses of observation (watch¬
ing, noticing, &c.), & observation in
turn does not mean performing or
complying. Though the distinction
is modern, its prevalence in good
writing may be judged from the
OED’s having only one 19th-c. &
no 20th-c. example of observance, as
against many of observation, in the
sense consciously seeing or taking
notice. Unfortunately, the journal¬
ists* perverted taste for out-of-the-
way forms is undoing this useful
achievement, & in the last 20 years
such uses as the following, almost
unknown for two or three centuries,
have again become common :— To
reinforce observance with imagina¬
tion./That the Americans are & will
remain interested in Europe, & that
a close observance of European &
Asiatic affairs is an essential &
important part of the life of the
citizen of the U.S./Emerson does not
check his assumptions; he scorns
observance./Mr Abbott’s verse, basing
its claims to beauty on significant
observance, is apt for that very reason
to . . ./From him Mr Torr inherits
both his gift for exact observance db
lively humour./His early poetry, the
product of exalted sensation rather
than of careful observance./Whose
powers of observance & memory have
combined to make as varied a racon¬
teur as . . . In all these the word
should be observation ; one quota¬
tion is added in which observation is
wrongly used for observance : The
British Government has failed to
secure the observation of law & has
lost the confidence of all classes.
obstacle. Their apathy, fatalism, <fc
resentment of interference constituted,
& still constitute, a formidable
obstacle of progress. After obstacle,
idiom requires to, not of.
obstetric(al). See -ic(al). The
short form is much commoner, & is
recommended ; its formation is in
fact faulty (a midwife is obstetrix t
-ids, so that obstetric ic would be
the true adjective), while that of
obstetrical would pass ; but only
pedantry would take exception to
obstetric at this stage of its career.
obstruct makes -tor ; see -or.
obtain. See Formal words. Cus¬
tomer —Can you get me some ?
Shopman —We can o. it for you,
madam.
obturate makes -tor ; see -or.
obviate makes - iable, -tor ;
able 1, -OR.
occiput. Pronounce oksl-.
see
OCCUPY
396
-0(E)S
occupy. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
occur makes - rred , -rring , & c . ; see
-R-, -R.R-. For occurring see Pro¬
nunciation s.f.
ocean. For o. greyhound see
Sobriquets.
ocellus. PI. -lli (- 1 ).
ochlocracy. Pronounce ok-.
ochre. For spelling see -re & -er ;
& for ochr(e)ish & ochr(e)ous see
Spelling points, 3 s.f.
octaroon. See octoroon.
octavo. See folio. PI. -os ; see
-o(e)s 6.
octet(te). Spell -ct ; see duet.
octingentenary, octocentenary, octo-
centennial. In preference to all
these octingenary is recommended ;
see centenary.
octodecimo. See folio. PI. -os ;
see -o(f.)s 6.
octonarius. See Technical terms.
octopus. PI. -uses ; the Greek or
Latin pi., rarely used, is -podes (-ez),
not -pi ; see Latin plurals, & cf.
TOLYPUS.
octoroon, -taroon. Both are bad
forms, the -r- being imported from
quadroon, which has a right to it.
But the second is worse than the
first, since octa- is not (like quadr-)
Latin, but Greek. For meaning,
see mulatto 2.
octosyllabics. Sec Technical
TERMS.
octroi. Pronounce o'ktrwah. For
synonymy see tax.
oddment. Though the word itself
is established & useful, its formation
is anomalous (see -ment) & should
not be imitated.
cde. See Technical terms.
odo(u)r, odorous. Keep the -u- in
the noun ; see -our & -or, -our- &
-or-.
Odyssey. PI. -eys.
OE, CE, E. See je , oe. The following
spellings of words beginning with oe
or its substitutes are recommended :
oecist ; oecology &c. ; ecumenical ;
oedema &c.; Oedipus; oesophagus-*
oestrum. The pronunciation in all
is simply e.
-0(E)S. The Englishman has a
legitimate grievance against the
words in -o. No-one who is not
prepared to flout usage & say that
for him every word in -o shall make
-oes, or shall make -os, can possibly
escape doubts ; one kind of whole-
hogger will have to write heros &
nos & potatos & gos & negros, while
the other kind must face embryoes,
photoes, cameoes, duodecimoes, &
generalissimoes. In this book, most
words in -o have been entered with
the plurals that seem advisable ;
here, one or two guiding principles
may be indicated. Although there
are several hundred nouns in - o , the
ending is one that is generally felt
to be exotic, & the plural in -oes,
which is shown, by its being indis¬
pensable with the most familiar
words {no, go, cargo, jingo, hero,
negro, &c.) to be the normal form,
is allowed only to a small minority,
most words having -os. It must be
understood that the following rules
are not more than generally true,
& that sometimes they come to
blows with each other over a word.
1. Words used as freely in the
plural as in the singular usually have
-oes, though there are very few with
which it is invariable ; names of
animals & plants fall naturally into
this class. So banjoes ; bravoes;
cargoes ; dingoes ; dominoes ; heroes;
potatoes.
2. Monosyllables take -oes ; so
goes, noes.
3. Words of the kind whose plural
is seldom wanted or is restricted to
special uses have -os ; so dos (the
musical note); bravados; calicos;
crescendos; dittos; guanos; infernos;
lumbagos.
4. When a voAvel precedes the -o,
-os is usual, perhaps because of
the bizarre look of -ioes &c. ; so
arpeggios ; baboos; bagnios ; cameos;
embryos ; folios ; punctilios.
5. The curtailed words made by
dropping the second element of a
397
-0(E)S, 6
compound or the later syllables have
always -os ; so chromos ; dynamos ;
magnetos ; photos ; stylos.
6. Alien-looking or otherwise queer
words have -os ; so albinos ; alto-
relievos ; centos ; commandos ; duo¬
decimos ; fiascos; ghettos; magni-
ficos ; negrillos.
7. Long words tend to -os ; so
archipelagos ; armadillos ; general¬
issimos ; manifestos.
8. Proper names have -os ; so
Gallios; Lotharios ; Neros ; Romeos.
of shares with another word of the
same length, as, the evil glory of
being accessory to more crimes
against grammar than any other.
But, in contrast with the syntax of
as, which is so difficult that blunders
are very excusable, that of of is so
simple that only gross carelessness
can lead anyone astray with it.
Nevertheless, straying is perpetual,
& the impression of amateurishness
produced on an educated reader of
the newspapers is discreditable to
the English Press. Fortunately, the
commonest type of blunder with of
is very definite & recognizable, so
that the setting of it forth with
sufficient illustration has a real
chance of working some improve¬
ment. That type is treated in the
first of the following sections, the
list of which is : (1) Wrong patch¬
ing ; (2) Patching the unpatchable ;
(3) Side-slip ; (4) Irresolution ; (5)
Needless repetition ; (0) Misleading
omission ; (7) Some freaks of idiom.
1. Wrong patching. In the ten
examples to be given, the same
thing has happened every time.
The writer composes a sentence in
which some other preposition than
of occurs once but governs two
nouns, one close after it & the other
at some distance. Looking over his
sentence, he feels that the second
noun is out in the cold, & that he
would make things clearer by
expressing the preposition for the
second time instead of leaving it to
be understood. So far, so good ;
care even when uncalled for is
OF
meritorious ; bat his stock of it
runs short, & instead of ascertaining
what the preposition really was he
hurriedly assumes that it was the
last in sight, which happens to be
an of that he has had occasion to
insert for some other purpose ; that
of he now substitutes for the other
preposition whose insertion or omis¬
sion was a matter of indifference, &
so ruins the whole structure. In
the examples, the three prepositions
concerned are in roman type ; the
reader wdll notice that the later of
the two o/s can be either omitted or
altered to the earlier preposition, &
that one of these courses is neces¬
sary :—An eloquent testimony to the
limits of this kind of war, & of the
efficiency of right defensive measures./
Which clearly points the need for
some measure of honesty <& of at least
an attempt at understanding of racial
ambitions./lie will be in the best
possible position for getting the most
out of the land & of using it to the
best possible advantage./He would
have recovered the power to manoeuvre
his armies in mass, a power abso¬
lutely necessary either to achieving
a military decision, or in case of
necessity of retiring in good order./
The definite repudiation of m ilitarism
as the governing factor in the relation
of States db of the future moulding
of the European world./The varying
provisions in the different States
respecting the length & nature of
the voter's qualification, as well as
of the kind of persons excluded from
the suffrage./A candidate who ven¬
tured to hint at the possible persis¬
tence o f the laws of economics, <£ even
of the revival of the normal common-
sense instincts of trade./The Ministry
aims not merely at an equitable divi¬
sion of existing stocks, but of building
up reserves against the lean months//
It begins with the early enthusiasm of
St Petersburg for the war, & of the
anti-German feeling which trans¬
formed the city into Petrograd./The
magistrate commented on the nuisance
of street-collections by means of boxes ,
& of the scandal of a system under
OF, 2
398
which a large proportion of the money
given goes for the expenses of collec-
l l/\j fv t
2. Patching the unpatchable. These
resemble the previous set so far as
the writers are concerned ; they
have done the same thing as before ;
but lor the reader who wishes to
correct them there is the difference
that only one course is open ; of
must be simply omitted, & between
or without cannot be substituted.
VVe can say for you db for me instead
ot for you & me if we choose, but not
between you db between me for between
you db me ; with cries db with tears
means the same as with cries db
tears, but without cries or without
tears does not mean the same as
ivithout cries or tears ; on this point
see Overzeal. It could be done
ivithout unduly raising the price of
coal, or of jeopardizing new trade./
He will distinguish between the
American habit of concentrating upon
the absolute essentials, of ‘ getting
there ’ by the shortest path, & of the
elaboration in detail & the love of
refinements in workmanship which
mark the Latin mind./Without going
into the vexed question of the precise
geographical limitations, or of pro¬
nouncing any opinion upon the con¬
flicting claims of Italy db of the
Yugo-Slavs, what may be said is
that . . .
3. Side-slip. Besides the types
given in the previous sections, so
beautifully systematic in irregularity
as almost to appear regular, there
are more casual aberrations of which
no more need be said than that the
sentence is diverted from ita track
into an of construction by the
presence somewhere of an of. Ana¬
logous mistakes are illustrated in
the article Side-slip. Sub-section 3
prohibits the Irish Parliament from
making any law so as to directly or
indirectly establish or endow any
religion or prohibit the free exercise
thereof or of giving a preference or
imposing a disability on account of
religious belief or ecclesiastical status./
The primary object was not the
OF, 7
destruction of the mole forts, or of the
aeroplane shedor of whatever militant
equipment was there, or even of
kiUing or capturing its garrison./
Lord Parmoor referred to the progress
which had been made in the acceptance
of the principle of a League of
Nations, mentioning especially its
inclusion in the Coalition pro¬
gramme, & of the appointment of
Lord Robert Cecil to take charge of
this question at the Peace Conference./
Its whole policy was, ds is, simply
to obstruct the improvement of the
workingman s tavern, db of turning
every house of refreshment db enter¬
tainment in the land into that sort of
coffee tavern which . . .
4. Irresolution. Here again we have
illustrated Germany's utter contempt
for her pledged word <& of her respect
for nothing but brute force./His view
would be more appropriate in refer¬
ence to Hume's standpoint than of
the best thought of our own day. The
results of having in mind two ways
of putting a tiling & deciding first
for one & then for the other : we
have illustrated, & we have an illus¬
tration of; to Hume's standpoint
(than to the thought), & to the stand¬
point of Hume (than of the thought).
5. Needless repetition of of. There
is a classical tag about the pleasure of
being on shore dc of watching other
folk in a big sea. A matter not of
grammar, but of style & lucidity ;
in style the second of is heavy, & in
sense it obscures the fact that the
pleasure lies not in two separate
things but in their combination.
6. Misleading omission. The pro¬
hibition of meetings db the printing db
distribution of flysheets stopped the
Radicals' agitation. Unless an of
is inserted before the printing, the
instinct of symmetry compels us to
start by assuming that the printing
&c. of flysheets is parallel to the
prohibition of meetings instead of,
as it must be, to meetings alone,
7. Some freaks of idiom. You are
the man of all others that 1 did not
suspect. He is the worst liar of any
man I know. A child of ten years
OFFER
399
OH
old. That long nose of his . The
modern tendency is to rid speech of
patent Illogicalities ; & all of the
above either are, or seem to persons
ignorant of any justification that
might be found in the history of the
constructions, plainly illogical : the
man of all men ; the worst liar of
all liars ; a child of ten years, or a
child ten years old ; a friend of mine,
i.e. among my friends, but surely
not that nose of his, i. e. among his
noses : so the logic-chopper is fain
to correct or damn ; but even he is
likely in unguarded moments to let
the forbidden phrases slip out. They
will perhaps be disused in time ;
meanwhile they are recognized
idioms— Sturdy indefensibles,
possibly.
offer makes - ered , - cring , &c. ; see
*R*j -RR-.
Officer. Used absolutely, the word
ordinarily means any member of
Navy, Army, or Air Force, who
holds the King’s commission. The
following rough distinctions between
qualified uses may be serviceable :—
Flag officers are all naval officers
above & including rear-admirals ;
General officers are all army officers
above & including major generals ;
Field officers are army officers be¬
tween general & company officers,
& include colonels, lieut.-colonels, &
majors ; Company officers are regi¬
mental officers below & including
captains ; Regimental officers are all
from 2nd lieutenant to colonel whose
duties are confined to the normal
control of a regiment, battalion,
battery, &c. ; Staff officers are
officers of any commissioned rank in
navy or army who have special
duties not confined to a ship or
regiment & a special relation to a
commanding officer ; Warrant
officers are petty or non-commis¬
sioned officers of the higher grades,
such as boatswain & sergeant major,
who hold an Admiralty or War-
Office certificate ; Petty officers in
the navy, & Non-commissioned
officers in the army, are men given
authority by the commanders of
their units, & not necessarily holding
warrants.
officinal. Pronounced off'sinal,
though the Latin noun is officina ;
compare medicinal (from medicine),
& see False quantity.
officious has a meaning in diplo¬
macy so oddly different from its
ordinary one that misunderstanding
may arise from ignorance of it.
A diplomatist means by an o. com¬
munication much what a lawyer
means by one without prejudice ;
it is to bind no-one, &, unless acted
upon by common consent, is to be
as if it had not been. The word is
used as the antithesis of official, &
the notion of meddlesomeness at¬
taching to it in ordinary use is
entirely absent.
offing, offish, &c. The pronuncia¬
tion of off itself varies between of
& awf, the latter prevailing in
southern or standard English. It
is probably true of compounds &
derivatives that awf is usual in
those whose connexion with off is
naturally present to the mind, & 6f
in those where it is easily forgotten ;
thus offish, offscourings, offset, off¬
shoot, tend to awf, but offing &
offspring to of.
often. Pronounce aw'fn or o'fn.
The sounding of the t, which as the
OED says is " not recognized by the
dictionaries ’, is practised by two
oddly consorted classes—the aca¬
demic speakers who affect a more
precise enunciation than their neigh¬
bours’ & insist on de'vfl & pi'ktur
instead of dg'vl & pi'kcher, & the
uneasy half-literates who like to
prove that they can spell by calling
hour & medicine howr & mS'disin
instead of owr & mS'dsn. See
Pronunciation.
ogee makes ogee'd ; see -ed &’d.
ogre. For spelling see -re & -er ,•
for ogr(e)ish. Spelling points, 4 s.f.
Osygia®* Pronounce the first g
hard ; see Greek g.
oh. For oh & O, see o.
OKAPI
400
okapi. Pi. -is.
ONCE
omit makes -tting &c. (see -t- -tt-\
omissible. * h
Old. l b or the distinction between
older, oldest, & elder, eldest, see
elder. 2. For the phrase a boy &c.
oj ten &c. years old, see of 7. 3 . For
the o. lady of Threadneedle Street see
SOBRIQUETS.
olden. 1. The adjective, which is
oi a strange formation & not to be
reckoned among the numerous -en
adjectives, is also peculiar in use ;
the olden time(s) is common, but
outside that phrase the word is
usually as ridiculous as Ye sub¬
stituted for the in the sham-archaic
advertisements of shopwindovrs.
The combination of olden with
regime in the following example is
what one might expect the author
to call very tasty ; see Incongruous
vocabulary. They form part of the
olden rail-way regime, when every
Great W estern main-line train was
deliberately halted for ten minutes at
Swindon for refreshment. 2. For
the verb, = make or grow older, see
-EN VERBS.
olfactory. For o. organ, see Poly¬
syllabic humour.
olio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
olive-branches. See Hackneyed
phrases, & Sobriquets.
01ympian)(01ympic. The distinc¬
tion, notas old as Shakspere & Milton,
but now usually observed, is use¬
ful ; see Differentiation. Olympian
means of Olympus, of or as of the
Greek gods whose abode w'as on it :
Olympian Zeus, splendour, indiffer¬
ence. Olympic means of Olympia,
of the athletic contests there held :
Olympic games, victors.
omelet(te). The OED gives pre¬
cedence to the shorter spelling,
omen. For synonymy see sign.
ominous. Pronounce om-.
Omission of it. As had been
generally considered would be the case,
the negotiations have been successful.
As it had been is necessary ; the
rather difficult question of such
omissions will be found discussed
under it 1.
omnibus. PI. -uses; see Latin
PLURALS.
omnium gatherum. See Facetious
formations.
on. For on all fours, see four.
.r or onto, on to, & on, see onto.
-ON. Of words derived from Greek
& having in English the termination
-on: i. Some may, & often or
always do, form the plural in -a ;
so asyndeton, criterion , hyperbaton,
noumenon, organon, oxymoron, phe¬
nomenon. 2. Others seldom or never
use that form, though it would not
bo incorrect, but prefer the ordinary
English -s ; so electron, lexicon,
skeleton. 3. In others again, the
substitution of -a for -on to form the
plural would be a blunder, their
Greek plurals being, if they are
actual Greek words, of some quite
different form, & -s is the only
plural used ; such are anion, archon,
canon, cation, cotyledon, demon,
mastodon, pylon, siphon, tenon.
Words about which mistakes are
possible are referred in the book to
the above numbered classes.
onager. PI. -s, or onagri (-1).
once. 1. The use as a conjunction
(i .e. = if once or when once, as in
Once you consent you are trapped)
is sound English enough, but it is
sometimes forgotten that it is not
for all contexts. There is a vigorous
abruptness about it that makes it
suitable on the one hand for highly
literary expression, in poetry for
instance, & on the other for the
short sentences of actual conversa¬
tion or dramatic dialogue. Between
these extremes it is better to be
content with if or when, supple¬
mented or not by the adverb once.
In the first quotation if, & in the
second when once, would be better:—
It is to be explained perhaps by the
fear that once foreign affairs become
predominant, home affairs take a back
place./But their aloofness might have
quite the opposite result of that which
they desire ; for once the crisis had
ONCE, 2
401
ONE
arrived, home affairs would indeed be
swamped.
2. Once db away){once in a way.
The two phrases seem properly to
have distinct meanings, the first
once & no more (It is not enough to
harrow once & away —1759 in OED),
& the second not often ; but the
present custom is to use both in the
second sense, each person choosing
the form that he considers fittest to
convey that sense, & in a way being
the favourite.
on dit. See French words.
one. 1. Writing of anyone, no-one,
&c. 2. One db a half years &c.)(a
year &c. db a half. 3. One of, if not the
best book(s). 4. One of the men that
does things. 5. Kind of pronoun—
numeral, indefinite or impersonal, or
first-personal ? 6. Possessive of the
numeral & the impersonal —his ?
one’s ? their ? 7. Mixtures of one,
you, we, &c.
1„ The forms recommended are
anyone, everyone, no-one, someone.
For discussion see no 5 & every¬
one 1.
2. One & a half years)(a year db a
half. The second is recommended,
when words & not figures are used ;
for discussion, see million 1, 2, &
half 1. The wrong form is seen in
India has shown her loyalty by the
fact that one & a half millions of her
sons volunteered ; a million db a half
of her sons is obviously preferable.
3. One of the, if not the, best book(s).
Grammar is a poor despised branch
of learning ; if it were less despised,
we should not have such frequent
occasion to weep or laugh at the
pitiful wrigglings of those who feel
themselves in the toils of this phrase.
That the victims know their plight
is clear from the way they dart in
different directions to find an outlet.
Here are half a dozen attempts, all
failures, but each distinguishable
in some point of arrangement from
the rest :—a. Given in the Costume
Hall—one of, if not the most, spacious
of salons for dresses db costumes —
the dancing has been ... b. One of
the finest, if not the finest, poem of an
equal length produced of recent years.
c. I think the stage is one of, if not
the best of all, professions open to
women . d. Fur was one of the
greatest—perhaps the greatest—export
articles of Norway, e. The Japanese
were one of the most, if not the most,
enterprising nations in the East,
f. One of, if not, the oldest Voortrek-
kers of South Africa has just passed
away.
The nature of the problem is this :
we have two expressions of the type
‘ one of the best books ’ & ‘ the best
book ’ ; but we have been taught
to avoid repetition of words, &
therefore desire that part of one
of these nearly similar expressions
should be understood instead of said
or written ; let us then enclose the
partially expressed one inside the
other, as a parenthesis. Can this be
done ? It will be seen that a, b, &
c, though they differ in minor points,
all alike fail to pass the most obvious
test—does the enclosing expression
read rightly if the parenthesis is left
out ?— One of spacious of salons.
One of the finest poem. One of pro¬
fessions open to women : the first &
second nonsense, the third the
wrong sense. In d, e, f, the enclosing
expression taken alone does give
sense ; the further test they have
to pass is—if the words understood
in the parenthesis are written in,
does the whole read as sound,
though perhaps inelegant, Eng¬
lish ?— One of the greatest ( perhaps
the greatest export article) export
articles ; One of the most (if not the
most enterprising nation) enterprising
nations ; One of (if not the oldest
Voortrekker) the oldest Voortrekkers.
Not sound English, but nonsense ;
compare it with the expanding of a
rightly compressed sentence : He
was, if not a perfect, a great orator,
which being filled up gives if not
a perfect orator, a great orator ; that
is not nonsense, but sound English.
The rule that has been broken in
the supposed compressions d, e, f,
& not broken in the real one, is that
402
ONE, 5
ONE, 4
you cannot understand out of a
word that is yet to come another
word (as article out of a corning
a) tides, nation out of a coming
nations, Voortrekker out of a coming
V oortrekkers), but only the same
word, as orator out of orator . When,
as always happens in this idiom’
tnere is a change of number, the
see that the place
fiom which the understood word is
omitted is after, not before, the
word from which it is to be sup¬
plied ; for from a word that has
already been expressed the taking
of the other number is not forbidden.
Accordingly, the right form for the
words that concern us in the
examples a-f will be :— One of the
most spacious, if not the most
spacious, of salons ; One of the
finest poems of an equal length pro¬
duced of recent years, if not the
finest ; One of the best professions
open to women, if not the best of all ;
One of the greatest export articles of
Norway, perhaps the greatest ; One
of the most enterprising nations in
the East, if not the most ; One of
the oldest Voortrekkers, if not the
oldest.
It may be thought that for a the
best has not been done, & that One
of the, if not the, most spacious of
salons would have been less clumsy,
& yet legitimate. It is an improve¬
ment on the original, & by inserting
a the & correcting the stops makes
a plausible attempt at compromise ;
but it is not legitimate, because
most spacious has to be taken as at
the same time singular & plural ;
English disguises that fact by its
lack of inflexions, but does not
annul it ; &, though most people
are not quite sure what is the
matter, they can feel that there is
something the matter.
4. One of the men who does things.
Does should be do. This blunder,
easier to deal with than that in 3,
but not less frequent, Mill be found
discussed in Number, 5.
5. Kind of pronoun. To avoid
confusion in this & the later sections
between certain uses of the pronoun
one that tend to run into each other,
it will be necessary to ask the reader
to accept, pro hac vice only, certain
names. One is a pronoun of some
sort whenever it stands not in
agreement with a noun, but as a
substitute for a noun preceded by
a or one : in ‘ I took one apple ’ one
is not a pronoun, but an adjective ;
in ‘ I want an apple ; may I take
one ? ’ one stands for an apple or
one apple, & is a pronoun. But for
the purpose of this article it is more
important to notice that one is not
always the same kind of pronoun ;
it is of three different kinds in these
three examples :— One of them
escaped; One is often forced to
confess failure ; One knew better
than to swallow that. In the first,
one may be called a numeral pro¬
noun, which description will cover
also I will take one. They saw one
another. One is enough, & so on.
In the second, one has a special
sense ; it stands for a person, i.e.,
the average person, or the sort of
person we happen to be concerned
with, or anyone of the class that
includes the speaker ; it does not
mean a particular person ; it might
be called an indefinite, or an im¬
personal, pronoun ; for the sake of
contrast with the third use, im¬
personal pronoun will here be the
name. In the third, one is neither
more nor less than a substitute for
I, & the name that best describes
it is the false first-personal pronoun.
The distinction between the numeral
& the impersonal, which is plain
enough, is important because on it
depend such differences as that
between One hates his enemies &
One hates one’s enemies; those
differences will be treated in section
G. The distinction between the
impersonal & the false first-personal,
a rather fine one in practice, is still
more important because it separates
an established & legitimate use
from one that ought not to exist at
all. The false first-personal pronoun
one is a new invention of the self-
ONE, 5 403 ONE,
conscious journalist, & its suppres¬
sion before it can develop further
is very desirable. Outside this
section, the rest of which will be
devoted to illustrating the attempts
to bring this novelty into being, it
will be assumed that it does not
exist except as a mere misuse of
the impersonal one.
Let us take a fictitious example &
pull it about, in order to make the
point clear :— He asked me to save
his life, & I did not refuse ; the true
first-personal pronoun, twice. He
asked me to save his life ; could one
refuse ? ; true first-personal pro¬
noun, followed by impersonal pro¬
noun. He asked me to save his life,
& one did not refuse ; true first-
personal pronoun, followed by false
first-personal pronoun. The one of
could one refuse ? means I or anyone
else of my kind or in my position,
& is normal English ; the one of
one did not refuse cannot possibly
mean anything different from I by
itself, & is a fraud. But the self-
conscious journalist has lately seen
in this fraud a chance of eating his
cake & having it ; it will enable
him to be impersonal & personal at
once ; he has repined at abstention
from I, or has blushed over not
abstaining; here is what he has
longed for, the cloak of generality
that will make egotism respectable.
The sad results of this discovery are
shown in the following extracts ;
in none of them is there any real
doubt that one & one's mean I & my
simply ; but in some more than in
others the connexion with the
legitimate impersonal use is trace¬
able. The journalist should make
up his mind that he will, or that he
will not, talk in the first person, &
go on the sound assumption that
one & one's do not mean I & me &
mine.
The false first-personal ONE.
But one must conclude one’s survey
(at the risk, I am afraid, of tedious
reiteration) by insisting that . . ./
I have known in the small circle of
one’s personal friends quite a number
of Jews who . . ./His accounts of
Redan Ridge db the Schwaben Re¬
doubt, too long to quote, are the best
one has seen./To enjoy therein the
pleasure & comfort for which the
nation proposes to give it the means ;
one here uses the word ‘ proposes ’
advisedly, for there is as yet no
Government which can promise./Here
also, in England, the Peruvian
Minister has reechoed these kind
sentiments db shown in a practical
manner his appreciation of one’s
efforts./On mildly suggesting that
these sea-mists were probably quite
local db that it might be quite clear
inland, one received the crushing
rejoinder . . ./This is not, I think,
ecclesiastical prejudice, for one has
tried to be perfectly fair./His later
poems have their great limitation, as
one will presently suggest, but they
are extraordinarily poweifui./A glos¬
sary of cricket terms, in which one
ivas almost beside oneself with joy to
find no reference to the ‘ cowshot'./
I take fresh hope, convinced that one’s
efforts will now be more fully db
adequately supported./The book is
bound in red db gold, db has the
novelist's autograph in gold upon the
front ; one mentions gold twice over,
because . . .
6. Possessive, & other belongings,
of one. By other belongings are
meant the reflexive, & the form to
be used when the pronoun one has
already been used & is wanted again
either in propria persona or by
deputy ; as, when Caesar has been
named, he can be afterwards called
either Caesar or he, so, when one
has been used, is it indifferent
whether it is repeated itself or
represented by he &c. ?
In the first place, there is no doubt
about the numeral pronoun one ; its
possessive, reflexive, & deputy pro¬
noun, are never one's, oneself . & one ,
but always the corresponding parts
of he, she, or it. I saw one drop his
stick ; Certainly, if one offers herself
as candidate ; One would not go off
even when 1 hammered it.
404
ONE, 6
Secondly, the impersonal one al¬
ways can, & now usually does, pro¬
vide its own possessive &c .—one's,
oneself, & one ; thus One does not
like to have one’s word doubted ; If
one fell, one would hurt oneself badly .
But thirdly, in American, in older
English, & in a small minority of
modern British writers, the above
sentences would run One does not
like to have his word doubted ; If one
fell, he would hurt himself badly.
The prevailing modern fashion
(one's, oneself, &c.) should be made
universal ; it gives a useful differ¬
entiation between the numeral &
the impersonal, which however is
not reliable till it is universal ; & it
makes recourse to the horrible their
&c. ( One does not like to have their
word doubted) needless. The follow¬
ing examples, all but one of them
recent, will suffice to show that not
all writers yet accept the modern
idiom, though it is certainly in the
interests of the language that they
should :— There are many passages
which one is rather inclined to like
than sure he would be right in liking
(19th-c. American). /Assuredly, there
is no form of 4 social service ' com¬
parable to that which one can render
by doing his job to the very best of his
ability./Let us, in fact, substitute a
'graceful raising of one’s hand to
his hat, with a nod './As one goes
through the rooms, he is struck by the
youth of most./If seeing sixteenth-
century Europe implied spending the
nights in sixteenth-century inns, one
imagines he would rather have stayed
at home.
The difference between One hates
his enemies & One hates one’s
enemies is at once apparent if to each
is added a natural continuation :—
One hates his enemies & another
forgives them ; One hates one's
enemies & loves one's friends. The
first one is numeral, the second
impersonal, & to make his & one's
exchange places, or to write either
in both places, would be plain folly.
Let it be added, for anyone who
may regard one's & one(self) in the
ONE WORD OR TWO
use here concerned as fussy modern¬
ism, that they are after all not so
modern t 1 hope, cousin, one may
speak to one’s own relations —Gold¬
smith.
7. Mixtures of one with we, you,
my, &c. These are all bad, though
the degrees of badness differ ; for
instance, it is merely slipshod to
pass from one in an earlier sentence
to you in the next, but more heinous
to bring two varieties into syntac¬
tical relations in a single sentence.
As one goes through the rooms, he is
struck by the youth of most of those
who toil ; the girls marry, you are
told ; he belongs to section 6, in
which the sentence has been quoted ;
you illustrates the more venial form
of mixture./yls one who vainly
warned my countrymen that Germany
was preparing to attack her neigh¬
bours for many a long day before ihe
declaration of war, I say that . . . ;
My should be his, one being the
numeral pronoun ; but this kind of
attraction in relative clauses (my
taking the person of 1 instead of
that of one & who) is very common./
To listen to his strong likes & dislikes
one sometimes thought that you were
in the presence of a Quaker of the
eighteenth century ; a bad case ; you
were should be one was./Perhaps
there are too many of them; we
might have enjoyed making their
acquaintance still more had one been
given pause ; either we should be
one, or one should be zee./No one
likes to see a woman who has shared
one’s home in distress ; no-one con¬
tains the numeral, not the imper¬
sonal, one, & one's should be his./
To be a good Imperialist you must
assent to the impotence & decadence &
backwardness of one’s own mother¬
land ; you should be one, or one's
should be your .
one-idea’d. So spelt ; see -ed & ’d.
One word or two or more. For
ALL RIGHT, ALREADY, ALTOGETHER
& all together, any way & anyway,
at any rate & at anyrate, common
sense & common-sense, everyone &
ONLY
405
ONLY
every one , into & in to, onto &
on to, see the words in small capitals.
For blackbird & black bird, see
Hyphens ; for no-one & no one, &
for in no wise & in nowise, no, 5 ; for
someone & some one , everyone.
only, adv. : its placing & mis-
placing. 1 read the other day of
a man who 4 only died a week ago ’,
as if he could have done anything else
more striking or final; what was
meant by the writer was that he 4 died
only a week ago ’. There speaks one
of those friends from whom the
English language may well pray to
be saved, one of the modern pre¬
cisians who have more zeal than
discretion, & wish to restrain
liberty as such, regardless of whether
it is harmfully or harmlessly exer¬
cised. It is pointed out in several
parts of this book that illogicalities
& inaccuracies of expression tend
to be eliminated as a language
grows older & its users attain to
a more conscious mastery of their
materials. But this tendency has
its bad as well as its good effects ;
the pedants who try to forward it
when the illogicality is only apparent
or the inaccuracy of no importance
are turning English into an exact
science or an automatic machine ;
if they are not quite botanizing
upon their mother’s grave, they are
at least clapping a strait waistcoat
upon their mother tongue, when
wiser physicians would refuse to
certify the patient.
The design is to force us all, when¬
ever we use the adverb only, to
spend time in considering which is
the precise part of the sentence
strictly qualified by it, & then put
it there—this whether there is any
danger or none of the meaning’s
being false or ambiguous because
only is so placed as to belong gram¬
matically to a whole expression
instead of to a part of it, or to be
separated from the part it specially
qualifies by another part.
It may at once be admitted that
there is an orthodox placing for
only, but it does not follow that
there are not often good reasons
for departing from orthodoxy. For
He only died a week ago no better
defence is perhaps possible than
that it is the order that most people
have always used & still use, & that,
the risk of misunderstanding being
chimerical, it is not worth while to
depart from the natural. Remem¬
ber that in speech there is not even
the possibility of misunderstanding,
because the intonation of died is
entirely different if it, & not a week
ago, is qualified by only ; & it is
fair that a reader should be sup¬
posed capable of supplying the
decisive intonation where there is
no temptation to go wrong about it.
But take next an example in which,
ambiguity being practically possible,
the case against heterodox placing
is much stronger :— Mackenzie only
seems to go wrong when he lets in
yellow ; <& yellow seems to be still
the standing difficulty of the colour
printer. The orthodox place for
only is immediately before when, &
the antithesis between seeming to
go & really going, which is apt to
suggest itself though not intended,
makes the displacement here ill
advised ; its motive, however, is
plain—to announce the limited
nature of the wrong before the
wrong itself, & so mitigate the
censure : a quite sound rhetorical
instinct, &, if goes had been used
instead of seems to go, a sufficient
defence of the heterodoxy. But
there are many sentences in which,
owing to greater length, it is much
more urgent to get this announce¬
ment of purport made by an
advanced only. E.g., the orthodox
It would be safe to prophesy success
to this heroic enterprise only if reward
& merit always corresponded posi¬
tively cries out to have its only put
early after would, & unless that is
done the hearer or reader is led
astray ; yet the precisian is bound
to insist on orthodoxy here as much
as in He died only a week ago .
The advice offered is this a there
ONOMATOPOEIA
408
OPINIONATED
is an orthodox position tor the
adverb, easily determined in case of
need ; to choose another position
that may spoil or obscure the mean¬
ing is bad ; but a change of position
that has no such effect except
technically is both justified by his¬
torical & colloquial usage & often
demanded by rhetorical needs.
The OED remarks on the point
should be given : ‘ Only was for¬
merly often placed away from the
word or words which it limited ;
this is still frequent in speech,
where the stress & pauses prevent
ambiguity, but is now avoided by
perspicuous writers Which im¬
plies the corollary that when per¬
spicuity is not in danger it is
needless to submit to an incon¬
venient restriction.
A specimen or two of different
kinds are added for the reader’s
unaided consideration :— The ad¬
dress to be written on this side only./
Europe only has a truce before it, but
a truce that can be profited by./Some
of the Metropolitan crossings can only
now be negotiated with considerable
risk./If only the foundry trades had
been concerned, probably the em¬
ployers would not have greatly objected
to conceding an advance./l only know
nothing shall induce me to go again./
1 only asked the question from habit'/
We can only form a sound <& trust¬
worthy opinion if we first consider
a large variety of instances.
onomatopoeia. See Technical
TERMS.
onomatopoeic, -poetic. The first
form (pronounce -pe'ik) is decidedly
preferable, because the other in¬
evitably suggests, at least to those
who do not know Greek, irrelevant
associations with poet. For writing
of -oeic, see je, ce.
onto, on to, on. The logic of this
electioneering leads straight to the
abolition of the contributions & the
placing of the whole burden on to
the State. / The Pan-Germans are
strong enough to depose a Foreign j
Secretary & force their own man
on to the Government in his place.
Writers & printers should make up
their minds whether there is such
a preposition as onto or not; if there
is not, they should omit the to in
such contexts as the above, which
are good English without it; if
there is, & they like it better than
the simple on or to (an odd taste,
except under very rare conditions),
they should make one word of it.
Abstain from the preposition if you
like ; use it & own up if you like ;
but do not use it & pretend there
is no such word ; those should
be the regulations. The use of on
to as separate words is, however,
correct when on is a full adverb ;
& very rarely doubts may arise
whether this is so or not ; is on an
adverb, or is onto a preposition, for
instance, in He played the ball on
to his wicket ? as He played on could
stand by itself, it is hard to deny
on its independent status. Occa¬
sions for on to : We must walk on to
Keswick ; Each passed it on to his
neighbour ; Struggling on to victory.
Occasions for on or to or onto, but
on no account on to : Climbed up
on(to) the roof ; Was invited (on)to
the platform ; It struggles ( on)to its
legs again ; They fell 300 ft on(to) a
glacier.
onward(s). The shorter form is
much commoner in all senses, except
possibly in phrases of the type from
the tenth century onwards.
oolite. Pronounce o'ollt.
opacity)(opaqueness. The figura¬
tive senses are avoided with the
second, but the literal senses are
not confined to it, though there is
perhaps a tendency to complete
differentiation : The opacity of his
understanding ; Owing to the opaque¬
ness, or opacity, of the glass.
operate makes -rable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
operculum. PI. -la.
opinionated, -ative. Both have
existed long enough in English to
justify anyone in using either. But
for those who do prefer a sound to
OPPORTUNITY
407
a faulty formation it may be said
that the first is unobjectionable, &
the second not. A Latin opinionatus
might have been correctly made
from the noun opinio ; cf. dentatus
from dens, & many others ; & the
English representative of opiniona¬
tus would be indifferently opinion-
ate or opinionated. But Latin
ativus belongs to verb-derivatives
only, & opinativus from the verb
opinoT , giving English opinative
(which once existed), would have
been the true source for a word in
- alive.
opportunity. He rapidly rose by
the display of rare organizing ability
to be superintendent over the affairs
of the company in the Far East , with
practically a free hand—a fact of
which he took every opportunity.
You take the o., or an o., or every o.,
of doing something. You take
advantage , or all possible advantage,
of a fact or event or state of affairs.
The two sets of phrases must not be
mixed; see Cast-iron idiom, &
Analogy.
Oppose makes - sable ; see Mute e.
opposeless. See -less.
opposite tempts careless writers to
the slovenly clipping seen in : He
can thwart him by applying it to the
opposite purpose for which it was
intended (he is pupil, him teacher,
& it the teaching). Insert from
(or to) that after purpose ; & for
similar temptations cf. as 3 (the
question as to whom it belongs, &c.),
regard (I regard it my duty to . . .,
&C.), & DEPEND.
oppress makes - ssible , -ssor ; see
-ABLE 2, -OR.
optative. The natural pronuncia¬
tion would have been 6'ptatlv (‘ cf.
ablative, precative, relative ’ says the
OED) ; but, as the word is very
rare outside its technical use in
grammar, & those who deal in
grammar have somehow come to
call it dpta'tiv, it is not worth while
to attempt to reform them ; any¬
one who wishes to use it apart from
grammar (The will or optative power.
choosing or rejecting among the
objects presented to the mind) is
justified in saying o'ptativ. For the
grammatical use see Technical
TERMS.
optic. For the noun use, = eye, see
Pedantic humour ; ‘ Formerly the
learned & elegant term ’— OED.
optimism, -ist(ic). Besides optim¬
ism, which affirms the definitive
ascendency of good, <& pessimism,
which affirms the definitive ascendency
of evil, a third hypothesis is possible./
The optimistic or sentimental hypo¬
thesis that wickedness always fares ill
in the world. / The company had
suffered severe losses, but at the last
meeting the chairman spoke with
a fair amount of optimism./Mr Bal¬
four, I learn, has rented his flat till
October ; but he is optimistic if he
really thinks that he, or whoever
represents the Foreign Office, can
leave Paris by October. The first two
quotations show the words in their
proper sense, the last two in their
modern popular triviality. They
have become Vogue-words, on
much the same level as individual
& mentality. They belong in time
between those two, & are not yet
discredited like the former, but have
lost the charm of novelty that still
lingers about the latter. Like both
those, they owe their vogue to the
delight of the ignorant in catching
up a word that has puzzled them
when they first heard it, & exhibiting
their acquaintance with it as often
as possible ; & like both those they
displace with what differs more or
less from the idea intended the
familiar words that would express
it exactly. In the third & fourth
quotations, hope & sanguine would
have given the sense not less but
more exactly than optimism &
optimistic. See Popularized tech¬
nicalities.
opus. PL, seldom used, opera ;
see Latin plurals.
opusculum. PI. -ula.
or. 1. Or) (nor. 2. Number, pro¬
nouns, &c., after or. 8. Or in
OR, 1
408
a“? ti0nS * 4 ‘ Wr ° ng re P e *tion
1. Or)(nor There are sentences
m which it is indifferent, & affects
neither meaning nor correctness,
whether or or nor is used. Compare
with I can neither read nor write
(in which nor is requisite), & with
1 cannot either read or write fin
which or is requisite), 1 cannot read
nor (or indifferently or) write. The
alternatives in the last are differ¬
ently arrived at, but are practically
eqmvalent : 1 cannot read, nor
(can I) write ; I cannot read(-)or(-)
write, where the supposed hyphens
fnr an P Hte ma y be substituted
for read if desired. The use of nor
J» n f acb cases was formerly in fashion,
& that of or is now in fashion ; that
is all. But the modern preference
u "VV 8 equaII y legitimate
'V^h no . r has Ied to its being preferred
a so where it is illegitimate; so
ls , £ reat importance that they
should face them in no academic
spirit, or trust too much to conclusions
drawn from maps./No Government
Uepartinent or any other Authority has
assisted. The test of legitimacy has
been explained in nor ; & it suffices
here t° say that in the first extract
it is the position of no (alter to they
should not face them in any), & in
the second the presence of any
(precluding the carrying on of no),
that forbid or.
2. Number, pronouns, &c., after or.
When the subject is a set of alter¬
natives each in the singular, how¬
ever many the alternatives, & how¬
ever long the sentence, the verb
must be singular; in the extract
below, account should be accounts ;
tof,. discussion see Number, 3 :
neither the call of patriotism & the
opportunity of seeing new lands, or
conscription, or the fact that tramping
was discouraged even by old patrons
when the call for men became urgent,
account for it. If alternative mem¬
bers differ in number &c., the near¬
est prevails (Were you or he, was he
or you, there ? • either he or you were,
either you or he was), but some forms
OR, 4
It* g n I - or y° u 071 duty?) are
l ™ d « l by inserting a second Verb
(Was I, or were ijou . . ?\
in which difference of gender causes
or landlady expects the^tisZ her
his rent) are usually avoided, their
rent or the rent due to them being
ungrammatical, his or her rent or
the rent due to him or her elumsv
& his rent or the rent due to him
slovenly ; some evasion, as experts
rent, or the rent, is always possible,
d. Or in enumerations. 1 never
heard a sermon that was simpler
sounder, or dealt with more practical
matter. In the very nLrtous
sentences made on this bad pattern
there is a confusion between two
correct ways of saying the thing,
viz (a) that was simpler, sounder, or
more practical, (b) that was simpler
or sounder or dealt with more prac¬
tical matters. See Enumeration, &
lor mil discussion and 2. The
abundant illustration of the latter
makes similar quotations here need¬
less, & it will be enough to give
a single sentence for the reader to
apply the principle to—a sentence
tTT K n I . I 1 1 « « . «
whose length slightly obscures the
writer s mistake ; he should have
inserted and in the place indicated :
A Jew years ago the natural instincts
oj the other Powers would have been
to notify Italy that Tripoli was a
Turkishpossession, A that if she wished
to secure it she must do so by negotia¬
tion & purchase, or, failing that, put
tier case before a conference of the
Powers.
4. Wrong repetition after or. A
misguided determination to be very
explicit & leave no opening for
doubt results in a type of mistake
illustrated in the article Overzeal.
It is peculiarly common with or, &
to put writers on their guard a
number of examples follow. False
analogy from and explains it; with
and, it does not matter whether we
say without falsehood & deceit or
without falsehood & without deceit,
except that the latter conveys a cer¬
tain sledge-hammer emphasis ; but
-OR
409
ORNITHOLOGY
with or there is much difference
between without falsehood or deceit
(which implies that neither is pre¬
sent) & without falsehood or without
deceit (which implies only that one
of the two is not present). In all
the examples except the last, either
or must be changed to and, or the
word or words repeated after or
must be cut out ; in the last ex¬
ample, if or is to be retained, it will
be necessary, besides omitting no,
to change one to person. No great
economy or no high efficiency can he
secured./All these principal causes
were in operation before Mr Lloyd
George came on the scene or before
his budget was heard of./There would
be nothing very surprising or nothing
necessarily fraudulent in an uncon¬
scious conspiracy to borrow from
each other./We need something more
before we can conclude that Germany
is going to be democratized in any
effective way, or before we can be
sure that this move also is not a
weapon in the war./All this, we are
told, can be done without any flirta¬
tion with Home Rule or without any
sacrifice of the loyalists./. . . prevents
the labourer from being a free agent
or from having a free market for his
labour./To no conference of pacifist
tendencies or to no gatherings where
representatives of the enemy people
will be found, will American labour
organizations send delegates./Every
arrangement ends in a compromise,
& no one or no party may ever be
expected to carry its own views out in
their entirety.
-OR is the Latin agent-noun ending
corresponding to the English -er ;
compare doer & perpetrator. Eng¬
lish verbs derived from the supine
stem of Latin ones—i.e., especially
most verbs in -ate, but also many
others such as oppress , protect, act,
credit, possess, invent, prosecute —
usually prefer this Latin form to
the English one in -er. Some other
verbs, e.g. govern, conquer, & purvey,
not corresponding to the above
description have agent nouns in -or
owing to their passage through
French or other circumstances that
need not here be set forth. An
attempt has been made to register
the verbs whose agent nouns end in
-or, with references to this article.
A few odd differences may be of in¬
terest : decanter & castor; dispenser
& distributor ; adapter & inventor ;
digester & collector; corrupter & cor¬
rector ; deserter & abductor ; eraser &
ejector ; promoter & abettor.
Orangism, -geism. The first is
better ; see Mute e.
orate. A Back-formation from
oration, & marked by the slangy
jocularity of its class.
oratio obliqua, recta. See Tech¬
nical, TERMS.
oratorio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
oratress. See Feminine designa¬
tions.
orb. See globe.
orchis, -chid. The first form is
applied chiefly to the English wild
kinds & is accordingly the poetic &
the country word ; pi. -ises (see
-S-, -SS-).
ordeal. All the verse quotations in
the OED (Chaucer, Spenser, Cowley,
Butler, Tennyson) show the accent
on the first syllable. Whether -del
or -dial is right is less clear.
order. For wrong constructions
after in order that (i. o. t. the com¬
plaint that colliery proprietors are
diverting domestic coal for industrial
purposes can be considered), see in
order that.
orderly. See -lily.
oread. Pronounce or'iad.
oreography &c. See orography.
organize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
organizedly. A bad form ; see
-EDLY.
organon. PI. -ana, -ns ; see -on I.
originate makes -nable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
orison. Pronounce o'rizn.
Orleans. Pronounce or'lianz.
ornament. See Noun & verb
accent, 1 C.
ornithology, ornithorhyncus, &c.
OROGRAPHY
410
T he proper sound of the first element
IS orni tho, not or'nltho, & it seems
faOin r 1 f it eep tJ ? e * exce P t when the
falhng of the mam accent on the next
syllable (-o-) makes it unnatural; see
among common words : ornftho-
eepha he, ornitholo'gical, orni'tlio-
mancy, & ornithorhyncus ; but ornl-
tho logist, ornitho'logy, & ornltho'-
scopy.
. orography, orolingual, & c . The
identical representation of Greek
oros mountain & Latin os mouth by
oro- is regrettable. The most con¬
venient arrangement consistent with
correctness would have been to make
ori- the combining form of Latin os
mouth ( oncentral, ori-anal, ori-
lingual, &c.), & oreo- that of Greek
oros mountain ( oreography, oreo-
metric, &c.). As ori- does exist in
orinasal & other mouth-words, &
oreo- has not been entirely super¬
seded in the mountain-words, it is
possibly not too late to suggest that
this distinction should even now be
established.
orotund. The odd thing about the
word is that its only currency, at
least in its non-technical sense, is
among those who should most abhor
it, the people of sufficient education
to realize its bad formation ; it is
at once a monstrosity in its form &
a pedantry in its use. If the elocu¬
tionists & experts in voice-produc¬
tion like it as a technical term, they
are welcome to it ; the rest of us
should certainly leave it to them, &
not regard it as a good substitute for
magniloquent, sounding, highflown,in¬
flated, pompous, imposing, & the like,
oscillate makes -liable, -tor; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
oscillatory. A favourite Poly¬
syllabic-humour word : The two
ladies went through the o. ceremony./
At the end of one letter were a number
of dots which he ( counsel) presumed
were meant to represent an o. per¬
formance.
ossify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE, -y, -ye, 6.
OTHER
ostler, h-. Pronounce d'sler ; see
Pronunciation. The form without
h '. ls th . e n . ow established one, though
; vro «g; hospital, hos-
tel, hotel, & hostler, belong together.
ostracize makes -zable ; see Mute e
.°? er ;, J; E aeh o.)(one another.
7 Mother hand. 3. Of all others.
4. Other)(others or another. 5. Other
than.
1. Each o.)(one another. For the
syntax of these, & for the distinction
sometimes made between them, see
EACH 2.
2. On the o. hand. For the differ¬
ence between this & on the contrary
see contrary 2.
3. Of all others. You are the man
of all others 1 wanted to see. A mix¬
ture of You are the man of all men
&c. & You are the man I wanted to
see beyond all others. A still popular
Illogicality, perhaps to be counted
among the Sturdy indefensibles
that are likely to survive their critics.
4. Other)(others or another. The
writers of the following sentences
may be supposed to have hesitated
between other & others ; if they had
decided for others, they would have
been more in tune with modern
usage ; to say they would have
chosen more correctly is hardly
possible :—The Unionist Parly will
do well to remember that the wrecking
policy is, like other of their adven¬
tures in recent times, a dangerous
gamble./We find here, as in other
of his novels, that he has no genius
for . . ./Mrs - will, we hope,
incite other of her countrymen &
countrywomen to similar studies./
We were quite prepared for the most
rigid prohibition of trade with Ger¬
many ; so was France & other of our
Allies./A Privy Councillor ship, an
honour which has but rarely been won
by other than those who were British
subjects from the moment of their
birth.
In four of these we have what the
OED calls the absolute use of the
adjective, the noun represented by
other being present elsewhere in the
OTHER, 5
411
OTHER, 5
sentence, but not expressed with
other (like other adventures of the
adventures &c. would be the fully
expressed forms) ; in the fifth we
have the full pronoun use, other
meaning other persons, & persons not
being expressed either with other or
elsewhere. But alike of the absolute
& the pronoun use the OED de¬
scribes the plural other as archaic,
& the plural others as the regular
modern form. In older English,
however, other was normal in such
contexts, so that those who like the
archaic can justify themselves; others
is here recommended.
If it is now contrary to usage to
prefer other to others, it is much
worse to prefer it to another, which
is the modern absolute & pro¬
nominal form in the singular just as
others is in the plural ; but that is
what has been done in : A number
of writers on various subjects serve to
give interest to the review on other
than its political side —unless indeed
the meaning is its other than political
side, which would stand or fall, as
the equivalent of its non-political
side, with the examples discussed
at the end of 5 ; but, if so, the order
of words has been dislocated.
5. Abuses of other than. The exist¬
ence of an adverbial use of other is
recognized by the OED, but sup¬
ported by very few quotations, &
those from no authors whose names
carry weight; its recent develop¬
ment may be heartily condemned
as both ungrammatical & needless.
A number of newspaper extracts
will first be given in which the only
correction necessary is to insert the
real adverb otherwise instead of the
false adverb other ; it will be seen
that, every time, the phrase on the
other side of than is adverbial like
otherwise, & not adjectival like other ;
in the article otherwise the con¬
verse mistake is shown to be equally
common; both mistakes are as
stupid as they are common ; &,
though the substitution of otherwise
for other or vice versa removes the
blunder, it is usually true that it
%
would have been better to use
neither other than nor otherwise than,
but some different expression.
Other for otherwise ♦
So that no new invention could come
in o. t. through a specific company
(except )./A subordinate sprite will
no more obey a conjuration addressed
to him by a magician o. t. in the name
of his proper superior than . . . (in
any other name than that).//< could
not possibly have been carried out o. t.
by the mammoth vessels (except)./
Some via media whereby the influence
of the community could be brought to
bear o. t. through the Civil Service
could probably be evolved (otherwise)./
Yet how many of the disputants
would know where to look for them —
o. t. by a tiresome search through the
files of the daily Press—if they
desired to consult them ? (short of)./
Although the world at large <& for
long refused to treat it o. t. humor¬
ously (otherwise). /There was never
a moment when it could less become
Englishmen to speak o. t. respectfully
<& courteously of the Russian nation
(otherwise).
But simple confusion between other
& otherwise does not account for every
bad other than. A notion seems to
prevail that one exhibits refinement
or verbal resource or some such ac¬
complishment if one can contrive
an other-than variant for what would
naturally be expressed by some other
negative form of speech : with o. t.
apprehension is thought superior in
literary tone to without apprehen¬
sion, could not leave o. t. restless to
could not but leave restless, be other
than flattered to help being flattered,
o. t. when Parliament was sitting to
when Parliament was not sitting ;
so :—Up to the very end no German
field company would look with o. t.
apprehension to meeting the 25th on
even terms./Four years of war could
not leave a people o. t. restless ./Mr
Collier has some faults to find, but no
Englishman can be o. t. flattered
by the picture which he paints of
British activities./The Premier sent
OTHERWISE
412
telegrams to the various States sug¬
gesting that they should concur in the
Governor-General residing in New
South Wales o. t. when Parliament
was sitting. One or two of these are
justifiable, while one is certainly
not, from the grammarian’s point of
view ; regarded as ornaments, they
are clearly of no great value ; on
the whole, other than should be
registered as a phrase to be avoided
except where it is both the most
natural way of putting the thing &
grammatically defensible.
otherwise is now having very
curious experiences—emphatically
is having in the present tense, be¬
cause, while the OED shows no
trace whatever of the two uses to
be illustrated below, both of them
are so common at this moment that
probably no-one ever reads his
newspaper through without meeting
them. Whether this popularity is
a sign of lately developed indis¬
pensability, or merely a new ex¬
ample of the speed with which a
trick of bad English can be spread
by fashion (cf. asset, substitute,
proposition, protagonist), it is
hard to say with confidence ; but,
as one use is a definite outrage on
grammatical principles, & the other
not very easy to reconcile with them,
we may perhaps hope that they are
freaks of fashion only, & that their
future will be as short as their past.
The first is the ungrammatical use
of the adverb otherwise when the
adjective other would be correct;
cf. other for the converse mistake.
Comment will be better reserved
till the reader has seen some ex¬
amples :— This reduction in total
expenditure has been made concur¬
rently with certain increases —auto¬
matic & otherwise— in particular
items./There are large tracts of the
country, agricultural & otherwise,
in which the Labour writ does not
run./No further threats, economic or
otherwise, have been made./This is
a common incident in all warfare,
industrial or otherwise./No organi-
OTHERWISE
zations, religious or otherwise, had
troubled to take the matter up. /The
United States is no longer under
any obligation to preserve neutrality
whether ‘ true ’ or otherwise./T/ie
author s line of demarcation between
stamps desirable & otherwise is
rather arbitrary./Place a fair share
of taxation on the owners, ducal &
otherwise, holding land <fe not de¬
veloping it.
An apology may fairly be expected
for presenting so long a string of
monotonous examples. The apology
is that, before asking the journalist
to give up a favourite habit, one
should convince him that it is his
habit. That the habit is a bad one
needs no demonstration ; but it is
worth while to consider jhow it has
come into existence, & whether
abstention from it is really a serious
inconvenience. In all the above
quotations, the structure is the same
—an adjective deferred till after its
noun & followed by an and or an or
joining to it the adverb otherwise.
Now, what should possess anyone,
under those circumstances, to match
the adjective with otherwise instead
of other ? Is it not (far-fetched as
the explanation may seem) that the
old saying ‘ Some men are wise &
some are otherwise ’ has lately
struck the popular consciousness as
witty, & has incidentally inspired
a belief that otherwise, & not other,
is the natural parallel to an adjec¬
tive ? The justification of the pro¬
verb’s own wording is simple—that
it is a pun, & that puns treat gram¬
mar as love treats locksmiths, with
derision. A pun, however, & still
more the faded memory of a pun, is
a bad basis for a general idiom. But,
next, there is no difficulty whatever
in abstaining from this bit of bad
grammar. It is true that things have
now reached the stage when many
people feel that to change the popular
otherwise to the correct other is some¬
times pedantic; but it is only some¬
times, & there are other resources.
The above examples would none of
them be less natural if the offend-
OTHERWISE
413
OTHERWISE
ing expression were rewritten thus :
certain automatic db other increases —
some agricultural db some not—no
further economic or other threats —
industrial or not—religious or non¬
religious—whether ‘ true ’ or not —
desirable stamps db others—the ducal
db other owners. In correcting, the
simple change of otherwise to other
has been avoided, though in fact the
critic who would say ‘ pedantry ’
to it must be a little crazy on the
subject.
In the second use now to be
deprecated, the grammar admits of
a rather elaborate defence, but the
phrase is not worth the trouble of
defending. It is this time not an
adjective, but a noun, to which
otherwise supplies the parallel. Take
the three forms : What concerns us
is his solvency ; What concerns us
is his solvency or insolvency ; What
concerns us is his solvency or other¬
wise. An enormous majority of the
sentences in which or otherwise
answers to a noun are of this type ;
i.e., it makes no appreciable differ¬
ence to the meaning & effect which
of the three forms is chosen. The
first & the second are as much & as
little different in most contexts as
Are you ready ? is different from
Are you ready or not ? ; there is a
possibility, which seldom passes
into fact, that the expression of the
alternative, which if not expressed
would be implied, conveys a special
emphasis. The third differs from
the second (if grammar is put aside)
only as a piece of Elegant varia¬
tion differs from the same meaning
given without the variation ; other¬
wise is used to escape repeating, in
insolvency, the previous solvency.
Few readers who will compare
without prejudice the three forms
will refuse to admit that the best
of the three, wherever it is possible,
is the first & shortest— What con¬
cerns us is his solvency —, the addi¬
tions or insolvency & or otherwise
being mere waste of words. If
writers in general put the question
to themselves, made the admission.
& acted upon it, not one or otherwise
in the long list that follows would
have been written. Or otherwise
after a noun is (a) nearly always
superfluous, (b) when it is not
superfluous, an inferior substitute
for or with the negative form of the
preceding noun or an equivalent, &
(c) grammatically questionable. Ex¬
amples of the ordinary foolish use
now follow, & the reader is invited
to agree that each would be im¬
proved by the simple omission of
or otherwise :—Crystalline character
is acknowledged to be a safe test of
identity o. o. in the realm of physio-
logy./l do not think I made any
assertion as to the mutability o. o. of
nature./Its usefulness, o. o., to Ger¬
many depends entirely upon the
material conditions of the rears to
which it will be applied./The electorate
may be consulted on the merits, o. o.,
of a single specific measure./A
searching examination of the financial
wisdom, o. o., of such undertakings./
This witness has been called as to the
accuracy, o. o., of the statements of
two other witnesses. /A Royal Com¬
mission to consider db report on the
need o. o. for State protection of this
asset in our resources./To enable
judgment to be passed upon the merits,
o. o., of any fancy formula for winning
wars./The success of our efforts de¬
pends on the success o. o. of the
German submarine campaign./1 am
not concerned with the accuracy o. o.
of the figures given./Without offering
an opinion as to the desirability o. o.
of the growth of a definite party./
Any inquiry as to the correctness o. o.
of his assessment./It is entirely for
the High Court to ascertain the truth
o. o. of the statements./The provision
of coal db the financing of raw
materials for Austrian industry are
not dependent on the solvency o. o. of
the Austrian State.
It has been allowed above that o. o.
in this construction is not quite
always superfluous. It is not super¬
fluous in With the view of showing
the applicability (o. o.) to the practical
aff airs of government of the principles
OTHERWISE
which . . . That is due to the
particular verb showing, which pre¬
vents applicability from including as
usual its opposite. But, while such
cases are rare (1 : 14 gives the pro¬
portion in which they have actually
presented themselves to the col¬
lector), it is better even in these to
give the sense in some other way,
e.g. to showing how far the principles
which . . . are applicable. Similarly,
in It has an area of under 100 square
miles, (& enjoys — o. o.—a very heavy
rainfall b or does not enjoy ’, ‘ or
endures ’, &e., would be better in
grammar, as good in sense, &, con¬
sidering the dimness with which or
otherwise now sparkles, not inferior
in brilliance.
The reader may perhaps be curious
about the statement that such
phrases as applicability o. o. are
grammatically not quite indefen¬
sible. In He never conveyed to me
any intimation that he disapproved,
strongly o. o., of my conduct, we have
an unquestionably legitimate use,
otherwise being parallel to strongly,
another adverb. In Yesterday he
was our hero, but today he is other¬
wise, otherwise is parallel not to an
adverb, but to the noun hero ;
nevertheless grammar is not offend¬
ed, because the complement of to be
can be noun, adjective, or adverb,
indifferently : He is a hero. He is
dead. He is abroad. That is why
Governor Sulzer is the hero (o. o.) of
a quaint election story is excusable ;
though not itself legitimate, it is
a slight & natural extension of
something that is legitimate ; yet
it remains true that or villain (or
other opposite of hero, according to
the sense desired) would be better.
The type of which so many examples
were given, with o. o. answering to
abstract nouns like applicability or
truth, is similarly accounted for.
Is it applicable or is it otherwise ?
is sound enough English ; when we
want to turn these questions into
a noun, its applicability o. o . not
unnaturally presents itself as a short
form of its being applicable or being
otherwise; it can claim a sort of
secondhand soundness ; like an ad¬
dled egg, it has in an earlier phase
been good.
To sum up, o. o. is in grammar
occasionally quite correct, often
indefensible, but usually capable of
a rather far-fetched justification;
in meaning it is, except when
strictly correct, nearly always super¬
fluous, & always less exact than
some equivalent ; & in style (again
except when correct) it has the dis¬
advantage of suggesting, even when
the user is innocent of any such in¬
tent, a sort of insipid jocosity.
ottava rima. See Technical
TERMS.
ought, n., is a wrong form for
nought.
ought, v., is peculiarly liable to be
carelessly combined with auxiliary
verbs that differ from it in taking
the plain infinitive without to. Can
& ought to go is right, but Ought &
can go is wrong. We should be sorry
to see English critics suggesting that
they ought or could have acted other¬
wise ; insert to after ought, or write
that they could or ought to have acted .
See Ellipsis 2.
our. 1. Our)(ours. 2. Our editorial
& ordinary. 3. Our)(his.
1. Our)(ours. Ours & the Italian
troops are now across the Piave. The
right alternatives are : The Italian
troops <& ours. The Italian & our
troops. Our & the Italian troops; the
wrong one is that in the quotation ;
see Absolute possessives.
2. The editorial our, like we & us
of that kind, should not be allowed
to appear in the same sentence, or
in close proximity, with any non¬
editorial use of we &c. In the
following, our & the second we are
editorial, while us & the first we are
national : For chaos it is now pro¬
posed to substitute law, law by which
we must gain as neutrals, db which,
in our view, inflicts no material
sacrifice on us as belligerents. We
do not propose to argue that question
again from the beginning, but
• • •
OUR, 3
415
OUTERMOST
3. Our)(his. Which of us would
wish to be ill in our kitchen, especially
when it is also the family living-
room ? If a possessive adjective
were necessary, his & not our would
be the right one, or, at greater
length, his or her. People of weak
grammatical digestions, unable to
stomach his , should find means of
doing without the possessive ; why
not simply the kitchen, here ? But
many of them, who prefer even the
repulsive their to the right forms,
are naturally delighted when of us
gives them a chance of the less
repulsive but at least slovenly our.
It is undeniable that which of us
is a phrase denoting a singular, &
that the possessive required by it is
one that refers to a singular.
-OUR & -OR. The American aboli¬
tion of -our in such words as honour
& favour has probably retarded
rather than quickened English pro¬
gress in the same direction. Our
first notification that the book we
are reading is not English but
American is often, nowadays, the
sight of an -or. 4 Yankee ’ we say,
& congratulate ourselves on spelling
like gentlemen ; we wisely decline
to regard it as a matter for argu¬
ment ; the English way cannot but
be better than the American way ;
that is enough. Most of us, there¬
fore, do not come to the question
with an open mind. Those who are
willing to put national prejudice
aside & examine the facts quickly
realize, first, that the British -our
words are much fewer in proportion
to the -or words than they supposed,
&, secondly, that there seems to be
no discoverable line between the
two sets so based on principle as to
serve any useful purpose. By the
side of favour there is horror, beside
ardour pallor, beside odour tremor,
& so forth. Of agent-nouns saviour
(with its echo paviour ) is perhaps
the only one that now retains -our,
governor being the latest to shed its
-Ur. What is likely to happen is
that either, when some general
reform of spelling is consented to,
reduction of -our to -or will be one
of the least disputed items, or,
failing general reform, we shall see
word after word in -our go the way
of governour. It is not worth while
either to resist such a gradual
change or to fly in the face of
national sentiment by trying to
hurry it ; it would need a very open
mind indeed in an Englishman to
accept armor & succor with equani¬
mity. Those who wish to satisfy
themselves that the above denial
of value to the -our spelling is
borne out by facts should go to
the article -or in the OED for fuller
information than there is room for
here.
-OUR- & -OR-. The contents of
this article, with the exception of
the next paragraph, are given as
opinions only.
Even those nouns that in our
usage still end in -our (see -our &
-or), as opposed to the American
-or, e. g. clamour, clangour, humour,
odour, rigour, valour, vapour, vigour,
have adjectives ending in - orous,
not - ourous — humorous,vaporous, &c.
Derivatives in -ist, -ite, & -able, are
regarded as formed directly from
the English words, & retain the -u- ;
so colourist & humourist, labourite
(cf. favourite, of different formation),
colourable & honourable. But de¬
rivatives in -ation & -ize are best
treated, like those in -ous, as formed
first in Latin, & therefore spelt
without the -u- ; so coloration,
invigoration, vaporize, & deodorize.
ours)(our. See our 1.
ousel. See ouzel.
outcome is one of the words
specially liable to the slovenly use
described in the article Haziness ;
so : The outcome of such nationaliza¬
tion would undoubtedly lead to the
loss of incentive db initiative in that
trade. The o. of nationalization
would be loss ; nationalization would
lead to loss.
outermost. For pronunciation see
-most.
OUT-HEROD
416
° U a t ; her0d \ In view of the Phrase’s
great popularity & many adapta-
* wo cautions are perhaps
called for. The noun after out-
Aerod should be Herod & nothing
else (the OED quotes ‘ out-heroding
the hrench cavaliers in compli¬
ment ; cf. Ecclesiastical function-
anes who out-heroded the Daughters
of the Horse-leech), &, after adapta-
tions like out-milton & out-nero,
Milton &c. should be repeated (out-
zola Zola, not out-zola the realists).
Secondly, the name used should be
one at least that passes universally
as typifying something ; to out-
kautsch Kautsch (The similar Ger¬
man compilation edited by Kautsch
was good: but Charles easily out-
kautsches Kautsch) is very frigid.
OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN. A very
large proportion of the mistakes that
are made in writing result neither
from simple ignorance nor from
carelessness, but from the attempt
to avoid what are rightly or wrongly
taken to be faults of grammar or
style. The writer who produces an
ungrammatical, an ugly, or even
a noticeably awkward phrase, & lets
us see that he has done it in trying
to get rid of something else that he
was afraid of, gives a worse impres¬
sion of himself than if he had risked
our catching him in his original
misdemeanour ; he is out of the
frying-pan into the fire. A few
typical examples will be here
collected, with references to other
articles in which the tendency to
mistaken correction is set forth more
at large.
Recognition is given to it by no
matter whom it is displayed. The
frying-pan was ‘ no matter whom it
is displayed by ’, which the writer did
not dare keep, with its preposition
at end ; but in his hurry he jumped
into nonsense ; see matter, & Pre¬
position at end ./When the record of
this campaign comes dispassionately
to be written, 6b in just perspective,
it will be found that . . . The writer
took ‘ to be dispassionately written ’
OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN
for a Split infinitive, & by his
correction convinces us that he does
not know a split infinitive when he
sees it ./In the hymn & its setting
there is something which, to use a
word of Coleridge, ‘ finds ’ men. ‘ A
word of Coleridge’s’ is an idiom
whose genesis may be doubtful, but
it has the advantage over the cor-
rection of being English ; a word of
Coleridge is no more English than
a friend of me./The object is to bring
before the public many ancient 6c
modern aspects of the Theatre's Art
which have too long been disregarded.
‘ The theatre’s art ’ is a phrase that,
apart from surroundings, no-one
would prefer in prose to ‘ the art of
the theatre ’. What the writer has
shied at is the repetition of of in
of the art of the theatre, which is how¬
ever much more tolerable than this
’s incongruous. /But the badly cut¬
up enemy troops were continually
reinforced 6b substituted by fresh
units. The frying-pan was replace
in the sense ‘ take the place of ’;
the fire is the revelation that the
writer has no idea what the verb
substitute means. /Sir Starr Jame¬
son has had one of the most varied
& picturesque careers of any Colonial
statesmen. ‘ Of any statesman
idiomatic but apparently illogical,
has been corrected to what is
neither logical (of all would have
been nearer to sense) nor English./
The claim yesterday was for the
difference between the old rate, which
was a rate by agreement, 6c between
the new. The writer feared, with
some contempt for his readers’
intelligence, that they would not be
equal to carrying on the construc¬
tion of between ; he has not mended
matters by turning sense into non¬
sense ; see Overzeal. /The reception
was held at the bride's aunt. The
reporter was right in disliking bride's
aunt's, but should have found time
to think of ‘ at the house of’.
The impression must not be left,
however, that it is fatal to read over
& correct what one has written.
The moral is that correction requires
outr£
417
OWING TO
as much care as the original writing,
or more ; the slapdash corrector,
who should not be in such a hurry,
& the uneducated corrector, who
should not be writing at all, are
apt to make things worse than they
found them.
outr6. See French words.
outworn. There is, however, a little
more in Mr Bonar Law's speech than
these husks of a controversy outworn.
Allusions like this, shown to be such
by the position of outworn, to A
pagan suckled in a creed outworn
betray mortal dread of being
commonplace, & draw attention to
the weakness they are meant to
cloak.
ouzel, -sel. The OED calls the
second obsolete.
overawe makes -awing; see Mute e.
overflow has p.p. -owed, not -own.
overgrown. See Intransitive p.p.
overthrowal. The drama lies in the
development of a soul towards the
knowledge of itself <& of the signi¬
ficance of life, & the tragedy lies in
the overthrowal of that soul. See -al
nouns ; overthrowal is unknown to
the OED.
overlay, -lie. It has been men¬
tioned (see lay & lie) that the two
simple verbs are sometimes con¬
fused even in print. It is still more
common for overlay & underlay to be
used where -lie is wanted, because
the -lie verbs too are transitive,
though in different meanings from
those in -lay. The talk about things
in general which overlays the story is
quite dull. This should be overlies ;
& it is worth special mention that
a mother overlies, not overlays, her
child : Inquests on ‘ overlaid ’ child¬
ren have greatly diminished (correct
to overlain).
OVERZEAL. Readers should be cred¬
ited with the ability to make their
way from end to end of an ordinary
sentence without being pulled &
pushed & admonished into the right
direction ; but some of their guides
are so determined to prevent stray¬
ing that they plant great signposts
1351
in the middle of the road, often with
the unfortunate result of making it
no thoroughfare. In the examples
the signpost word, always needless,
often unsightly, & sometimes mis¬
leading, is enclosed in square
brackets :—
He is aware that, while the science
of boxing may be more exact than it
was twenty or thirty years ago, &
[that] while many new tricks have
been brought to the trade, the pro¬
fessional champion often forgets his
science./But it does not at all follow
that because Mr Long is 65 [that) he
will not be equal to .. . See that,
conj., for more./IFe agree that the
Second Chamber would be differently
constituted according as we went
forward to other schemes of devolution
& federation, [& according as we)
decided to make Home Rule for
Ireland our one only experiment.
Read or decided; see according
for more. /The working-man has to
keep his family on what would be
considered a princely wage in Eng¬
land, but [te/tic/i], in point of fact, is
barely enough to keep body & soul
together. See what for more./27ie
object for which troops were sent was
[for] the protection of British pro¬
perty. The object was not for
protection ; it was protection. /But
what no undergraduate or [no] pro¬
fessor in the art of writing verse could
achieve is .. . See or 4 for more./
There are others who talk of moving
& debating a hostile amendment, &
then [of] withdrawing it. Moving,
debating, & then withdrawing make
up a single suggested course ; but the
superfluous o/impliesthat the talkers
vacillate between two courses. /Had
Bannockburn never been fought, or
[had] seen another issue,Scotland would
have" become a second Ireland. The
motive is to exclude never from the
second clause; but either that ambi¬
guity must be risked & had omitted,
or had it must be inserted instead of
had .
ovum. PI. ova.
owing to is here inserted not because
OWL
418
pair
it is misused, but in the hope of
calling attention to it as a phrase
that should be more used. Its
rights are now perpetually infringed
by due to. The difference is that,
while o.t. can be either adjectival
or adverbial ( The accident was not
o . t. carelessness ; O. t. my careless¬
ness he broke his leg), d. t. can only
be adjectival ( The accident was not
d. t. carelessness). In the following
examples (& see due for others)
owing must be substituted for due :—-
Due to this omission he has unfor¬
tunately committed himself to views he
finds it difficult to go back on./But,
due largely to the fact that the hall
was situated a long distance from the
Congress building , the visitors did not
attend in such large numbers as
previously. See Quasi-adverbs.
owl-like. For hyphen see -
own. For own the soft impeach¬
ment, see Irrelevant allusion.
ox. PI. oxen.
oxidize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
oxymoron. PI. -s or -ra ; see -on.
For meaning see Technical terms.
P
pac6. This latinism ( p. tud by your
leave, or if you will allow me to say
so ; p. Veneris if Venus will not be
offended by my saying so) is one
that we could very well do without
in English. Not only is it often
unintelligible to many readers even
when rightly used ; it is also by
many writers wrongly used. In
the two following pieces, which have
unluckily to be long if the point is
to be clear, the meaning is 4 accord¬
ing to Mr Begbie ’ or ‘ according to
the Jungborn enthusiasts 5 ; it
ought to be just the opposite—
4 though Mr B. (or the enthusiasts)
will doubtless not agree ’:— After
the beauty of rural life in the South
his picture of Belfast is a vision of
horror. On the details of that picture
we need not dwell; but the moral
ivhich Mr Begbie appears to draw
from his contrast is that a Conserva¬
tive Irish Parliament will do little to
better the conditions of town life , db
that the industrial classes would find
relief from those conditions more
quickly under the rule of the English
. - m ^ pace Mr Begbie,
is advancing rapidly towards some
form of Socialism./For more than
ten thousand years these things have
been recognized in some part of the
world; during that lapse of time,
at least, some men & women have
been living according to their own
lights rather than according to the light
of nature. Now, pace the Jungborn
enthusiasts, the time has come to change
all this. If man would survive as a
species, we learn in effect, he must
begin the return journey to the place
whence he came.
Minor objections are that the
construction is awkward in English
(p. Mr Smith is the best we can do
for p. Caesaris in the genitive), &
that the Latinless naturally, but
distastefully to those who know
Latin, extend the meaning or ap¬
plication as they do those of vide,
re, & e. g. So : But in the House of
Lords there is no hilarity —pace Lord
Salisbury' 1 s speech last night. Pact
does not mean notwithstanding a
fact or instance, but despite some¬
one’s opinion.
pacha.
pachydermatous. A favourite with
the Polysyllabic HUMOURists.
pacif(ic)ist. There is no doubt that
the longer form is the better ; for
full discussion see -ist A ; but its
chances of ousting the wrong form
are small.
pacify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
Paddy. So spelt; see -ey, -ie, -y.
padrone. Three syllables (pad-
ro'ne) ; pi. -ni (-e).
paean. See je, ce.
pageant. Pronounce p&'j<znt.
pailful. PI. pailfuls ; see -eul.
paillasse. See palliasse.
painedly. A bad form ; see -edly.
paintress. See Feminine designa¬
tions.
pair, n. See Collectives 3.
419
PALPABLE
PAIRS & SNARES
PAIRS & SNARES. Of the large
number of words that are some¬
times confused with others a small
selection is here given. It will be
noticed that nearly all are of Latin
origin ; the confusion depends on
the Englishman’s natural failure,
if he has not learnt Latin, to realize
instinctively the force of suffixes
that are not native. Those who
have any doubts of their infalli¬
bility may find it worth while to go
through the list & make sure that
these pairs have no terrors for them ;
under one of each pair in its diction¬
ary place they will find remarks
upon the difference & usually proofs
that the confusion does occur.
While the Englishman’s vagueness
about Latin suffixes or prefixes is
the most frequent cause of mistakes,
it is not the only one. Often the
two words might legitimately have
been, or actually were in older
usage, equivalents, & the ignor¬
ance is not of Latin elements but
of English idiom & the changes
that Differentiation has brought
about. And again there are pairs in
which the connexion between the
two words is only a seeming one.
To exemplify briefly, contemptuous
& contemptible are a pair in which
suffixes may be confused ; masterful
& masterly one in which differentia¬
tion may be wrongly ignored ; &
deprecate & depreciate one of the
altogether false pairs. The list
follows :—acceptance & accepta¬
tion ; advance & advancement ;
affect & effect ; alternate & alterna¬
tive ; antitype & prototype ; as¬
cendancy & ascendant ; ceremonial
& ceremonious; comity & company;
complacent (-ency) & complaisant
(-ance) ; compose & comprise ;
consequent & consequential ; con¬
temptible & contemptuous ; con¬
tend & contest ; continuance &
continuation ; definite & definitive ;
deprecate & depreciate ; derisive &
derisory; e. g. & i. e.; euphemism
& euphuism; fatal & fateful ;
forceful & forcible ; fortuitous &
fortunate ; glimpse & glance; hypo¬
thecate & hypothesize ; immovable
& irremovable ; inflammable &
inflammatory ; judicial & judicious ;
laudable & laudatory; legislation
& legislature ; luxuriant & luxuri¬
ous ; masterful & masterly ; obli¬
vious & unconscious ; observance &
observation; perspicacity (-acious)
& perspicuity (-uous) ; policy &
polity ; precipitate & precipitous ;
predicate & predict ; preface vb &
prefix vb ; proportion & portion ;
protagonist & champion ; purport &
purpose ; regretful & regrettable ;
resource, recourse, & resort ; rever¬
end & reverent ; reversal & rever¬
sion ; transcendent & transcen¬
dental ; triumphal & triumphant ;
unexceptionable & unexceptional.
pajamas. See pyjamas.
palace. Educated usage is excep¬
tionally divided between the two
pronunciations p&'las & p&'lis ; the
latter will probably win.
palaeo-, palseo-, paleo-. The first
is recommended ; see ce.
palaestra. Best so spelt,
palankeen, -quin. The first is
recommended.
palatable. So spelt ; see Mute e.
palatal. See Technical terms.
palaver. Pronounce palah'ver.
pale, adj., makes palely , palish
(see Mute e).
palen. See -en verbs.
paletot. Pronounce pait5.
palisade, vb, makes -dable: see
Mute e.
palladium. PI. -ia.
palliasse, paillasse. The first spell¬
ing is best ; cf. morale.
palliate makes -liable ; see -able 1.
pallor, not -our ; see -our & -or.
palmetto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
palpable. The work that has yet to
be done is palpable from the crowded
paper of amendments with which the
House is faced . A good illustration
of the need of caution in handling
dead metaphors. Palpable means
literally touchable , or perceptible
by touch ; that meaning is freely
extended to perceptible by any of
the senses , & even to appreciable by
PANFUL
420
PARALLEL SENTENCES
the intelligence. The final extension
is necessary here, & would pass but
for the from, phrase that is attached.
From the paper &c. implies not
sensuous perception, but intellectual
inference ; the dead metaphor in
p. is stimulated into angry life by
the inconsistency ; see Metaphor.
Pc is one of the words that are liable
to clumsy treatment of this sort
because they have never become
vernacular English, & yet are occa¬
sionally borrowed by those who
have no scholarly knowledge of
them.
panache. See French words.
pandemonium. PI. -urns.
pander, n. & vb. Though -at is
the older & better form, it is waste
of labour to try to restore it.
pandit. See pundit.
panegyric, -rize, -rist. The pro¬
nunciations recommended are :
p&niji'rik, pane'jfriz, pane'jirist.
panel makes -lied, -lling, &c. ; see
-LL-, -L-.
panful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
panic makes panicky ; see -c-, -ck-.
pannikin. So spelt by the OED.
pantaloons, pants. The British
words for these, except in unedu¬
cated & shop use, are trousers (or
colloq. breeches) & drawers. Ameri¬
can idiom differs.
papier mache. See French words.
papilla, papula. PI. -ae.
papyrus. PI. -ri (-i).
par (paragraph). See Curtailed
words.
parabasis. PI. -ases (-ez) ; see
Latin plurals, 2.
parable. For p. & allegory, see
Simile & metaphor.
parade, vb, makes -dable ; see
Mute e.
paradigm. See Technical terms.
Pronounce ph'radim.
paradise rivals nectar in the num¬
ber of experiments that the desire
for a satisfactory adjective has
occasioned. But, whereas nectar is
in the end well enough provided,
no-one uses any adjective from
paradise without feeling that surely
some other would have been less
inadequate. The variants are para¬
disaic*{al*), paradisal, paradisean,
paradisiac(al), paradisial *, para¬
disian *, paradisic(al), of which the
asterisked ones are badly formed.
Paradisal is perhaps the least intol¬
erable, & that perhaps because it
retains the sound of the last syllable
of paradise ; but the wise man takes
refuge with heavenly, Edenlike, or
other substitute.
paraffin. See kerosene.
paragoge. See Greek g.
Paraguay. The OED pronuncia¬
tion is -gwa ; but -gwi is very wide¬
spread.
parakeet, paroquet. The OED
gives precedence to the first,
parallel. 1. Exceptionally among
verbs in -1 (see -ll-, -l-), p. does not
double the 1 : paralleled &c. ; the
anomaly is due to the -II- of the
previous syllable. 2. The noun
used, where p. itself will not serve,
is parallelism , not parallelity ; the
latter is not even recorded in the
OED, but : We have already had
occasion to comment on the remark¬
able parallelity between .
Parallel-sentence dangers, l.
Negative & affirmative. 2. Inverted
& uninverted. 3. Dependent &
independent.
1. Negative & affirmative. A
single example may be given here
to show the kind of difficulty that
occurs : There is not a single town
in the crowded district along the
Rhine which is not open to these
attacks, & must be prepared for
defence with guns , troops, & aero¬
planes. But, for discussion & illus¬
tration of this & many other
varieties, see Negative & affirma¬
tive.
2. Inverted & uninverted. And
not merely in schools & colleges, but
as organizers of physical f raining,
are women readily finding interesting
& important employment. The not
merely part requires the inverted
are women finding ; the but part
requires the uninverted women are
PARALLELEPIPED 421
finding. The right solution is to
start the sentence with And women
are finding employment not merely
&c. In Inversion the section
headed inversion in parallel clauses
is devoted to this & similar types.
3. Dependent & independent. The
municipality charged itself with the
purchase of these articles in wholesale
quantities , cfc it was to the Town Hall
that poor people applied for them, &
were served by municipal employees.
The parallel sentences in question
were, in their simple form, (a) The
poor people applied for them to the
Town Hall, & (b ) The poor people
were served by municipal employees.
The writer has decided, for the sake
of emphasizing Town Hall, to re¬
write a in the it was . . . that form ;
but he has forgotten that he cannot
make a dependent & leave b inde¬
pendent unless he supplies the
fatter with a subject (cfc they were
served). The correct possibilities
are : (i, both independent) The
people applied to the Town Hall for
them, cfc were served by municipal
employees ; (ii, both dependent)
It was to the Town Hall that the
people applied , cfc by municipal
employees that they were served ;
(iii, dependent & independent) It
was to the Town Hall that the people
applied, <fc they were served by
municipal employees.
parallelepiped. Pronounce p&ra-
lel£'plp€d.
paralogism. See Greek g.
paralyse. So spelt ; for the curious
form see analyse.
paramo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
paranoea, -noia. The former would
be the regular form, but the other,
with unlatinized Greek spelling, is
more used. F or -noea, -noea, see m , ce.
parapeted. So spelt; see -t-, -tt-.
paraphrase, vb, makes -sable ; see
Mute e.
paraplegia. See Greek g.
paraselene. Five syllables (-e'nl).
parasitic(al) 0 The longer form has
no special function, & is now little
used. See -ic(al).
PARENTHESIS
parasitism. So spelt ; see Mute e.
parcel makes -llca & c . ; -ll-, -l-.
parcimonyo See parsimony.
pardon makes - oned , -onable , &c. ?
see -N-, -nn-,
parenchyma. Pron. pare'ngkima,
parenthesis, PI. -theses (-ex) ; see
Latin plurals, 2.
PARENTHESIS. 1. Relevance, 2.
Identification. 3. Dashes as sign
of p.
1. Relevance. A parenthesis may
have or not have a grammatical re¬
lation to the sentence in which itis
inserted. In This is, as far as 1
know , the whole truth there is such
a relation, & in This is, I swear, the
whole truth there is not ; but one
is as legitimate as the other. It is
not equally indifferent whether the
parenthesis is relevant or not to
its sentence ; parentheses like the
following cannot possibly be justi¬
fied : In writing this straightforward
cfc workmanlike biography of his
grandfather (the book was finished
before the war, cfc delayed in publica¬
tion) Mr Walter Jcrrold has aimed at
doing justice to Douglas J err old as
dratnatist, as social reformer <fc as
good-natured man. The time of
writing & the delay have no con¬
ceivable bearing on the straight¬
forwardness, workmanlikeness, bio-
graphicality, grandfatherliness, jus¬
tice, drama, reform, or good nature,
with which the sentence is con¬
cerned. If it had been called a long-
expected instead of a straightfor¬
ward biography, it would have been
quite another matter ; but, as it is,
the parenthesis is as disconcerting
as a pebble that jars one’s teeth in
a mouthful of plum pudding. The
very worst way of introducing an
additional fact is to thrust it as
a parenthesis into the middle of
a sentence with which it has nothing
to do. A similar example is :
Napoleon's conversations with Ber¬
trand cfc Moncholon (it is unfortunate
that there are several misprints in the
book) are a skilful blending of record
cfc pastiche.
PARENTHESIS, 2
422
2. Identification. Still more fatal
than readiness to resort to paren¬
thesis where it is irrelevant is
inability to tell a parenthesis from
a main sentence. He attacked the
Government, declaring that they cared
more for votes than voters. A remark¬
able change had come over the Govern¬
ment, he suggested, since the Bill had
left the Committee, & expressed doubts
as to whether Mr Masterman altogether
approved of the new turn of affairs.
In this, he suggested is as much a
parenthesis as if it had been enclosed
in brackets ; if it were not paren¬
thetic, the sentence would run lie
suggested that a change had come.
But the writer, not knowing a paren¬
thesis when he sees (or even when
he makes) one, has treated it as
parallel with expressed, & so fully
parallel that its he may be expected
to do duty with expressed as well as
with suggested. Either the first part
should be rewritten as above with
suggested for its governing verb, or
the second part should be cut off
from the first & begin He expressed
doubts, or else another parenthesis
should be resorted to— It was doubt¬
ful, he continued, whether Mr . . .
3. For double dashes as a form of
p., see Stops.
parenthetic(al). In most uses the
longer form is obsolescent ; but it
has still a special sense worth pre¬
serving, i.e. full of or addicted to
parentheses (a horribly -ical style).
See -ic(al).
par excellence. See French words.
parget. Pronounce -j-.
pariah. Pronounce par'ia or par'ia.
pari mutuel. See French words.
pari passu. Pronounce par'i p&'sti.
parisyllabic. See Technical terms.
parlance. See jargon.
parley. PI. of noun, -eys. For
verb inflexion, see Verbs in -ie
&c., 2.
parliament. Pronounce par'lament.
parlo(u)r. Keep the u ; but see
-our & -OR.
parlous is a word that wise men
leave alone. It is the same by
parsimony
origin as perilous ; but it had cen¬
turies ago the same fate that has
befallen awful & chronic within
hving memory ; it became a Vogue-
word applied to many things very
remote from its proper sense : it
consequently lost all significance,
died of its own too much & was
tor a long time (for most of the 18th
century) hardly heard of. In the
19th century it was exhumed by
Archaism & Pedantic humour, &
the adepts in those arts should be
allowed exclusive property in it.
About the following curious example
it is not very clear either why the
writer selected or what he under¬
stood by the word : Here db there,
perhaps, human nature will out , & in
Mr Lyttelton’s introductory discourse
on 1 The Empire ’ it is not surprising
to find the speaker touching parlously
on the controversy with which the
name of Birmingham db the Chan¬
cellor of its University are inseparably
connected. But with admirable re¬
straint the right honourable gentleman
soon waves that argument away db
bows acknowledgment to Adam Smith.
Parmesan. Pronounce -z-.
parody. See burlesque
synonyms.
paronomasia. Technical terms.
paroquet. See parakeet.
parricide)(patricide. The first is
the orthodox form. Patricide has
no doubt been substituted by some
deliberately, in order to narrow the
meaning to murder(er) of a father,
as matricide & fratricide are limited,
& by others in ignorance of the right
word. Parricide includes not only
the murder of either parent or any
near relative or anyone whose
person is sacred, but also treason
against one’s country; & the
making of patricide to correspond
to matricide is therefore natural
enough.
parry 0 For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
parsimony, parci-. The variation
dates back to Latin manuscripts "
but ‘ Latin scholars appear to agree
for
PARTAKE
423
PARTICIPLES
that parsimonia was the actual
spelling in classical Latin ’—OED.
As pars- is also the prevailing modern
form, the pare- spelling should be
abandoned.
partake makes -kable ; see Mute e.
partially is often used where partly
would be better. This is, no doubt,
because it is formed normally, by
way of the adjective partial , while
partly formed direct from the noun
part is abnormal. There is between
the two words much the same differ¬
ence as between wholly (opp. partly)
& completely (opp. partially) ; in
other words, partly is better in the
sense * as regards a part & not the
whole & partially in the sense * to
a limited degree ’ : It is partly wood ;
This was partly due to cowardice ;
A partially drunken sailor ; His
partially re-established health. Often
either will give the required sense
equally well ; partly is then recom¬
mended, since it is partially that
tends to be over-used ; see Long
variants for other such pairs. An
example or two of the wrong par¬
tially are :— The two feet are partially
of iron <& partially of clay./ Whether
The Case is Altered may be wholly
or partially or not at all assignable to
the hand of Jonson.
participate makes -pable, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
Participles, i. Unattached p.
2. Absolute construction. 3. Fused
p. 4. Initial p. &c. 5. Accent &
pronunciation in p.p. (or adjective
or noun) & verb.
L Unattached p. For this danger,
as insidious as notorious, see Un¬
attached participle.
2. Absolute construction. The
Municipal Council , having refused
their assistant clerks' demand for a
rise in salary, those in the Food
Supply offices today declared a strike.
This false stopping (there should be
no comma after Council) is an
example of what is perhaps both the
worst & the commonest of all mis¬
takes in punctuation. See Abso-
WJTE construction.
3. Fused p. Jimmy Wilde's first
fight in the United States resulted in
him being beaten by Jack Sharkey./
They are so well chosen that there is
little fear of the reader to whom the
more familiar aspects of the subject
have ceased to appeal being wearied
by them. ‘ Him being beaten 6 the
reader being wearied ’, are examples
of a construction regarded in this
book as a corrupting influence in
modern English, & fully discussed in
the article Fused participle.
4. Initial participle &c. If news¬
paper editors, in the interest of their
readers, maintain any discipline
over the gentlemen who provide
inch-long paragraphs to stop gaps,
they should take measures against
a particular form that, by a survival
of the unfittest, bids fair to swallow
up all others. In these paragraphs,
before we are allowed to enter, we
are challenged by the sentry, being
a participle or some equivalent
posted in advance to secure that
our interview with the C.O. (or
subject of the sentence) shall not
take place without due ceremony.
The fussiness of this is probably
entertaining while it is quite fresh ;
one cannot tell, because it is no
longer fresh to anyone. Exam¬
ples :— Described as * disciples of
Tolstoi ’, two Frenchmen sentenced
at Cheltenham to two months' im¬
prisonment for false statements to the
registration officer are not to be recom¬
mended for deportation./Composed of
the 3rd Royal Fusiliers, the Scottish
Horse, & the 2nd Royal Dublin
Fusiliers, the 119th Brigade, as
General Jackson (50th Division) says
in his f oreword, represented ‘ the very
best material, traditions, & qualities
of England, Scotland, Ireland'./
Winner of many rowing trophies , Mr
Robert George Dugdale , aged seventy-
five, died at Eton./Appointed In¬
spector-General, West African Fron¬
tier Force, Brevet - Lieut. - Colonel
A. H. W. Haywood, C.M.G., D.S.O.,
of the R.G.A., in 1910 spent six
•months' furlough by crossing the
Sahara Desert./Aged seventy-nine ,
PARTICIPLES, 5
424
PASSABLE
the Rev. F. T. Wethered, vicar of
Hurley, near Marlow, whose death is
announced, bathed daily in the
Thames, winter & summer, till a few
months ago./Believed to be the young¬
est organist in the country. Master
Herbert Woolverton, who officiates at
Hutton Church, Essex, has passed the
examination as Associate of . . ./
Thirty-four years in the choir of the
Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace ,
Mr Francis P. Hill, of Milner Road,
Kingston, has retired./Found stand¬
ing in play astride the live rail of the
electric line at Willesden <& in danger
of instant death, Walter Spentaford,
twelve, was fined 12s. for trespass.
5. Accent & pronunciation in p.p.
(or participial adjective or noun) &
verb. Beside many of the verbs
formed from Latin supine stems
( animate, dilute, extract, &c.) there
are passive participles of the same
spelling, now used as adjectives or
nouns. They are often distinguished
from the verbs by a difference of
sound. This may be (A) a shifting
of the accent, as in attribute v.,
attribute n. ; consummate v., con¬
summate a. ; convi'ct v., co'nvict
n. ; dicta'te v., di'etates n. ; dige'st
v., di'gest n. ; dilu'te v., di'lute a. ;
extra'ct v., e'xtract n. ; frustrate
v., frustrate a. ; refu'se v., re'fuse
n. ; (B) the obscuring of the vowel
of -ate, as in advocate v., advocate
n. ; animate v., animate a. ; articu¬
late v., articulate a. ; compassionate
v., compassionate a.; degenerate v.,
degenerate a. ; delegate v., dele¬
gate n. ; deliberate v., deliberate
a.; designate v., designate a. ;
desolate v., desolate a. ; elaborate
v., elaborate a. ; estimate v., esti¬
mate n. ; legitimate v., legitimate
a. ; moderate v., moderate a. ;
regenerate v., regenerate a. ; re¬
probate v., reprobate n. ; separate
v., separate a. ; subordinate v.,
subordinate a. & n. ; or (C) a change
of consonant sound, as in diffuse
(-z) v., diffuse (-s) a. ; refuse (-z) v.,
refuse (-s) n.
Words are referred to this article
(Participles 5 A or B or C) to draw
attention to a double pronunciation •
see also Noun & verb accent. *
parti-coloured, party-, partic-. The
nrst is recommended.
particularize makes -zable : see
Mute e.
parting. The British Empire is at
the p. of the ways. Empires & men
are now so familiar with that posi¬
tion that, when told they are there
once more, they are not disquieted;
their only impulse is to feel in their
breeches pockets for the penny
with which they may toss up. See
Hackneyed phrases.
partisan, -zan. Whether the two
nouns (adherent of a party, the
weapon) are etymologically con¬
nected or not is doubtful. The
weapon is accented on the first
syllable, the adherent sometimes so
& sometimes on the last. It would
be well to make partisa'n (or -za'n)
invariable for the latter ; & perhaps
the -s- might be appropriated to it,
& the -z- to the weapon : partisa’n
adherent ; par'tizan weapon. But,
as the distinction would be at least
partly arbitrary, & as the weapon
word is now seldom wanted, this
suggestion is not very likely to be
acted upon.
partitive. See Technical terms.
party. For this in the sense person,
see Popularized technicalities.
parvenu, pas. See French words.
pasha, pacha. Spell pasha & pro¬
nounce pah'sha.
pasquinade. See lampoon for
synonyms.
pass makes passed for its past tense
(You passed me by), & for its p.p.
used verbally (It has passed out of
use) ; but when the p.p. has become
a mere adjective it is spelt past
(In past times). The distinction
between p.p. & adjective is rather
fine in Those times have passed away
(p.p.), Those times are passed away
(Intransitive p.p.), Those limes are
past (adjective).
passable, passible. The first word
(pronounced, usually, pah-) is the
425
PATHETIC FALLACY
PASSfi
adjective from the verb pass ; the
second (pronounced p&s-) is a separ¬
ate word in learned & especially
theological use, meaning capable of
feeling. See also impassable.
passe, passementerie, passe-partout.
See French words.
passer-by. Write the hyphen.
passible. See passable.
Passive disturbances, l. The
double passive. 2. Passive of avail
oneself of. 3. Do after passive. 4. As.
The conversion of an active-verb
sentence into a passive-verb one of
the same meaning—e. g. of You
killed him into He was killed by you —
is a familiar process. But it some¬
times leads to bad grammar, false
idiom, or clumsiness.
1. The double passive. People
believed him to have been murdered
can be changed to He was believed
to have been murdered; but They
attempted to carry out the order cannot
be changed to The order was attempt¬
ed to be carried out without clumsi¬
ness or worse. For full discussion
see Double passives.
2. Passive of avail oneself of. We
understand that the credit will be
availed of by three months' bills,
renewable three times, drawn by the
Belgian group on the British syndic¬
ate. A passive is not possible for
avail oneself of ; see avail.
3. Active of do after passive verb.
Inferior defences could then, as now,
be tackled, as Vernon did at Porto
Bello , Exmouth at Algiers, db Sey¬
mour at Alexandria. The active
form would be An admiral could
then , as now, tackle inferior defences ;
if defences could be tackled is sub¬
stituted, the voice of did must be
changed too —as was done, or as
they were, by Vernon &c. This lapse
is a common one ; see do 3 c.
4. As. The great successes of the
Co-operators hitherto have been won
as middlemen. Active form, sound
enough —The Co-operators have won
their successes as middlemen. Con¬
version to the passive has had the
effect of so tying up the co-operators
with of that it is not available, as
in the active form, for as middlemen
to be attached to. A common lapse.
past. See pass. Past master, two
words unhyphened.
paste, vb, makes -table; see Mute e.
pastel (pigment paste). Pronounce
p&'stel.
Pasteurism, -ize. Accent the first
syllables.
pastiche. See French words.
pastil(le). The long form is now
usual, though pastil was long ago
established.
pastorale. Pronounce -ahlfi ; pi.
-li (-e).
pasty, n. Pronounce pah-.
pat6. See French words.
patella. PI. - lae .
paten, patten. The first spelling is
now usual for the Eucharist platter,
the second for the mud-shoe.
patent. Pa-, or p&- ? Pa- pre¬
dominates in England, ph- in Amer¬
ica. But even in England some
retain pS,- for the sense connected
with letters p., i.e. for the technical
uses as opposed to the general or
etymological senses open & plain.
This distinction is based on the fact
that p. in the general senses comes
direct from Latin, & in the technical
senses from French. The one pro¬
nunciation pa-, however, is recom¬
mended for British use in all senses.
It should be remembered that the
Latin quantity (p&-) is of no impor¬
tance ; see False quantity.
paterfamilias. In Roman history,
or references to it, the plural should
he patresfamilias ; but as an adopted
English word it makes paterfamili-
ases. See Latin plurals.
path. PI. pronounced pahdhz ;
see -th & -dh.
pathetic fallacy is a phrase made
by Ruskin ; the OED quotes from
Modern Painters : All violent feelings
. . . produce ... a falseness in . , .
impressions of external things, which
I would generally characterize as the
Pathetic fallacy ’. In ordinary
modern use pathos & pathetic are
limited to the idea of painful
PATHOS
426
PEDANTIC HUMOUR
emotion ; but in this phrase, now
common though little recognized in
dictionaries, the original wider sense
of emotion in general is reverted to,
& the p.f. means the tendency to
credit nature with human emotions.
Sphinxlike, siren-sweet, sly, benign,
impassive, vindictive, callously in¬
different the sea may seem to a con¬
sciousness addicted to pathetic fal¬
lacies.
pathos. For this & bathos the OED
recognizes only the pronunciations
pa-, ba-.
patois. For p., dialect, &c ., see
JARGON.
patriot(ic). The sounds usually
heard are perhaps a in the noun &
h in the adjective. There is no
objection to the difference, & the
False quantity a is of no impor¬
tance.
patrol makes -lling, -lied, -liable ;
see -LL-, -L-.
patron, -age, -ess, -ize. The OED
gives the sound of the -a- as patron,
patronage, patroness, & patronize,
patroness. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
patten. Sec paten,
paulo-post future. See Technical
terms.
pave makes the exceptional agent-
noun paviour.
pav6. See French words.
pawky. The Englishman is tempted
to use the word merely as a synonym
in certain contexts for Scotch ; any
jest uttered by a Scot is pawky, &
pawky humour is understood to be
unattainable except by Scots. The
underlying notions are those of
craftiness, concealment of intention,
apparent gravity, ironical detach¬
ment. The pawky person says his
say, &, if the hearers choose to find
more point in the words than a plain
interpretation necessitates, that is
their business ; more than other
people’s, his Jest’s prosperity lies in
the ear Of him that hears.
pay. For inflexions, see Verbs in
-ie &c., 1.
paysage. See French words.
see
not pea-soup ; for the
principle, see Hyphens 3 B.
pearl barley. No hyphen •
Hyphens 3 B. ’
peccadillo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 7.
peccavi. Pronounce p^ka'vi.
peculate makes -table, -tor; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
pedagogy, -gical. See Greek g.
pedal makes -lied, -lling; -ll-, -l-.
Pedantic HUMOUR. No essential
distinction is intended between this
& Polysyllabic humour ; one or
the other name is more appropriate
to particular specimens, & the two
headings are therefore useful for
reference ; but they are manifesta¬
tions of the same impulse, & the
few remarks needed may be made
here for both. A warning is neces¬
sary, because we have all of us,
except the abnormally stupid, been
pedantic humourists in our time.
We spend much of our childhood
picking up a vocabulary ; we like to
air our latest finds ; we discover
that our elders are tickled when we
come out with a new name that they
thought beyond us ; we devote
some pains to tickling them further ;
& there we are, pedants & poly-
syllabists all. The impulse is
healthy for children, & nearly uni¬
versal—which is just why warning
is necessary ; for among so many
there will always be some who fail
to realize that the clever habit
applauded at home will make them
insufferable abroad. Most of those
who are capable of writing well
enough to find readers do learn with
more or less of delay that playful use
of long or learned words is a one¬
sided game boring the reader more
than it pleases the writer, that the
impulse to it is a danger-signal—
for there must be something wrong
with what they are saying if it needs
recommending by such puerilities—,
& that yielding to the impulse is a
confession of failure. But now &
then even an able writer will go on
believing that the incongruity be¬
tween simple things to be said &
PEDANTRY
427
PEDANTRY
out-of-the-way words to say them in
h«a a perennial charm ; it has, for
the reader who never outgrows
hobbledehoyhood ; but for the rest
of us it is dreary indeed. It is
possible that acquaintance with such
labels as pedantic & polysyllabic
humour may help to shorten the
time that it takes to cure a weakness
incident to youth.
An elementary example or two
should be given. The words homoeo¬
pathic (small or minute), sartorial
(of clothes), interregnum (gap), are
familiar ones :— To introduce ‘ Lords
of Parliament ’ in such homoeopathic
doses as to leave a preponderating
power in the hands of those who enjoy
a merely hereditary title./While we
were motoring out to the station 1 took
stock of his sartorial aspect, which had
changed somewhat since we parted./
In his vehement action his breeches
fall down db his waistcoat runs up, so
that there is a great interregnum.
These words are, like most that
are much used in humour of either
kind, both pedantic & polysyllabic.
A few specimens that cannot be
described as polysyllabic are added
here, & for the larger class of long
words the article Polysyllabic
humour should be consulted :—
ablution ; aforesaid ; beverage ;
bivalve (the succulent) ; caloric ;
cuticle; digit ; domestics ; eke
(adv.) ; ergo ; erstwhile ; felicide ;
nasal organ ; neighbourhood (in the
n * of, — about) ; nether garments ;
optic (eye) ; parlous ; vulpicide.
PEDANTRY may be defined, for the
purpose of this book, as the saying
of things in language so learned or
so demonstratively accurate as to
imply a slur upon the generality,
who are not capable or not desirous
of such displays. The term, then,
is obviously a relative one ; my
pedantry is your scholarship, his
reasonable accuracy, her irreducible
minimum of education, & someone
else’s ignorance. It is therefore not
very profitable to dogmatize here
on the subject; an essay would
establish not what pedantry is, but
only the place in the scale occupied
by the author ; & that, so far as it
is worth inquiring into, can be better
ascertained from the treatment of
details, to some of which accordingly,
with a slight classification, reference
is now made. The entries under
each heading are the names of arti¬
cles ; & by referring to a few of
these the reader who has views of
his own will be able to place the
book in the pedantry scale & judge
what may be expected of it. There
are certainly many accuracies that
are not pedantries, as well as some
that are ; there are certainly some
pedantries that are not accuracies,
as well as many that are ; & no
book that attempts, as this one does,
to give hundreds of decisions on the
matter will find many readers who
will accept them all.
Spelling Niceties : See Didactic¬
ism ; -in & -ine ; Mute e ; amuck ;
gypsy > Mahomet ; morale.
Pronunciation : See False quan=>
tity ; French words ; Greek g ;
Christmas ; diphtheria ; margarine.
Long or learned words : See dual-
(istic) ; Love of the long word:
fuliginous ; intermediary; meti¬
culous ; thrasonical.
Synonyms : See apt ; authentic ;
broad ; classic(al) ; exceedingly.
Variants db differentiation : See
acceptance ; act(ion) ; alternative ;
ascendancy ; complacent; masterful.
Symmetry : See between ; both ;
either ; nor.
Logic db pleonasm : See ago ; be¬
cause ; equally as ; Haziness.
Rules of style : See and, 2 ; Elegant
variation ; Fused participle ; only ;
Preposition at end ; Split infinitive.
Reversion to etymological senses :
See dastardly ; decimate ; egregi¬
ous ; enormous ; infinite ; inter¬
necine ; journal.
Objections to particular words or
constructions : See aggravate ; cable¬
gram ; case ; coastal ; conserva¬
tive ; different ; doubt(ful) ; feasi¬
ble ; ilk; Inversion ; like ; obli¬
vious ; quieten.
PEDESTAL
pedestal makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
pedigree. Adj. pedigree'd ; see
-ED & ’d.
pedlar. So spelt,
peewit. See pewit.
peignoir. See French words.
pekoe. Pronounce pe'ko.
Pelasgi, -gic. See Greek g.
pellucid. See transparent.
pelta. PI. -ae.
pelvis. PI. -ves (-ez).
penalize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
Penates. Pronounce pina'tez.
penchant. See French words.
pencil. Pronounce -si. P. makes
-lied, -lling, &c. ; see -ll-, -l-.
pendant, pendent, pennant, pennon.
There is much confusion between
these ; the reasonable distribution
of meanings to forms would be as
follows : pendent, the adjective,
hanging ; pendant, a noun, a hang¬
ing ornament or appurtenance ;
pennant, a noun in nautical use for
certain pieces of rigging & certain
flags ; pennon, a noun in heraldic &
military use for a lance-streamer or
the like. Pendent should not be
used as a noun ; pendant should
be neither an adjective nor the
nautical noun ; pennon should not
be the nautical noun ; see Differ¬
entiation.
pendente lite. Pron. pende'nti ll'ti.
pendulum. PI. -ms ; see -um.
penetralia. A plural noun,
penetrate makes -trable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
penful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
peninsula(r). Uses of the noun
(-la) instead of the adjective (- lar), as
the Peninsula War, or vice versa, as
the Spanish Peninsular, are wrong,
but not uncommon. The former is
indeed defensible, on the ground
that nouns can be used attributively,
but at least ill advised.
penman should be used with refer¬
ence to handwriting only, not to
the writing of books or articles ; in
the sense writer or author it is an
affectation—not indeed a new in¬
vention, but a Revival.
pen-name. See nom de guerre.
428
PERCENTAGE
pennant. See pendant.
pennon. See pendant. P. makes
-oned ; see -N-, -nn-.
penny. PI. usually pence, but
pennies of the separate coins as such
(pennies only will work the machine)
or as objects (buttons the size of
pennies). J
pension makes -oned, -onabie ; see
-N-, -n\-. In the sense boarding¬
house, pronounce as French (see
French words).
pentameter is so much appro¬
priated to the short line of the
classical elegiac couplet that it is
better to avoid it as a name for the
English blank-verse or heroic-coup¬
let line. Sec Technical terms.
penthemimeral, penult. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
peradventure. See archaism.
per capita. The consumption of
tobacco & alcohol has increased
during the year as follows : spirits,
1-112 gallons per capita, compared
with 1-030 in 1911.(The entire pro¬
duction of opium in India is two
grammes per capita yearly. This
use is a modern blunder, encouraged
in some recent dictionaries. ‘ (So
much) a head ’, or ‘ per man ’, which
is the meaning here, would not be
per capita (any more than it would
be ‘ per men ’), but per caput.
Per capita describes the method of
sharing property in which persons,
& not families, are the units, & its
opposite is per stirpes ; Patrimonial
estates are divided per capita ; pur¬
chased estates, per stirpes ; it is out
of place, & something of a barbar¬
ism, however lately popular, except
in such a context.
percentage. See Love of the
long word, & Misapprehensions.
The notion has gone abroad that a
percentage is a small part. Far
from that, while a part is always
less than the whole, a percentage
may be the whole or more than the
whole ; there is little comfort to be
had in 1925 from reflecting that our
cost of living can be expressed afl
PERCHANCE
429
PERFECT INFINITIVE
a percentage of 1914’s. The un¬
educated public prefers a word that
sounds scientific, even if it gives the
sense less well, to another that it
can understand ; see Popularized
technicalities. In all the follow¬
ing examples but the last, the word
percentage has no meaning at all
without the addition of small or of
something else to define it ; & in
the last the greater part would be the
English for the largest percentage :—-
But in London there is no civic con¬
sciousness ; the London-horn provides
only a percentage of its inhabitants./
The wealthy employers do not really
count when you consider the position
of domestic service, because they are
only few in number & employ only
a percentage of the total of domestic
servants./It is none the less true that
the trade unions only represent a per¬
centage of the whole body of railway
workers./Our tax revenue is now
fully one hundred & sixty millions
sterling, db the Single Land Tax
would not yield more than a per¬
centage of this./The largest percentage
of heat generated is utilizable, but the
rest escapes & is lost. For an exact
parallel, see proportion.
perchance is very much out of place
in pedestrian prose, as, for instance,
in There is nothing, perchance, which
so readily links the ages together as
a small store of jewels & trinkets . See
Archaism, Incongruous vocabu¬
lary, & Poeticisms.
percolate makes -table, -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
perdu, formerly naturalized &
common, has become comparatively
rare, but can still be at least pro¬
nounced as English (perdu' or
per'du), though now usually printed
in italics as French.
p&re. See French words.
peregrinate. A Polysyllabic-
humour word.
peremptory. Pronounce pg'rlm-
torl, not perfi'mtori.
PERFECT INFINITIVE, i.e. to have
done &c. These are forms that often
push their way in where they are
not wanted, & sometimes, but less
often, are themselves displaced by
wrong presents.
1. After past tenses of hope, fear,
expect, & the like, the perfect infini¬
tive is used, incorrectly indeed &
unnecessarily, but so often & with
so useful an implication that it may
well be counted idiomatic. That
implication is that the thing hoped
&c. did not in fact come to pass,
& the economy of conveying this
without a separate sentence com¬
pensates for lack of logical pre¬
cision. So :— Philosophy began to
congratulate herself upon such a
proselyte from the world of business,
& hoped to have extended her
power under the auspices of such a
leader./It was the duty of that pub¬
lisher to have rebutted a statement
which he knew to be a calumny./
I was going to have asked, when . . .
2. After past conditionals such as
should have liked, woidd have been
possible, would have been the first to,
the present infinitive is (almost
invariably) the right form, but the
perfect often intrudes, & this time
without the compensation noted in
1, the implication of non-fulfilment
being inherent in the governing
verb itself. So :— If my point had
not been this, I should not have en¬
deavoured to have shown the con¬
nexion. /Jim Scudamore would have
been the first man to have acknow¬
ledged the anomaly./ Peggy would
have liked to have shown her turban
& bird of paradise at the ball./The
Labour members opened their eyes
wide, & except for a capital levy it is
doubtful whether they would have
dared to have gone further. Some¬
times a writer, dimly aware that
‘ would have liked to have done ’ is
usually wrong, is yet so fascinated
by the perfect infinitive that he
clings to that at all costs, & alters
instead the part of his sentence that
was right : On the point of church
James was obdurate ; he would like
to have insisted on the other grudging
items (would have liked to insist).
PERFECT
430
3. With seem , appear, & the like,
people get puzzled over the com¬
binations of the present & past of
seem &c. with the present & perfect
of the infinitive. The possible com¬
binations are : He seems to know.
He seems to have known, He
seemed to know, He seemed to have
known. The first admits of no con¬
tusion, & may be left aside ; the
last is very rarely wanted in fact,
but is constantly resorted to as an
en-tout-cas by those who cannot
decide whether the umbrella of He
seems to have known or the parasol
of He seemed to know is more likely
to suit the weather. The en-tout-cas
lias been taken in :— 1 warned him
when he spoke to ms that I could not
speak to him at all if I was to be
quoted as an authority ; he seemed
to have taken this as applying only
to the first question he asked me
(seems to have)./// was no infrequent
occurrence for people going to the
theatre in the dark to fall into the
marshes after crossing the bridge ;
people seemed to have been much
more willing to run risks in those
days.
perfect, vb. Accent the last
syllable ; see Participles 5 A.
hor the adj., -able is better than
-ible ; see -able 2.
perfection, vb, should not be sub¬
stituted for perfect ; see Long
variants.
perforate makes -rable, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
perfume. Noun & verb accent.
perhaps. Of the pronunciations,
that with the r & the h both sounded
is obsolescent ; that with the r
silent & the h sounded is orthodox ;
that in two syllables with r sounded
but h silent is rare among the
educated ; that in one syllable
(pr&ps) is used by many more than
would plead guilty, & does not
deserve the scorn heaped on it by
those who parody mispronuncia¬
tions in print.
pericranium. Chiefly in Poly¬
syllabic HUMOUR.
periphrasis
peril makes -lling &c. (see -ll-,
-l-), but perilous. *
P* 1 ™?' .For synonyms see time.
ror the full stop, see Stops. For
the use in rhetoric, Technical
terms.
Period in abbreviations. The
practice of ending every abbrevia¬
tion with a period ( Wm. for William
as well as Gen. for General, viz. for
videlicet as well as sc. for scilicet,
qr. for quarter as well as lb. for libra)
is ill advised. Abbreviations are
puzzling, but to puzzle is not their
purpose, & everything that helps
the reader to guess their meaning is
a gain. One such help is to let him
know when the first & last letters of
the abbreviation are also those of
the full word, which can be done
by not using the period, but writing
wt (not wt.) for weight, Bp (not Bp.)
for bishop, Mr (not Mr.) for Mister,
Bart or Bt (not Bart, or Bt.) for
baronet, bot. for botany but bot for
bought, Capt. for captain but Cpl
for corporal, doz. for dozen but cwt for
hundredweight, Feb. for February but
fcp for foolscap, Frl. for Fraulein but
Mile for Mademoiselle, in. for inches
but ft for feet. Geo. for George but
Thos for Thomas, Lat. for Latin but
Gk for Greek, h.w., but hi wt, for hit
wicket.
periodic(al). The -ic form is not
used of publications ( periodical
literature, periodicals) ; the -ical
form is not used of literary com¬
position ( Johnson’s periodic style);
otherwise the two words do not
differ in meaning, but the longer
tends to oust the shorter.
peripeteia. See Technical terms
Periphrasis is the putting of
things in a round-about way. In
Paris there reigns a complete absence
of really reliable news is a periphrasis
for There is no reliable news in
Paris ; Rarely does the ‘ Little
Summer ’ linger until November, but
at times its stay has been prolonged
until quite late in the year's pen¬
ultimate month contains a p. for
PERIPHRASIS
431
PER PROCo
November, & another for lingers ;
The answer is in the negative is a p.
for No ; Was made the recipient of
is a p. for Was presented with. The
periphrastic style is hardly possible
on any considerable scale without
much use of abstract nouns such as
case, character, connexion, dearth,
nature, reference, regard, respect;
the existence of abstract nouns is
a proof that abstract thought has
occurred; abstract thought is a
mark of civilized man ; & so it has
come about that p. & civilization
are by many held to be inseparable ;
these good people feel that there is
an almost indecent nakedness, a
reversion to barbarism, in saying
No news is good news instead of The
absence of intelligence is an indication
of satisfactory developments. Never¬
theless, The year's penultimate month
is not in truth a good way of saying
November.
Strings of nouns depending on one
another, & the use of compound
prepositions, are the most con¬
spicuous symptoms of the peri¬
phrastic malady, & writers should
be on the watch for these in their
own composition. An example or
two may be illuminating:—A,
nouns : M. Witte is taking active
measures for the prompt preparation
of material for the study of the question
of the execution of the Imperial
Ukase dealing with reforms./One of
the most important reforms mentioned
in the rescript is the unification of the
organization of the judicial institu¬
tions db the guarantee for all the
tribunals of the independence neces¬
sary for securing to aU classes of the
community equality before the law./
I merely desired to point out the
principal reason which 1 believe
exists for the great exaggeration which
is occasionally to be observed in the
estimate of the importance of the con¬
tradiction between current Religion
& current Science put forward by
thinkers of reputation. B, compound
prepositions: A. Resolution was
mowed ds carried in favour of giving
facilities to the public vaccination
officers of the Metropolis to enter the
schools of the Board for the purpose
of examining the arms of the children
with a view to advising the parents to
allow their children to be vaccinated./
What harbours or territory were
offered to this country in exchange for
Walfisch Bay & Zanzibar in con¬
nexion with the proposed arrange¬
ment with reference to the exchange
of these British ports ?
Other examples will be found under
some of the words that lend them¬
selves especially to periphrasis—
case, character, connexion, dearth,
eventuality, ilk, instance, nature,
neighbourhood, not 2, reference, re¬
gard.
perishable. For the formation,
from an intrans. verb, see -able 4.
perispomenon. PI. -ena.
periwig makes -gged ; see -G-, -gg-.
It is not a compound of wig ; see
True & false etymology.
permanence, -cy. One of the pairs
(see -ce, -cy) in which the distinction
is neither broad & generally recog¬
nized, nor yet quite non-existent or
negligible. Writers whose feeling
for distinctions is delicate will prefer
-ce for the fact of abiding, & -cy for
the quality or an embodiment of it:
We look forward to its permanence ;
The permanency of the orthodox mar¬
riage bond ; His new post is not a
permanency.
permeate makes -meable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
permit makes -tied &c., -ssible ; see
-T-, -TT-, -ABLE 2. The noun is
accented on the first ; see Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
perorate is not in fact one of the
modern Back-formations like re-
volute, enthuse, & burgle, but it
suffers from being taken for one, &
few perhaps use it without some
fear that they are indulging in a
bold bad word.
perpetrate, perpetuate, make -rable,
-uable, & -tor ; see -able 1, -or.
perplexedly. Four syllables; -edly.
per proc., per pro., p.p., are abbre-
PERSECUTE
432
viations of per procurationem bv the
7 he P rox y’ s signature
Should therefore be the one imme¬
diately after p.p. & c ., the principal’s
name standing either before p.p. &c
or after the agent’s name.
persecute makes -table, -tor: see
Mute e, -or.
persiflage. For pronunciation see
r rencii words ; for meaning. Tech¬
nical TERMS.
persistence, -cy. The distinction is
the same as with permanence, -cii
but is more generally appreciated :
the persistence of poverty or of matter •
courage & persistency are high gifts.
See -ce, -cy.
Person. I. Verb forms. 2. P. of
relative.
1. When a compound subject con¬
sists of two or more alternative
parts dilfering in person, there is
sometimes a doubt about the right
verb form to use (Are you or I next ?
&c.). See neither 4, or 2, for
discussion.
2* P. of relative. Two questions
arise, for which see who ; these are
exemplified in (a) To me, who has
[or have ?] also a copy of it, it seems
a somewhat trivial fragment, & (b)
Most of us lost our [or their ?] heads.
persona grata. Pronounce persS'n#.
personal equation is a phrase of
definite meaning ; it is the correc¬
tion, quantitatively expressed, that
an individual’s observation of as¬
tronomical or other phenomena is
known by experiment to require ;
minutely accurate assessment is
essential to the notion. The learned
sound of equation, however, has
commended it to those who want
some expression or other with
personal in it, & are all the better
pleased if such commonplace words
as view or opinion or taste or judge¬
ment can be replaced by something
more imposing. So : M. Poincart
likes Mr Bonar Law better than he
liked Mr Lloyd George ; let us hope
that the improved p. e. will count for
something./If Lady AstoPs entrance
upon the Parliamentary scene is
PERS ONIPI CATION
worthy of comfidddud,
control of the House, which natural^
resents the treatment of this matter ds
a family affair ; in general there is
too muchp. e. about Astorian politics.
See Popularized technicalities.
personality. Personal property
in the legal sense is -ally ; the other
noun work of personal is done bv
-ality i cf. real(i)ty. y
personate makes -nable, -tor: see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
PERSONIFICATION, NOUNS OF MUL¬
TITUDE, METONYMY. When a coun¬
try is spoken of as She, we have
personification ; when we doubt
whether to write The Admiralty
refuse or The Admiralty refuses, we
are pulled up by a noun of multi¬
tude ; when we call King George
the Crown, we use metonymy. Some
mistakes incident to these forms ol
speech run into one another, & are
therefore grouped together here,
under the headings : 1. Ill-advised
personification. 2. Vacillation. 3.
Unattached possessives.
1. Ill-advised personification. To
figure ‘ the world ’ as a female, a
certain ‘ quarter ’ as sentient, or
) Irish womanhood ’ as a woman,
is to be frigid—the epithet proper
to those who make futile attempts
at decoration. Such personifica¬
tions are implied in Just now the
world wants all that America can
give her in shipping (read it for her),
in But on application to the quarter
most likely to know 1 was assured
that the paper in question was not
written by Dickens (The quarter is
no doubt a person or persons, &
capable of knowledge ; but it will
surely never do to let that secret
out), & in The womanhood of Ireland
stands for individualism as against
co-operation, & presents the practical
domestic arguments in her support
(Whether her implies the personi¬
fication of womanhood or of indi¬
vidualism does not much matter;
it must be one or the other, &
neither is suited for the treatment).
PERSONIFICATION, 2
433
PERSONIFICATION, 8
It is in places like these, where a
writer hardly intends personifica¬
tion, but slips unconsciously or half¬
heartedly into implying it, that he
reveals his want of literary instinct.
Far the commonest form taken by
the weakness is that of which many
examples are given under ’s incon¬
gruous. To write famine's or
Austria's instead of of famine, of
Austria, is virtually to personify
them ; & the modern newspaper is
perpetually doing this in the most
prosaic contexts. So :— A parti¬
cular character of a monsoon season
may reduce to famine’s verge millions
of industrious ryots (The writer was
afraid of verge of famine before
millions of ryots ; see Out of the
frying-pan). / The tariff is also
causing no profit, hut heavy loss, to
about nine out of ten of Austria’s
farmers (Again, fear of of ... of .. .
of).
2. Vacillation. The Government,
the Times, the Party, & the like, are
nouns of multitude, which can be
treated as units & therefore referred
to by the words it, its, & followed
by singular verbs, or as bodies of
people to which they, them, their,
& plural verbs, are appropriate.
Britain, Paris, & the like, are words
naturally admitting of personifica¬
tion, & can be referred to in then
literal sense by it & its, or in then
personified sense by she & her. Sc
much everyone knows ; what wiL
perhaps surprise the reader is tc
find from the examples below hov
many writers are capable of ab¬
surdly mixing the two methods in
a single phrase or staggering, in
longer sentences, from one to the
other & back again. The noun-of-
multitude examples (for yet more
of which see Number, 6) are placed
first, the personification ones after¬
wards ; & the words in which the
vacillation is exhibited are in roman
type :•— The Times also gives some
interesting comments by their special
correspondent./During their six years
of office the Government has done
great harm./That will gain ground
or not in proportion as the public is
secure in their minds about the Navy./
It is the party to which Sir Henry
Howorth belongs that is discredited by
their support of this unprincipled
violation./The Union <& Progress
Party does not seem to be living up to
their patriotic resolutions./The Gov¬
ernment is pledged to reduce taxation,
& of course they cannot begin to look
at old-age pensions until it has had
sufficient time to reduce expenditure./
The excuse of the Admiralty, which
were responsible for these proceed¬
ings, is .. . (which was, or who were)./
The population, who was driven
away on the morrow of the surprise
of May 27, are glad to come back
only two months later./Japan itself
now ceases to be an island Power, &
for the first time accepts responsi¬
bilities on the continent ivhich it
cannot abandon ; her frontier is no
longer the sea./When Poplar no
longer maintains its own paupers she
must no longer determine the standard
on which they are to be maintained./
The United States has given another
proof of its determination to uphold
her neutrality.
3. Unattached possessives. Danish
sympathy with Finland is writ large
over all her newspapers, literature, &
public speeches, as the most casual
visitor to Copenhagen can see. Her
means ‘ of (the personified) Den¬
mark * ; we can all see that ; but
we most of us also resent, neverthe¬
less, a personification that is done
not on the stage, but ‘ off ’ ; a Den¬
mark personified & not presented is
a sort of shadow of a shade./TAis
is a timely tribute from a man who
has spent a large part of his life in
Friendly Society work, & who would
be the last to sanction anything that
imperilled their interests. Their
means ‘ of the Friendly Societies * ;
but where are they ? The adjective
Friendly Society is as unavailing
here as Danish in the previous
example./Tfte true doctrine is that
every public act of the Crown is an
act for which his advisers are respon¬
sible. It is in some contexts indif-
PERSONIFY
434
ferent wh ether one says the King,
H t* Majesty, or the Crown ; but
while the King has his advisers, the
Crown can only have its ; as to the
possessive proper to His Majesty,
see MAJESTY.
personify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
personnel, not - sonel . Pronounce
personS'l.
perspic-. Perspicacious, -acity,
mean (having or showing) insight ;
perspicuous, -uity, mean (the being)
easy to get a clear idea of; see
Pairs & snares. Shrewd & shrewd¬
ness, clear & clearness, or other short
words, are used in preference by
those who are neither learned nor
pretentious. The learned, however,
can safely venture on the perspic-
pairs ; when the unlearned pre¬
tender claims acquaintance with
them, they are apt to punish the
familiarity by shoeing that he is in
fact a stranger to them. The usual
mistake is to write -uity for -acity,
as in : — Sometimes, however. Dr
Bell's perspicuity was at fault./He
claims for it superiority to other
alternatives, the defects of which he
sees with that perspicuity which the
advocates of each ideal system in¬
variably display towards rival sys-
tcms./The high-class West End &
provincial tailors are displaying con¬
siderable perspicuity in buying checks.
perspire, perspiration. See Gen-
TEELISMS.
persuade makes -dable (see Mute e)
as well as persuasible ; the former is
recommended (see -able 2).
persuasion. Parodies of the phrase
‘ of the Roman, Protestant, &c.,
p.’, e.g. Hats of the cartwheel p., are
to be classed with Worn-out
humour ; see also Hackneyed
phrases.
pertinence, ■
distinction ;
prevail. See
perturbedly.
cy. There is no useful
the first will probably
-ce, -cy.
Four syllables if used ;
peruse. See Formal words. P.
makes -sable ; see Mute e.
phantasm
pervade makes -dable ; see Mute p
pervert. See Noun & verb accent
pessimism. See optimism for com¬
ments on the popular use, & Popu¬
larized technicalities.
pester makes -ered ; see -r-, - rr ..
pestle. Pronounce without -t- •
see Pronunciation, Silent t. ’
petal makes -lied ; see -ll-,* -l-.
petit. For p. & compounds see
French words.
petitio principil. See Technical
TERMS.
petition, vb, makes -oned &c.: see
-N-, -NN-.
petrel. The OED recognizes only
the pronunciation pet-.
petrify. For inflexions see verbs
in -iE &c., 6.
petrol(eum). For synonyms see
KEROSENE.
petty. For p. officer see officer.
pewit, pee-. The OED puts first the
form pewit, but the pronunciation
pe'-wit (not pu'it). This makes
things difficult, & it would seem
better to spell peewit, unless pu'it,
which has Tennyson for it, rhyming
pewit with cruet in Will Waterproof,
is to be the sound.
phaeton. The three-syllable pro¬
nunciation (fa'itn) is best,
phagedaena. See Greek g.
phalanstery. Accent on the first
(f&'lan-).
phalanx. Ordinary pi. -xes, but in
Anatomy phalanges (fal&'njez). See
Latin plurals.
phallus. PI. -li (- 1 ).
phantasmagoria is sing., not (as in
the following) pi.:— We shall then be
able to reach some conclusion as to the
meaning & effect of these bewildering
phantasmagoria. The word was de¬
signed to mean ‘ crowd of phantasms ’.
phantasm)(phantom. The two are
by origin merely spelling variants,
differentiated, but so that the differ¬
ences are elusive ; the following
tendencies are discernable, but some¬
times conflict. 1. Phantom is the
more popular form, -asm being
chiefly in literary use. 2. Both
meaning roughly an illusive appari-
PHARAOH
435
PHILOSOPHIC
tion, phantom stresses the fact that
the thing is illusive, & - asm the fact
that it does appear, so that they
give respectively the negative & the
positive aspect. 3. A phantom
presents itself to the eye bodily or
mental, a phantasm to any sense or
to the intellect. 4. Phantasm has an
adjective {phantasmal ) of its own ;
phantom has not, but is used attri-
butively {phantom hopes &c.) with
much freedom, & where a true
adjective is necessary borrows phan¬
tasmal ; the two nouns are no doubt
kept from diverging more definitely
than they do by this common pro¬
perty in phantasmal.
Pharaoh. So spelt. Pron. far'o.
Pharisee. The adj. Pharisaic is pre¬
ferable to Pharisaical ; see -ic(ax).
The -ism noun is Pharisaism, not
-seeism.
pharmaceutical &c. For pronun¬
ciation see Greek g.
pharmacopoeia. Pronounce -pe'a.
For the spelling see <e.
pharyngitis. See Greek g.
phenomenal means ‘ of the kind
apprehended by (any of) the senses ’;
that is, everything that is reported
to the mind by sight, hearing, taste,
smell, or touch—& that whether the
report answers to reality or not—
is p. If the report is correct, the
thing reported is also real ; if not,
it is ‘ merely phenomenal \ The
question of real existence & its
relation to perception & thought is
the concern of Metaphysics, & p.
is a metaphysical word, contrasted
variously with real, absolute, &
noumenal. But the object here is
not to expound the metaphysical
meaning of these terms ; it is only
to point out that p. is a meta¬
physical term with a use of its own.
To divert it from this proper use
to a job for which it is not needed,
by making it do duty for remarkable,
extraordinary, or prodigious, is a sin
against the English language. It
has gone through the phases. Philo¬
sophic term, Popularized tech¬
nicality, & Vogue-word, & is now
in the state of discredit (cf. in¬
dividual) that follows upon un¬
reasonable vogue. That is the
moment when believers in sound
English may deliver their attack
upon such usages with hope of
success.
phenomen(aI)ism. The longer form
is recommended ; see -ist, -alist.
phenomenon. PI. -ena ; see -on.
P. in the sense 4 notable occurrence *
or 4 prodigy ’ is open essentially to
the same objections as phenomenal
used correspondingly ; but less
practical inconvenience results, since
there is little danger of misunder¬
standing.
philately, -ist. It is a pity that
for one of the most popular scientific
pursuits one of the least popularly
intelligible names should have been
found. The best remedy now is to
avoid the official titles whenever
stamp-collecting & -collector will do.
-phil(e). The -e originally taken on
from French is now usually dropped,
with the good result of bringing
back the pronunciation from the
queer -fil to -fil.
philharmonic, philhellenic, &c. The
-h- is better unsounded in these, but
not in syllables on which the accent
falls, as in philhellenism, -ist. See
Pronunciation.
Philippine, philopoena, &c., the
forfeit game. The first spelling is
perhaps the commonest in England.
Philistine. The special modern
meaning is thus given by the OED—
A person deficient in liberal culture
& enlightenment, whose interests
are chiefly bounded by material &
commonplace things ' (But often
applied contemptuously by con¬
noisseurs of any particular art or
department of learning to one who
has no knowledge or appreciation
of it ; sometimes a mere term of
dislike for those whom the speaker
considers 4 bourgeois ’).
philogynist. S<
Philomel(a). S
philosophic(al).
Greek g.
b Sobriquets.
Except where - ical
PHILTRE
436
is stereotyped by forming part of
a title ( Philosophical Transactions
&c.), the -ic form is now commoner
in all the more specific senses ; -ical
still prevails in the very general
sense ‘ resembling ’ or 4 befitting a
philosopher’, i.e. wise or unper¬
turbed or well balanced ; & this gives
a basis for differentiation; see -ic(al).
philtre, -ter. The first is usual,
phiz. See Curtailed words.
phlegm &c. The g is silent in p. &
phlegmy, but sounded in phlegmatic .
phlogiston. See Greek g.
Phoenician, phoenix. Best so
written ; see je, ce.
phone, vb. See Curtailed words.
PHONETICS. It often happens that
one who is perhaps himself un¬
acquainted with complicated &
complete phonetic systems, & at
any rate writes for those to whom
they are mysteries, has occasion to
make the pronunciation of some
word intelligible in print. A scheme
that would enable this to be done
would be of value ; but it would
have to meet several requirements
rather hard to reconcile. 1. It must
use no special types, or it cannot be
printed on demand. 2. It must be
both simple & systematic, or those
who learn it, but have to read it
only now & then, will not remember
it. 3. It must be to a great extent
self-explaining, or it will mean
nothing to those who have not
learnt it. 4. It must be capable of
rendering all English sounds, un-
English ones being ruled out as
beyond the compass of a scheme
subject to requirements 1 & 2. The
following is offered as a solution that
may serve for want of a better.
A. VOWEL SOUNDS
Each of the five vowels a e i o u
represents two clear sounds & an
obscure one, according as it has the
long mark over it (mate mete mite
mote mute), or the short mark (r&ck
reck riclc rock ruck), or no mark
(a in about, e in dozen, i in cousin,
o in proceed, u in Whitsun).
phonetics
When two or more italic letters are
used, they form a single symbol
as aw, ow, oi, ah, oor, owr (c awl, cowl
coil, bah, b oor, dowry). *
The italic symbols consisting of
one vowel & r, & oo, have always a
long or short mark over the first
letter thus : mare, mere, mire, more
mare, part, pert, port, stool, stood •
their r is usually not trilled before
a consonant, but is or may be before
a vowel sound. If two italic symbols
(see B also) come together, a vertical
line (as in Illustrations, rouge, douche)
should part them.
B. CONSONANT SOUNDS
b, d, f, h, j, k, 1, m, n, p, r, t, v, w, z,
are unambiguous.
c, q, x, are not used.
g is reckoned hard (get) ; s is
reckoned hard (set) ; y is reckoned
consonantal (yet).
The italic combinations ch, sh, zh,
th, dh, ng, ngg, hw, represent the
italicized parts of w itch, wish, vision,
'pith, with, singer, finger, whit: thus,
wich, wish, vlz/ion, pith, widh, singer,
fingger, hwit.
C. ACCENT
This should be placed after the
vowel sound of the syllable on which
it falls (te'ndcr, fe'nian).
ILLUSTRATIONS
father, fah'dher
iniquitous, mi'kwitus
pyjamas, pija/i'maz
laboratory, lh'boratori
fascination, f&sina's/ion
magical, m&'jikal
consciousness, ko'ns/iusnis
rouge, roo|z/i
mountaineer, mowntiner'
douche, doo\sh
Colquhoun, kohoo'n
agriculture, d'grikulc/iur
whetstone, &toe'tston
coyness, koi'nis
burglary, ber'glari
burglarious, buglar'ius
dubiety, dubi'iti
business, bi'znis
PHOTO
437
PICTURE
SUMMARY OF SCHEME
mate mete mite mote mute
r&ck rSck rick rock ruck
cazvl cowl coil b ah boor dowry
m are mere mire more mure
pdtrt p£rt port stool stood
No c, q, or x
g, s, y, as in get, set, yet
ch, sh, zh, sounds in witch, wish,
vision
th, dhy sounds in pith, with
ngy ngg, sounds in singer, finger
hw, sound in whet
Accent after the vowel sound of
the stressed syllabic.
photo. See Curtailed words.
PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 5.
phrase, vb, has -sable ; see Mute e.
phraseology. Pron. frazio'loji.
phthisis. The old pronunciation
dropped the ph-, but this will pro¬
bably recover its sound now that
everyone can read. The Greek
word had short i, but fthi- is now
usual ; see False quantity.
phylloxera. Pronounce & accent
fllokzer'a.
phylum. PI. -la.
physic, n. See Formal words.
physic makes -eked, -eking, -cky;
see -c-, -CK-.
physician, doctor, surgeon, in ordin¬
ary parlance. ‘ The p.’ & ‘ the d.’
may be used to denote the same
person, viz one whose vocation is to
heal physical troubles, p. being the
Formal word, & no particular rela¬
tion to s. being implied by either. A
s. is always a doctor who undertakes
to perform manual operations, but
not necessarily one who confines him¬
self to them. Physician is also used
in contrast with s. to denote one who
deals with medicines & treatment,
not with surgical instruments, & again
in contrast with general practitioner
to denote a specialist or consultant.
It must be remembered, however,
that * In the United Kingdom, every
medical practitioner is now required
to have a qualification as Physician
& also as Surgeon ; so that a general
practitioner usually describes himself
“ Physician & Surgeon ” ’—OED.
physics)(physiology. The two words
had once the same wide meaning
of natural science or natural philo¬
sophy. They have now been nar¬
rowed & differentiated, physics re¬
taining only the properties of matter
& energy in inorganic nature, &
physiology only the normal functions
& phenomena of living beings.
physiognomy, -nomical. The g is
silent.
physiology. See physics. For the
adjective, -ical is so much the
commoner that it should be accepted
as the only form. See -ic(al).
pi (pious). See Curtailed words.
pianist. Pronounce pe'anist.
piano. The instrument is pi&'nd ;
pi. -os, see -o(e)s 5. The musical
direction is pyah'no.
pianola. Pronounce peanofia.
piazza. The OED gives pla'za \
but the Italian pyah'tsa is perhaps
as often said; see Italian sounds.
pibroch. Pronounce as Scotch
(pe-, & ch as in loch).
picaresque. The p. novel is defined
in the Enc. Brit, as :—‘ The prose
autobiography of a real or fictitious
personage who describes his experi¬
ences as a social parasite, & who
satirizes the society which he has
exploited \ The type is Spanish,
but the most widely known example
is the French Gil Bias. Picaro is a
Spanish word meaning vagabond.
piccolo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
pickaxe. For spelling see axe.
picket, vb, makes -eted, -eting, &c. ;
see -t-, -TT-.
picket, picquet, piquet. The second
form serves no purpose at all ; the
third should be reserved for the
card-game, & picket be used for all
other senses, including that of the
military outpost often spelt with
-qu- or -cqu-.
picnic makes -eking, -eked, -cker,
-cky ; see -c-, -ck-.
picture. Pi'ktur is academic;
pi'ktyer is impossible except with
after the t
think they say
a aen Derate pause
(though many people
PIDGIN
438
PIVOTAL
it who do not) ; pi'kchcr is the only
form practicable lor ordinary mor¬
tals. See Pronunciation.
pidgin, pigeon. 4 Business-English ’
was the name given by the Chinese
to the Anglo-Chinese lingua franca ;
but they pronounced business pidgin,
& we have confused the meaningless
pidgin with the significant pigeon ;
cf. amuck. Pigeon , however, is two
centuries younger in print than
amuck, so that there is not the same
reason to protest against pidgin as
against amok.
piebald)(skewbald. P. is properly
of w r hite & black, s. of white & some
colour.
piece makes -ccable ; sec -able 1.
pi6ce de resistance. See French
words.
pince-nez. See French words,
Pindarics. See Technical terms.
pine. See fir, pine for the differ¬
ence. P. makes piny • see -ey & -y,
pinion makes -oned ; see -n-, -nn-'
pinky, not -key„
pinna. PI. -ae.
pinny (pinafore). For spelling see
-EY, -IE, -Y.
pintado. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
pipe makes pipy ; see -ey & -y.
piquant. Pronounce pe'lcant.
pique, vb, makes -quable ; see
Mute e.
piquedly. A bad form ; see -edly.
pis ailer. See French words.
piscina. Either pronounce as Latin
(pisl'na) & use Latin pi. -nae, or
pronounce pise'na & use English
pi. -nas.
pierce makes -ccable ; see -able 1.
pierrot, -ette. See French w ords.
piet&. Pronounce pya'tah.
pig. See Collectives 4.
pigeon)(dove. Used absolutely, the
words are coextensive in applica¬
tion, every d. being a p., & vice
versa ; but p. is the ordinary word,
& d. is now the rarity, suited for
poetical contexts, symbolism, &c.
D. is also still used without special
significance of particular kinds of
pigeon, especially the turtle & other
natives, but not of exotics ; & much
more often the kind is specified, as
in stock, ring, turtle, -d.
pigeon English. See pidgin.
piggy, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -v.
pigmy. See pygmy.
pigsty. PI. -ics.
pilau, -aw, -aff. The OED gives
precedence to the spelling pilau &
the pronunciation piloTv'.
pile, vb, makes -lablc ; see Mute e.
pilfer makes -ered, -cring, &c. ; see
-R-, -RR-.
pill. For the prill see Sobriquets.
pillar makes -ared ; see -R-, -RR-.
pillory, vb. For inflexions sec
Verbs in -ie &c., C.
pilot, vb, makes -oted, -oting, &c. ;
see -T-, -tt-.
pilule. So spelt, not -U-.
pimento. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
pistachio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
The pronunciation put first in the
OED is pista'shio.
pistil makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
pistol makes -lied, - lling ; -ll-, -l-.
piteous, pitiable, pitiful. There are
three broadly different senses for the
words: 1. Feeling pity ; 2. Exciting
pity ; 3. Exciting contempt. It
would have been easy, then, if the
problem had been posed beforehand,
to assign a word to a sense, piteous
to N° 1, pitiable to N° 2, & pitiful
to N° 3. But language-making is
no such simple affair as that, &
spontaneous development has work¬
ed badly here ; piteous has senses
1 & 2, pitiable senses 2 & 3, &
pitiful senses 1, 2, & 3—a very
ivasteful confusion, but too in¬
veterate to be got into order at
present. See also plenteous.
pithecoid. Pron. pithe'koid.
pituitary. Pronounce pitu'itarl.
Latinists grieved by the accent &
the short second i may find consola¬
tion in False quantity.
pity, n. In the meantime, ive can only
muse upon the pity of it. For the p.
of it, & p. His His true, see Stock
pathos, & Hackneyed phrases.
pivotal is open to the same objec¬
tions as coastal ; see Hybrid de-
PIXY
439
PLATYPUS
rivatjves. Pivot used attributively
will almost always serve the need.
pixy, -ifi. The first is better,
pizzicato. Pronounce pitsikah'to.
PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
placable. The OED gives pla-
preoedenoe.
placard. The pronunciation re¬
commended is pl&'kard for the noun
& plakar'd for the verb ; see Noun
& VERB ACCENT.
placate. The pronunciation re¬
commended is plaka't, but both
pla'kat & pla/kat are also heard.
The word is much more in American
than in British use, but is quoted
from the 17th c. Beside the adjec¬
tive placable, placatable can be made
for the gerundive use ; see -able 1.
place, vb, makes -ceable ; see -able 1 .
placid makes -dest ; see -er & -est 4.
plagiarize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
plague makes - guable , - guing , -guy ;
see Mute e, -ey & -y.
plaice (fish). So spelt,
plaid. Pronounced plad in Scot¬
land, but pl&d in England,
plain makes plainness. P. sailing
is (‘ probably ’—OED) a popular
use of the nautical term plane sail¬
ing. , which means navigation by a
plane chart, 4 a simple & easy
method, approximately correct for
short distances ’. The corruption,
if it is one, is so little misleading,
since plain sailing is as intelligible
in itself as clear going or any such
phrase, that any attempt to correct
it is needless as well as vain.
plait. Pronounce plat,
planchette. See French words.
plane, vb, makes -noble ; Mute e.
plane sailing, as a correction of the
plain sailing of ordinary use, is a
pedantry; see plain.
plangent. Pronounce -&nj-.
plantain. Pronounce pl&'ntin.
plaster makes -ered &c. ; -R-, -rr-.
plat (food served). See French
words.
plateful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
plate glass. Two words un¬
hyphened ; see Hyphens 3 B.
plateau. See French words ; but
the sound pl&'to, & the pi. - s , are
now common ; see also -x.
platen, -tt-, pressing-plate in print¬
ing. The OED prefers -t- to -tt-.
Pronounce -at-.
platform. The political sense of
party programme is still rather
American than English, but in
England too is now not uncommon.
platinize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
platitude, -dinous. The words are
misused in the following extracts;
for the differences between jp.,
commonplace , & truism, see common¬
place. He would probably in his
speech at Glasgow have avoided the
use of certain phrases & arguments
which, though he clearly means them
to be innocuous <& even platitudinous ,
have none the less been the subject of
vehement controversy. / The miners
acknowledge the force of this principle
or platitude as freely as the rest of us„
Platonic love. For the origin of the
expression, see Plato’s Symposium.
For its meaning, the definition, &
one or two quotations, from the
OED here follow :—(Definition) Ap¬
plied to love or affection for one of
the opposite sex, of a purely spiritual
character, & free from sensual de¬
sire. (Quotations) : (Howell) It is
a love that consists in contemplation
& idaeas of the mind, not in any
carnall fruition. (Norris) Platonic
Love is the Love of Beauty ab¬
stracted from all sensual Applica¬
tions, & desire of Corporal Contact.
(Lewes) Love is the longing of the
Soul for Beauty ; the inextinguish¬
able desire which like feels for like,
which the divinity within us feels
for the divinity revealed to us in
Beauty. This is the celebrated
Platonic Love, which, from having
originally meant a communion of
two souls, & that in a rigidly
dialectical sense, has been degraded
to the expression of maudlin senti¬
ment between the sexes.
platypus. PI. - puses , not -pi ;
Latin plurals.
PLAY
440
PLEONASM
play. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 1.
pleading. For special p. see
special.
pleasant has -er, -est , in comparison;
see -er & -est 2.
pleased. For very p., see very.
pleasure. I have the p. of doing
so- cC- -so means I do it, & am glad
to do it—a courteous announcement
that one is conferring some favour.
It is my p. to do so-&-so, or that
so-dc-so should be done, means I
choose to, & therefore of course
shall, do it or have it done—an
imperious statement of intention.
The second idiom is based on the
definite special sense of p. with
possessives {my, his, the king's, &c.),
viz one’s will, desire, choice. It is
a p. to do, on the other hand, means
the same as 1 have the p. of doing.
But insensibility to idiom often
causes It is my or our (not a) p. to
be substituted for 1 or We have the
p. ; see Cast-iron idiom. Ex¬
amples of the mistake are :— Once
again it is our p. to notice the annual
issue of 1 The Home Messenger ’./
In the experiment which it was my
p. to witness, M. Baclielet used only
two traction coils./When it was my
p. to address a public meeting of
more than 2000 at the lloyal Theatre
the organized opposition numbered
less than seven score.
pleb. See Curtailed words.
plebeian makes -micss (abstract
noun).
plebiscite, -tary. Pronounce ple'bi-
sit, plibi'sitttri.
plectrum. PI. -tra.
Pleiad. Pronounce pli'ad. PI.
-ds or -des (-ez). The use in the
sing, for a group of brilliant people
comes from the Pldiade of poets of
the French Ptenaissance.
pleistocene, pliocene, miocene, are
regrettable Barbarisms. It is worth
while to mention this, not because
the words themselves can now be
either ended or mended, but on the
chance that the men of science may
some day wake up to their duties to
the language—duties much less
simple than they are apt to suppose.
plenteous, -iful. As with other
pairs in -eous & -iful (e.g. from
bounty, beauty, duty, pity), the mean¬
ing of the two is the same, but the
-eous word is the less common &
therefore the better suited to the
needs of poetry & exalted prose;
for these it should be reserved.
plenty. Excuses are plenty (i.e.
plentiful), There is p. wood (i. e., p.
of), That is p. hot enough (i. e. quite),
are irregularities of which the first
is established in literature, the
second is still considered a solecism
(though the omission of of is easily
paralleled, as in a little brandy, a
dozen apples, more courage, enough
food), & the third is recognized
colloquial, but not literary, English.
PLEONASM is the using of more
words than are required to give the
sense intended.
1. It is often resorted to deliber¬
ately for rhetorical effect {Lest at
any time they should see with their
eyes & hear with their ears). The
writer who uses p. in that way must
be judged by whether he does
produce his effect & whether the
occasion is worthy of it.
2. There are many phrases origin¬
ally put together for the sake of
such emphasis, but repeated with
less & less of impressiveness until
they end by boring instead of strik¬
ing the hearer. Such are the pairs
of synonyms if db when, unless &
until, save & except, in any shape or
form, of any sort or kind. These &
many others have long worn out
their force, & what those who would
write vigorously have to do with
them is merely to unlearn them ;
see if & when, the apparently least
pleonastic of these stock phrases,
for fuller discussion. Those who
use this form of p. can hardly be
unconscious that they are saying
a thing twice over, the and or or
being there as a reminder.
3. In other phrases, the offender is
PLEONASM, 4_ *
evidently unconscious, & expresses
the same notion twice over in the
belief that he is saying it once.
Such are equally as (2), more
P RE FE RABLE , & continue to REMAIN,
which mean neither more nor less
than equally (or as) preferable, &
remain , by themselves, but which
can be defended, by those who care
to defend them, as not worse than
uselessly pleonastic. With these
may be classed the queer use of
both, repugnant to sense but not to
grammar, where they or the two is
replaced by it though the emphasis
necessarily attaching to both is
absurd ; so :— Both men had some¬
thing in common./Archer Bey tele¬
phoned to General Morris & both
conferred at the Residency. See
both 2 for more varieties of this
very common ineptitude.
4. A further downward step brings
us below the defensible level, & we
come to the overlappings described
in the article Haziness :— It is
singular how apparently slow some
minds seem to learn the elementary
truth./We have been enabled to make
large economies while at the same
time increasing the efficiency of the
fleet. See also ago & because.
5. Lastly, there are the pleonasms
in which by wrongly repeating a
negative or a conjunction the writer
produces a piece of manifest non¬
sense or impossible grammar. So :—
* You just come with me in a tub
pair, dk I should not wonder if 1
could not lick you into shape './It
should be a very great thing that
before guns, shells, mountings, range¬
finders, dbc., are adopted, that the
opinion of real <& not of soi-disant
experts shall be taken./We can only
say that if the business men who
read the Times are really of opinion
that this is a sensible procedure, &
that, if they find any satisfaction
whatever in the writing down of a huge
sum, which everybody knows can
never be recovered, they will have only
themselves to thank if . . . See also
Negatives, that conj., & Over-
zeal.
PLURALITY
plesiosaurus. PI. -ri (-1).
plethora. Pronounce plfi'thora.
pleura. PI. -rae.
pleurisy. So spelt, not plu- ; the
derivation is from pleura rib, not
plus pluris.
plexus. PI. -uses or plexus (-us),
not -xi ; see -us.
plica. PI. -ae.
pliers. So spelt,
pliocene. See pleistocene.
plumb-. The b is silent in plumber,
plumbery, plumbing, & plumbless,
but sounded in plumbago, plumbeous,
plumbic , plumbiferous, & plumbism.
plume makes plumy ; see -ey & y.
plump(en), vb. See -en verbs.
plumpy. Poetical only,
plunder makes -ered &c.; -R-, -RR-.
PLURAL ANOMALIES. See -ICS 2
for the question whether words in
-ics are singular or plural. Plural
names of diseases, as mumps,
measles, glanders, can be treated as
singular or plural ; chickenpox &
smallpox, originally plural, are now
reckoned singular. Innings, corps,
& some other words in -s, are
singular or plural without change
of spelling, but, while corps has -s
silent in singular & sounded in
plural, an innings & several innings
show no distinction, whence arises
the colloquial double plural innings-
es. For the plural of Court Martial
& Lord Justice, the number of
porridge, & the difference between
pence & pennies, see the words.
plurality. With three-cornered con¬
tests as common as they now are,
we may have occasion to find a con¬
venient single word for what we now
call an absolute majority, i.e. a ma¬
jority comprising more than half the
votes cast. In America the word
majority itself has that meaning,
while a poll greater than that of any
other candidate, but less than half
the votes cast, is called a plurality.
It might be well to borrow this dis¬
tinction, but to better it by changing
plurality to plurity. The correct
meaning of plurality is not moreness
(which is the notion wanted, but
PLY
POINT
442
which would be plurity), but plural¬
ness or severalness or more-than-one-
ness. Plurity is an obsolete English
word exactly suited to the need;
cf. Revivals. See also majority.
ply, vb. For inflexions see verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
pneumatic, pneumonia, &c. The
OED gives nu- only for these parti¬
cular words, but prefers pnu- for
less familiar words from the same
stems, such as pneumatology, pneu¬
monometer. It is to be hoped that
these silent letters may recover their
voices now that everyone can read ;
cf. PHTHISIS, PSYCHOLOGY.
pochard. The OED puts p5ch-
first, but poch-, pok-, & pok-, are
also recognized.
pocket makes -eted, - eting , &c.; see
-T-, -TT-.
pocketful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
pococurante. Pronounce poko-
koorah'ntS. PI. -ti (-e).
podagra. The OED puts first the
pronunciation po'dagra.
podgy. So spelt ; see -ey & -y.
podium. Pronounce po- ; pi. -ia.
poetess. See Feminine designa¬
tions.
poetic(al)o See -ic(al). The two
forms are more or less peculiar in
being both in constant use, while
yet there is no clear division of
functions between them. Certain
tendencies, not always operative,
there are :— poetical labels, while -ic
admires (The -ical works of — ;
Conceived in a truly -ic spirit) ; -ical
is the form for ‘ written in verse
& -ic for ‘ instinct with poetry ’
(Poetical composition ; The -ic im¬
pulse) ; -ical is the commonplace,
& -ic the rhetorical form (In a
poetical mood ; but In -ic mood) ;
-ical is sometimes used at the end
of a sentence when in another
position -ic would be more natural
(An idea more true than -ical , cf.
A no less true than poetic idea) ; &
-ic is sometimes jocularly substi¬
tuted for -ical (The -ic effusions of an
advertising soapboiler).
POETICISMS. Simple reference of
words to this article warns the
reader that to use them in ordinary
prose contexts is dangerous; see
also Incongruous vocabulary. A
small haphazard collection of speci¬
mens is: — an, conj. ; aught', beau¬
teous ; broidery ; canorous ; childly ;
clamant; delightsome ; direful ;
duteous ; eke, adv. ; ere; erst;
lorn ; magnificat ; plain, vb ; plan¬
gent ; whilom.
poeticize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
pogrom. Pronounce pogro'm.
poignant. Pronounce poi'nant.
point. For synonyms in the sense
province &c., see field. P. of view
is the native phrase now being
ousted by standpoint. The latter
is a translation of the German
Standpunkt, & appears in the form
standpunct in one of the earliest
OED quotations. What is killing
p. o.v. is no doubt the awkwardness
of following it, as is constantly
necessary, with another of (from the
p. o. v. of philosophy) ; the process
may be expected to continue, &
there is no valid objection to stand¬
point ; p. o. v. will linger for a time
where the of difficulty does not
present itself (from my, or Mill's,
p. o. v.). It is certainly better that
standpoint should be accepted than
another solution that is being tried
on purpose to avoid it—that is, the
using of point by itself as equivalent
to point of view (from the point of the
Tory Party) : They agree that the
demand of £3 a week by the men was
unreasonable if it was meant to
sustain ‘ a mere existence ’, but from
the point of a living wage it was not
unreasonable. View-point , an earlier
product of the repugnance to stand¬
point, has the disadvantage of calling
to mind what standpoint allows to
be forgotten, that the idiomatic
English is undoubtedly p. of view.
The perplexed stylist is at present
inclined to cut loose & experiment
with angle. What is here recom¬
mended is to use p. o. u. as the
normal expression, but not be airaia
of standpoint on occasion.
POKE
443
POLLOI
poke makes -kable (see Mute e),
& poky (see -ey & -y).
polarize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
polemarch. Pronounce pS'limark.
polemic(al). It would be con¬
venient, & not be counter to any
existing distinctions, if -ic were kept
to the noun use & -ical to the
adjectival ; see -ic(al).
police, vb, makes -ceable ; see
•able 1.
policewoman. See Feminine de¬
signations.
policy. The word meaning 6 course
of action ’ &c., & that meaning
* Insurance Company’s guarantee
are of different origins, the first
having started in Greek as politeia ,
& the other as apodeixis.
politic(al). See -ic(al).
polity is a word that has lately
emerged from its retirement in the
writings of philosophic historians or
political philosophers, become a
newspaper word, & suffered the
maltreatment usual in such cases.
It has been seized upon as a less
familiar & therefore more impressive
spelling of policy (with which it is
indeed identical in origin), & the
differences that have long existed
between the two have been very
vaguely grasped or else neglected.
A useful indication that the two
words are of widely different mean¬
ings is that policy ; s as often as not
without a or the in the singular,
whereas polity in its right senses is
very rarely so. Polity is not (like
policy or principle) a fine of action,
nor (like politics) a branch of
activity, nor (like statesmanship) an
art or quality. But in the following
newspaper extracts it will be seen
that one of those senses is required,
& that one of those words, or at
any rate some other word, would be
the right one instead of polity :—
This Newspaper Trust has during
the last two years increasingly as¬
sumed the right & the power to upset
ministries, to nominate new ministers
dt discharge others, db to dictate db
veto public polity./The main obstacles
to advancement have always been
social superstitions, political oppres¬
sion, rash & misguided ambitions,
& gross mistakes in polity./Habits of
living from hand to mouth engendered
by centuries of crude polity will not
die out in a month./Because the law
of social progress has not been very
clearly understood, for bad theory
means faulty practice, db no theory
rule of thumb, polity, which is the
practical side of the matter, has had
no certain guidance./And now that
by their feats in arms peace has been
brought within sight, the work in the
field has admittedly to be rounded off,
completed, db made lastingly effective
for the common good by a work of
Polity.
The true meanings of polity are :
(1, now rare) a condition, viz the
being organized as a State or system
of States ; (2, & most frequent)
some particular form of such organ¬
ization, e. g. a republic, monarchy,
empire, confederation, Concert of
Europe, or League of Nations ; &
(3, not uncommon) a people organ¬
ized as a State. The first three of
the following examples are news¬
paper extracts showing the correct
& usual sense 2, the fourth & fifth
being OED quotations from Glad¬
stone & Huxley illustrating the now
rare sense 1 & the not very common
sense 3 : —Dr Hazeltine's lecture is
an interesting account of the influence
of English political db legal ideas
upon the American polity./If the
terms are accepted the future polity of
Europe must be more than ever based
on force./Mr Keynes points out that
the commercial db industrial system
of Europe has grown up with the
pre-war polity as its basis./( Glad¬
stone) At a period antecedent to the
formation of anything like polity in
Greece./{ Huxley) Those who should
be kept, as certain to be serviceable
members of the polity.
poll. The Cambridge pass degree.
& the woman’s & parrot’s name, are
pronounced pol; other words pdl.
polloi. See hoi polloi.
POLLUTE
444
POPULARIZED
pollute makes -table ; see Mute e.
polyglot makes - ttal, - ttic, -ttism ;
exceptionally, see -T-, -tt-.
polypus. 1 J 1. -pi (-i) or -puses. The
inconsistency between this & octopus
is due to its having come to us
through classical Latin, in which it
was declined like the ordinary Latin
nouns in -us.
POLYSYLLABIC HUMOUR. See Pe¬
dantic humour for a slight account
of the impulse that suggests long or
abstruse words as a means of enter¬
taining the hearer. Of the long
as distinguished from the abstruse,
terminological inexactitude for lie or
falsehood is a favourable example,
but much less amusing at the
hundredth than at the first time of
hearing. Oblivious to their pristine
nudity (forgetting they were stark
naked) is a less familiar specimen.
Nothing need here be added to what
was said in the other article beyond
a short specimen list of long words
or phrases that sensible people
avoid. Batavian, Caledonian, Celes¬
tial, Hibernian & Milesian, for
Dutch, Scotch, Chinese, Irish. Solu¬
tion of continuity, femoral habili¬
ments, refrain from lacteal addition,
& olfactory organ, for gap, breeches,
take no milk, & nose. Oscillatory,
pachydermatous, matutinal, diminu¬
tive, fuliginous, fugacious, esurient,
culinary, & minacious, for kissing,
thick-skinned, morning, tiny, sooty,
timid, hungry, kitchen, & threaten¬
ing. Frontispiece, individual, equi¬
tation, intermediary, cachinnalion,
& epidermis, for face, person, riding,
means, laughter, & skin. Negotiate
& peregrinate for tackle & travel.
pomade. The OED gives -ad as
the English pronunciation, & -ahd
as a foreign one ; the latter, how¬
ever, is probably almost universal.
pommel, pu-. The first spelling is
usual for the noun, the second for
the verb, though the verb is merely
a use of the noun, & not of different
origin. Both are pronounced pum-,
& both make -lied (see -ll-. -l-).
Pomposities. Such words as
beverage, catarrh, collation, comesti¬
bles, condiment, co'nsort, divagation,
edifice, emporium, ere, evince, exacer¬
bate, intermediary, the military, muni¬
ficent, save (except), spouse, vituper¬
ate, have all ‘ a certain use in the
world, no doubt ’ ; but they are
seen in the newspapers very much
more often than occasions for those
certain uses occur, & may serve as
specimens of hundreds that are
habitually substituted for others
merely as pompous ornaments.
ponceau. See French y/ords.
poncho. Pronounce with -eh-. PI.
-os ; see -o(e)s 6.
pongee. Pronounce ponje'.
pontifex. PI. - fices (-ez).
pontify. For inflexions see verbs
IN -IE &o., G.
poor. The unorthodox pronuncia¬
tions por & por are heard often
enough to necessitate a warning.
For poorness & poverty see the latter.
For ‘ a p. thing but mine own see
Misquotation.
pop, = popular concert. See Cur¬
tailed WORDS.
popularize makes - zable ; Mute e.
POPULARIZED TECHNICALITIES.
The term of this sort most in vogue
at the moment of writing (1920) is
undoubtedly acid test (The measure,
as our correspondent says, provides
an acid test for every Free Trader),
which became familiar through a
conspicuous use of it during the war
by President Wilson. In contrast
with this newest acquisition may be
set intoxicated, so long popular as
to be not now recognizable for a
medical term at all ; it is just
a ponderous Genteelism for drunk.
Have we to fear something of the
kind with anaesthesia ? the extract
that follows raises apprehensions :
This appetite grows by what it feeds
upon, & it is accompanied by a total
anaesthesia towards [i.e. carelessness
of] the public interest & the re f ut } s
upon those who are victimized oy
these proceedings. A few examp es
of these popularized technicalities
POPULATE
445
POSE
may be gathered together; they
will be only as one in a score or a
hundred of those that exist, but will
serve as specimens. Upon most of
them some remarks will be found in
their dictionary places. Two general
warnings will suffice : first, that the
popular use more often than not
misrepresents, & sometimes very
badly, the original meaning; &
secondly, that free indulgence in
this sort of term results in a tawdry
style. It does not follow that none
of them should ever be used.
From Philosophy— optimism &
pessimism, category, concept, dualistic.
From Mathematics— progression
arithmetical & geometrical, to the nth,
to be a function of, percentage & pro¬
portion ( = part), curve (= tendency).
From Religion— devil’s advocate,
immanent, implicit, incarnation.
From Psychology— personal equa¬
tion, idiosyncrasy, mentality, psycho¬
logical moment, complex.
From Law— special pleading, lead¬
ing question, party ( = person), afore¬
said & such & same, re, ilk, ferae
naturae, exception that proves the rule.
From War— decimate, internecine.
From Logic— dilemma, idols of the
market.
From Commerce— asset.
From Architecture— flamboyant.
From Agriculture— intensive, hardy
annual, common or garden.
From Astrology— ascendant.
From Politics— conservative (=
small).
From Chemistry— eliminate.
From Literature— protagonist, eu¬
phuism, Homeric laughter, myth,
pathetic fallacy.
From Medicine— chronic, expector¬
ate , hectic.
populate makes - table ; see -able ]
S orcelain is china, & china is p.
ere is no recondite difference be
tween the two things, which indee
are not two, but one ; & the diffei
ence between the two words is mere!
that china is the homely term, whil
P orcelain is exotic & literary. ~
Forking & stylish words.
Porch. For the P. in Philosophy
see ACADEMY.
pork pie. No hyphen ; see Hy¬
phens 3 B.
porpoise. Pron. por'pws (not -oiz).
porridge is treated in Scotch use as
plural (‘ & butter in them ’).
porrigo. Pronounce pori'go.
port, harbour, haven. The broad
distinction is that a haven is thought
of as a place where a ship may find
shelter from a storm, a harbour as
one offering accommodation (used
or not) in which ships may remain
in safety for any purpose, & a port as
a town whose harbour is frequented
by naval or merchant ships.
port, larboard. The two words
mean the same, but p. has been
substituted for l. (the earlier oppo¬
site of starboard) because of the
confusion resulting when orders
were shouted from the too great
similarity between l. & starboard ;
l., however, has not yet perished.
portcullis makes -ised ; see -s-, -ss-,
porte-coch6re. See French words.
portfolio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
portico. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
portidre. See French words.
portion. The Prime Minister, at
the Lord Mayor's banquet on Satur¬
day, devoted the major portion of his
speech to Russia. See Formal
words for major p. as compared
with greater part. A favourite piece
of buckram. See also major.
portly. For the adverb see -lily.
portmanteau. PI. -s (or -x; see
-x). For p. word the OED quotes
from Through the Looking-glass
‘ Well, “ slithy ” means “ lithe &
slimy ”... You see it’s like a
portmanteau—there are two mean¬
ings packed up into one word ’.
portray. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 1.
portress. Feminine designations.
Portuguese, n., is both singular &
plural. ‘ In modern times a sing.
Portug(u)ee has arisen in vulgar
use ’—OED.
pose makes - sable j see Mute e.
POSEUR
446
POSITION OP ADVERBS
The verb meaning nonplus (with its
noun poser unanswerable question)
is a different word from that mean¬
ing to lay down or place, being
shortened from appose.
poseur. See French words.
Position of adverbs. The word
adverb is here to be taken as includ¬
ing adverbial phrases (e.g. for a
time) & adverbial clauses (e.g. if
possible), adjectives used predica-
tively (e.g. alone), & adverbial
conjunctions (e.g. then), as well as
simple adverbs such as soon &
undoubtedly. To lay down & illus¬
trate exhaustive rules would not be
possible in reasonable compass ; nor
is there any need to do so ; the
mistakes that occur are almost
always due to certain false princi¬
ples, & these may be isolated for
treatment. Many readers may
justly feel that they do not require
advice on so simple a matter as
where their adverbs should go, &,
to save them the trouble of reading
this long article, here is a string of
sentences exhibiting all the types
of misplacement to be discussed.
Those who perceive that the adverb
in each is wrongly placed, & why,
can safely neglect the rest ; the
bracketed number after each refers
to the section in which its type is
discussed :— The people are now
returning & trying to again get
together a home (1 )./IIe came to study
personally the situation (2)./He exer¬
cised an influence that is still potent
& has yet adequately to be measured
on the education of our younger
artists (3 )./It deals with matters as
to which most persons long ago have
made up their minds (4)./We still
are of opinion that the only way of
getting rid of ‘ abuses ’ is a root-re¬
branch alteration of the thing itself
(5). /The Food Ministry must either
take action or defend effectively their
inactivity (6). /To decry the infantry
arm for the sake unduly of piling up
artillery cfc what not, is the notion of
persons who . . . (7). /As ‘ the Monroe
doctrine ’ of late years has loomed so
largely in all discussions upon the
international policy of the United
States , an attempt to trace its growth
& development as a popular 4 cry ’
might prove of some service (8).
There are certain verb groups about
which the question is conceivable—
Should they be allowed to be inter¬
rupted by adverbs ? Such are the
inlinitive e.g. to try (may we say
to earnestly try ?), the compound
verb e.g. have thought (may we say
1 have never thought so ?), the copula
& complement e.g. was a riddle
(may we say He was in some ways
a riddle ?), the verb & its object e.g.
passed the time (may we say It
passed pleasantly the time ?), the
gerund & its governing preposition
e.g. by going (may we say by often
going ?). The first of these questions
is a very familiar one ; almost all
who aspire to write English have
had the split infinitive forced on
their attention, & the avoidance of
it has become a fetish ; the other
questions are not familiar, but the
points here to be made are that they
also require consideration, that a
universal yes or a universal no is
not the right answer either to the
split-infinitive question or to any
of the others, that the various
answers sometimes come into con¬
flict, & that to concentrate on the
split-infinitive question & let the
others take care of themselves is
absurd.
The misplacements to be considered
will be taken under the heads
1. Split infinitive. 2. Fear of split
infinitive. 3. Imaginary split in¬
finitive passive. 4. Splitting of the
compound verb. 5. Separation of
copulative verb & complement.
6. Separation of transitive verb &
object. 7. Separation of preposition
& gerund. 8. Heedless misplacings.
1. Split infinitive. The heinousness
of this offence is estimated in the
article Split infinitive. Here the
general result of that estimate is
merely assumed, viz : (A! that to
love is a definitely enough
\ verb-form to make th
/
recognized
clinging
POSITION OF ADVERBS, 2
447
POSITION OF ADVERBS, 3
together of its parts the natural
& normal thing, (B) that there is,
however, no sacrosanctity about
that arrangement, (C) that adverbs
should be kept outside if there is
neither anything gained by putting
them inside nor any difficulty in
finding them another place, but
(D) that such gain or difficulty will
often justify the confessedly ab¬
normal splitting. One pair of ex¬
amples will throw light on C &
D :— The people are now returning
<fc trying to again get together
a home./With us outside the Treaty,
we must expect the Commission to at
least neglect our interests. In the
first, it is easy to write to get a home
together again, &, as again does not
belong to the single word get, but to
get a home together , nothing is gained
by its abnormal placing. In the
second, at least cannot be put before
to because it would then go with
Commission (= the Commission,
even if not other people), nor after
neglect because it would then be
doubtful whether it referred back
to neglect or forward to interests, nor
after interests because it would then
belong either to interests or to
neglect our interests , neither being
what is meant; where it stands, it
secures our realizing that the writer
has in mind some other verb such
as injure or oppose with which the
weaker neglect is to be contrasted.
In a split infinitive, however, we
have not so much a misplacing of
the adverb as a violence done to the
verb. It is by repulsion, not by
attraction, that the infinitive acts
in effecting the many misplacings,
to be 6hown below, for which it is
responsible.
2. Fear of split infinitive. The
order of words in the following
examples is bizarre enough to offend
the least cultivated ear ; the reason
why the writers, whose ears were
perhaps no worse than their neigh¬
bours’, were not struck by it is
that they were obsessed by fear of
infinitive-splitting. It will be seen
that the natural (not necessarily
the best) place for the adverb in
each is where it would split an
infinitive. Such gentlemen are power¬
less to analyse correctly agricultural
conditions./A body of Unionist em¬
ployers which still has power to
influence greatly opinion among
those who work for them./Might I
kindly ask you to forward ? The
place into which each adverb has
been shifted is such that one or
other of the faults explained in
later sections is committed, & the
writer is Out of the frying-pan
into the fire ; see especially 6.
But the terrorism exercised by the
split infinitive is most conspicuous
where there is in fact (see next
section) no danger.
3. Imaginary split infinitive pas¬
sive. In the following examples it
is again clear that the natural place
for the adverb is not where it now
stands, but invariably after the
words to be. To insert an adverb
between to & be would be splitting
an infinitive ; to insert one between
to be & forgotten or pained is nothing
of the kind, but is a particular case
of the construction explained in 5.
The position after to be is not only
the natural one in these sentences,
but the best. The mistake—& that
it is a definite mistake there is no
doubt whatever—is so common that
many examples are called for :—
The awkward necessity for getting to
work & working as hard as possible
& with hearty goodwill altogether
seems to be forgotten./Every citizen
worth the name ought vitally to be
concerned in today's election./All of
us who believe in Parliamentary
institutions cannot fail deeply to be
pained at reading the story./But if
the home trade were really in a bad
state, it would be impossible for the
workers so fully to be employed as
they have been & are./There were
those who thought the Turkish Govern¬
ment would not be willing to adopt
a policy of conciliation , but it looks
as if they were agreeably to be dis¬
appointed./The nuisance of allowing
visitors to cross the footlights had
POSITION OF ADVERBS, 4
44S
POSITION OF ADVERBS, 4
begun so much to be felt by the
London theatrical managers that they
. . ./We think the public will not fail
unfavourably to be impressed by the
shifting nature of the arguments./
An Act has been passed enabling
agricultural land compulsorily to be
acquired at a fair market price./The
right of the privately managed de¬
nominational school wholly to be
maintained out of public money.
4. Splitting of the compound verb.
By compound verb is meant a verb
made up of an auxiliary (or more
than one) & an infinitive (without
to) or participle. When an adverb
is to be used with such a verb, its
normal place is between the auxiliary
(or sometimes the first auxiliary if
there are two or more) & the rest.
Not only is there no such objection
to thus splitting a compound verb
as there is to splitting an infinitive,
but any other position for the
adverb requires special justification :
I have never seen her, not I never
have seen her, is the ordinary idiom,
though the rejected order becomes
the right if emphasis is to be put
on have (I may have had chances of
seeing Bernhardt, but I never have
seen her). But it is plain from the
string of examples now to come that
a prejudice has grown up against
dividing compound verbs ; it is
probably a supposed corollary of the
accepted split-infinitive prohibition ;
at any rate, it is entirely unfounded.
In each of the first five extracts
there is one auxiliary, & after that
instead of before it the adverb should
have been put; the other six have
two auxiliaries each, which raises a
further question to be touched upon
afterwards :—Single auxiliary: If his
counsel still is followed, ‘ the conflict ’
is indeed inevitable. / Its very brief
span of insect-eating activity hardly
can redeem its general evil habit as
a grain-devourer. / Politicians of all
sorts in the United States already are
girding up their loins for the next
election./Yet one of the latest Customs
rulings by the United States Board
of Appraisers assuredly, to use the
phrase its members best would under¬
stand, is ‘ the limit './Two years later
he went to Russia as British Ambas¬
sador, & he also was entrusted with
the mission of carrying the Garter
to . . ./Double auxiliary : Oxford
must heartily be congratulated on
their victory./If the desired end is ever
attained it earnestly may be hoped
that especial care will be taken with
the translation./The importance which
quite rightly has been given to
reports of their meetings./The Mahar¬
aja made arrangements for her educa¬
tion, which never since has been
permitted to languish./A German
apologist anxious to prove that the war
had needlessly been prolonged by the
Entente./It is fortunate that a certain
amendment which they desired was
not carried, or it would gravely have
imperilled the solvency of certain of
the approved societies.
Write must be heartily congratulated,
it may be earnestly hoped, which has
quite rightly been given, which has
never since been permitted, had been
needlessly prolonged, would have
gravely imperilled. This minor point
of whether the adverb is to follow
the first auxiliary or the whole
auxiliary depends on the answer to
a not very simple riddle—Is it in
intimate connexion with the verbal
notion itself independently of the
temporal or other limitations im¬
posed by the auxiliaries ? Fortun¬
ately this riddle can be translated
into simpler terms—Do the adverb
& verb naturally suggest an adjec¬
tive & noun ? if so, let them stand
next each other, & if not, nou
Heartily congratulated, earnestly
hoped, needlessly prolonged, gravely
imperilled, suggest hearty congratu¬
lations, earnest hope, needless pro¬
longation, & grave peril; bu
rightly given does not suggest rign
gift or right giving, & still less does
never since permitted suggest no sud-
sequent permission ; which mean
that the notions of giving, & per¬
mitting are qualified by
never since not absolutely, but un
the particular limitations of
POSITION OF ADVERBS, 5
449
POSITION OF ADVERBS, 6
auxiliaries, & that the adverb is
better placed between the auxiliaries
than next to given & permitted. This,
however, is a minor point, as was
said above ; the main object of this
section is to stress the certain fact
that there is no objection whatever
to dividing a compound verb by
adverbs.
5. Separation of copulative verb &
complement. This is on the same
footing as the separation of the
compound verb discussed in 4 ;
that is, it is a delusion to suppose
that the insertion of an adverb
between the two parts is a solecism,
or even, like the splitting of the
infinitive, a practice to be regarded
as abnormal. On the contrary, it is
the natural arrangement, & in the
following examples fundamentally,
also , & often , have been mistakenly
shifted from their right place owing
to a superstition :— It would be a
different thing if the scheme had been
found fundamentally to be faulty ,
but that is not the case./It is not
always in these times that the First
Lord of the Treasury also is Prime
Minister./The immense improvement
which they have wrought in the con¬
dition of the people, which often is
quite irrespective of the number of
actual converts.
' 6. Separation of transitive verb &
its object. The mistakes discussed
in sections 2 to 5 have this in com¬
mon, that they spring from a desire,
instinctive or inculcated, to keep
the parts of a verb group together
& allow no adverb to intrude into it.
But there is one land of group whose
breaking up by adverbs that ought
to have been placed not in the
middle of it, but before or after the
whole, is only too common. That
is the group consisting of a transitive
verb & its object. I had to second
by all the means in my power diplo¬
matic action. To second diplomatic
action is the verb & object, separated
by a seven-word adverb ; it is a
crying case ; everyone will agree to
deferring the adverb, & the writer
had either no literary ear or some
1351
grammatical or stylistic fad. The
longer the adverb in proportion to
the object, the more marked is the
offence of interpolating it. But the
same mistake is seen, though less
glaringly, in the following ten ex¬
amples ; the roman-tvpe adverb in
each should be removed, sometimes
to a place before the verb, some¬
times to one after the object Are
they quite sure that they have inter¬
preted rightly the situation ?/I should
counsel, then, the schoolboy to take
plenty of exercise in the open./A lull
of the breeze kept for a time the small
boat in the neighbourhood of the brig./
Russia is sweeping the Bukovina
clean of Austrians, & north of the
Pripet marshes holds firmly Ilinden-
burg's forces./He spoke in a firm
voice, marking strongly the syllables,
but in tones rather harsh./The only
conceivable exception is some great
question affecting vitally human
liberty & human conscience./The
Prime Minister made a couple of
speeches on Saturday, but he did not
discuss any further the Irish ques¬
tion./The little finny warriors endea¬
vouring to rip up each other with
their sharp spines./It is thought that
the Allies will regard favourablv
Belgium/s request./Continuation with
the university courses would most
certainly elevate further the people.
There are conditions that justify
the separation, the most obvious
being when a lengthy object would
keep an adverb that is not suitable
for the early position too remote
from the verb. One of the extracts
below may be adapted to illustrate ;
if it had run 4 would expose to
ridicule an authority that, as it is,
is not very imposing the shortness
of 4 to ridicule ’ compared with the
length of the object "would have
made that order the best & almost
necessary one. But anyone who
applies this principle must be careful
not to reckon as part of the object
words that either do not belong to it
at all or are unessential to it; else
he will offend the discerning reader’s
ear as cruelly as the authors now
POSITION OF ADVERBS, 7
to be quoted : They ate now busy
issuing blue prints & instructions,
& otherwise helping in all sorts of
ways our firms to get an efficient grip
of the business of tractor-making in
a hurry. The object is our firms
alone, not that & the rest of the
sentence ; put it next to helping./
Who are risking every day with
intelligence & with shrewdness for¬
tunes on what they believe. Fortunes
alone is the object ; put it after
risking./Ilis make-up, which ap¬
proached too nearly sheer caricature
to be reckoned quite happy. A very
odd piece of tit for tat ; too nearly
divides approached from caricature,
& in revenge caricature divides to be
reckoned from too nearly ; put sheer
caricature next to approached./Fail¬
ure of the Powers to enforce their will
as to the Albanian frontier would
expose to the ridicule of all the
restless elements in East Europe
their authority, which, as it is, is not
very imposing. There are two
differences from the adaptation
made above—first that the adverb
has eleven words instead of two, &
secondly that the relative clause is
not an essential part of the object ;
their . . . imposing should be put
directly after expose.
7. Separation of preposition &
gerund. This hardly needs serious
treatment. But here is amusingly
shown somebody’s terror of separ¬
ating of & piling by an adverb—
which is no more than an exaggera¬
tion of the superstitions dealt with
in 3, 4, & 5. To decry the infantry
arm for the sake unduly of piling
up artillery <& what not, is the notion
of persons who . . .
8. Heedless misplacings. It would
appear from the analysis attempted
above that when adverbs are found
in wrong positions it is usually due
to mistaken ideas of correctness.
But now & then it is otherwise, & an
example or two of merely careless
placing may be given :— Dressings
of cotton dc linen are reserved only
for the most serious cases (for the
most serious cases only)./The terms
J _ POSITIVE WO RDS
upon which the British ‘ governing
classes have obtained their influence
are those upon which it alone may be
retained (upon which alone it may) /
As the Monroe doctrine of late yean
has loomed so largely (has of late
years loomed ; otherwise it means
the recent Monroe doctrin e)./Skould
too, not our author be considered?
(too might go after not , or author, or
considered, according to the meaning
wanted ; but no meaning can justify
its present position)./Bw* a work of
art that is all form & no emotion
(& we doubt whether, in all deference
to M. Saint-Saens, such an anomaly
did ever or could ever exist) would
seem to belong more properly to the
sphere of mathematics (the putting
of the deference adverb after instead
of before whether makes nonsense)./
It has been implied that Germany is
a collectivist State, or, if not, that it
has at least far advanced in Socialism
(is far advanced, but has advanced
far).
Positive words in neutral
PLACES. There are words whose
essential function is to express the
speaker’s strong opinion ; specimens
are excellent, admirable, remarkable,
incredible, disgraceful; to use these
in a negative, conditional, or inter¬
rogative sense is an offence against
idiom too obvious to be common.
You cannot stipulate that a thing
shall be excellent ; you can only
pronounce it excellent on trial. To
ask for a most delicious peach, a
bottle of admirable claret, a pro¬
foundly interesting novel, is absurd
(unless you are playfully quoting
someone else’s commendation ; Mar¬
tin Chuzzlewit, for instance, with
his experience of remarkable men,
could legitimately ask whether Mr
Choke was one of the most remark¬
able men in the country). Ex¬
amples :— Smoked after dinner, with
one or two glasses o/excellent brandy,
they are equal to Havanas./If they
heard of the pecuniary trouble of an
excellent scholar or man of letters,
they should communicate the fact to
POSSE
451
POSSESSIVE
their secretary./An American soldier
tvho was serving on the special staff
for taking over the German engines
told him that exceptional care is now
being taken to secure German railway
engines that are in admirable con-
dition./The amphibious part of the
operation, then, would be limited to
what he could do in an incredibly
short time. /The statesmen of Tokio,
for instance, will not renew the war
unless intolerably provoked. Their
desire now will be to consolidate their
acquisitions, to devise an admirably
cheap method of defending Man¬
churia for the future, & to reap, as
they have already begun to do, the
economic advantages of the splendid
position to which their country has
been elevated by the war (admirably is
wrong, splendid right ; the position
is already secured ; it will be time
enough for enthusiasm about the
method when the Japanese have
devised it)./ You should have written
to your cousin Morden, the moment
they had begun to treat you disgrace¬
fully (so before disgracefully, imply¬
ing 4 as I consider they have treated
you’, would have cured tins)./All
Governments who get into power by
a most violent & unscrupulous use
of party tactics try to prolong their
advantage by . . . (Omit most)./When
will the Church leaders realize that
unity in action is so much more
important than unity of belief ?
(Omit so)./Mr Thornely is fond of
finding his theme in the world of
science & treating it with extra¬
ordinary aptness.
posse. Two syllables.
possess makes -ssor ; see -or.
possession. In p. of, holding ; in
the p. of, held by : Prisoner was
found in p. of a revolver ; The neck¬
lace was found in the p. of prisoner's
wife.
Possessive puzzles, i. Septim¬
us's) (Achilles'. 2 . Whose) (of which.
3. Mr Smith (now Lord London)’s.
4. * The Times''s opinion . 5. Some¬
body's else.
1. Septimus's, Achilles'. It was
formerly customary, wnen a wuiu
ended in -s, to write its possessive
with an apostrophe but no addi¬
tional s, e.g. Mars' hill, Venus Bath,
Achilles' thews. In verse, & in
poetic or reverential contexts, this
custom is retained, & the number
of syllables is the same as in the
subjective case, e.g. Achilles' has
three, not four ; Jesus' or of Jesus,
not Jesus's. But elsewhere we now
add the s & the syllable, Charles's
Wain, St James's not St James ',
Jones's children , the Rev. Septimus's
surplice, Pythagoras's doctrines. For
goodness' sake, conscience' sake, &c.,
see sake.
2. Whose) (of which. See whose
for the question whether the use of
whose as the possessive of which, &
not only of who, (My thought. Whose
murder yet is but fantastical) is per¬
missible.
3. (A) Mr S??iith (now Lord Lon¬
don)'s intervention was decisive ? or
(B) Mr Smith's (now Lord London)
intervention ? or (C) Mr Smith's
(now Lord London's) intervention ?
or (D) The intervention of Mr Smith
(now Lord London) ? C is clearly
wrong because the intervention was
not Lord London’s ; B is intolerable
because we cannot be happy without
the 's close before intervention, just
as we cannot endure someone's else
umbrella though we can with an
effort allow the umbrella to be
someone's else ; A is the reasonable
solution, but has no chance against
the British horror of fussy correct¬
ness ; &, failing it, the only thing
is to run away, i.e. to use D. An
actual example of B is : It was Lord
Dunedin's (then Mr Graham Murray)
aid that was invoked.
4. In ‘ The Times''s opinion. This
also has to be run away from. To
write in ‘ The Times's ' opinion is
not running away, but merely blun¬
dering ; if the newspaper title is to
have inverted commas & the posses¬
sive is to be used, the form at the
top with two independent apos
trophes jostling each other is the
only correct possibility. But there
POSSIBLE
452
POTHER
are two escapes ; one is to write the
title in italics instead, of inverted
commas, but the possessive s in
roman type ( The Times's), & the
other is to fly to of (in the opinion of
‘ The Times ’). r J
5. For somebody else's or somebody's
else see else.
possible. 1. Do one’s p. 2. Con¬
struction. 3. P.) ( probable.
1. Do one s possible is a Gallicism ;
A:, with do what one can in estab¬
lished existence, it is superfluous.
2. Construction. But no such ques¬
tions are possible, as it seems to me,
to arise between your nation c b ours./
IN o breath of honest fresh air is
suffered to enter, wherever it is
possible to be excluded. These are
wrong. Unlike able, which ordin¬
arily requires to be completed by an
infinitive (able to be done, to exist,
&c.), p. is complete in itself & means
without addition able to be done or
occur. The English for are p. to
arise & is p. to be excluded is can
arise, can be excluded. The mistakes
are perhaps due to the frequency of
such forms as It is p. to find an
explanation, in which it is not an
ordinary pronoun, but merely an¬
ticipatory ; that is, the sentence in
its simpler form would not be An
explanation is p. to find, but To find
an explanation is p. When it is felt
that p. docs require to be amplified,
it is done by of with a verbal noun—
Limits that are p. of exact ascertain¬
ment ; but susceptible or some other
word is usually better.
3. P.) (probable. It would be too
much to demand that p. should
always be kept to its strict sense
& never so far weakened that im¬
possible (or possible in a negative
context) means no more than very
unlikely ; but, when probable & p.
are in explicit contrast, the demand
may fairly be made. The Prohibi¬
tion Amendment can only be revoked
by the same methods as secured its
adoption. 1 met no one in America
ivho deemed this probable , few who
thought it even possible. As all
sensible people know it, whatever
its improbability, to be possible the
picture of American intelligence is
uncomplimentary ; but this ab-
surdity is common enough, & ranks
with the abuse of literally.
poste restante. See French words
post hoc, ergo propter hoc. Sw
Technical terms.
posthumous. The -h- is silent, &
also, though never omitted, etymo¬
logically incorrect.
posticous. Pronounce posti'kus.
postil(l)ion. The OED prefers the
single -1-.
postmistress. See Feminine de¬
signations.
postpone. Pronounce pospo'n.
postprandial. Chiefly in Pedantic
humour.
postscript. Pronounce po'skrlpt.
postulate makes -lable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
pot, not poll, of paper. See pot(t).
potage. See French words.
potato. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
poteen, -th-. The OED treats -teen
as the established spelling.
potency, -nee. In general senses
-cy is much commoner ; &, as - ce
has technical senses in engineering,
watch-making, &c., it would be
better to confine -ce to these, &
make -cy universal in the general
senses. See -ce, -cy.
potentate. Pronounce po'-.
potential has no longer the meaning
of potent, which should have been
the word in : The Labour Party . . .
was exercising most potential influ¬
ence on some social problems. See
Long variants.
potful. PI. -Is ; sec -ful.
pother is now, except in dialects,
a Literary word. The more cor¬
rect, but now less usual, pronuncia¬
tion is pu'dher rhyming with other
brother mother. There is no proof of
connexion with either bother or
powder, though it is thought that
bother may be an Irish corruption of
pother. Between pother & bother
there is the difference in meaning
that p. denotes ado or bustle or
POT-POURRI
453
PRAGMATIC(AL)
confusion in itself, while b. em¬
phasizes the annoyance or trouble
caused.
pot-pourri. See French words.
pot(t). The paper size is so named
from the pot that it formerly bore
as a watermark ; the right spelling
is pot, the -tt being merely like that
in matt, nett, & set(t).
potter makes -ering &c.; -R-, -RR-.
poult-de-soie. See French words.
poultice makes -ceable ; see - able 1.
pourboire, pourparler, pour lire,
poussette. See French words.
poverty) (poorness. The dominant
sense of poor is having little money
or property. The noun correspond¬
ing to this dominant sense is poverty,
& poorness is never so used in
modern English. The further the
dominant sense is departed from,
the more does poverty give way to
poorness—Poverty is no excuse for
theft; The poverty (or poorness) of
the soil; The poorness (or poverty) of
the harvest; The poorness of his per¬
formance. See -ty & -ness.
-P-, -PP-. Monosyllables ending in
-p double it before suffixes beginning
with vowels if the sound preceding
it is a single vowel (a, e, i, o, u, y),
but not if it is a diphthong or a
double vowel or a vowel & r :
trapped, scrappy, uppish, popping,
sleepy, carping, leaper. Words of
more than one syllable follow the
rule for monosyllables if their last
syllable is accented ( entrapped , but
upheaped) ; they also double the p
if, like handicap & kidnap, milksop
& lollipop, they have a clear a or 6
as opposed to the obscure sound in
jalap & gallop, or if, like horsewhip
& sideslip , they are compounded
with a monosyllable ; but otherwise
they do not double it except wor¬
ship : chirruped, enveloping, galop-
ing, galloper, gossipy, filliped, equip¬
ped, trans-shipping, hiccuped, handi-
capper, kidnapped, walloping, milk-
soppish, jalaped, lollipoppery, horse¬
whipping , worshipper , sideslipped.
practicable) (practical. 1. The nega¬
tive forms are impracticable, but un¬
practical', impractical isoften wrongly
written ( The most impractical of all
persons—the man who works by rule
of thumb) ; see in- & un*.
2. Meanings. Each word has senses
in which there is no fear that the
other will be substituted for it ; but
in other senses they come very near
each other, & confusion is both
natural & common. Safety lies in
remembering that practicable means
capable of being effected or accom¬
plished, & practical adapted to
actual conditions ; it is true that
the practicable is often practical, &
that the practical is nearly always
practicable ; but a very practical
plan may prove owing to change of
circumstances impracticable, & a
practicable policy may be thoroughly
unpractical. In the extracts, each
word is used where the other was
wanted :— In the case of a club, if
rules are passed obnoxious to a large
section of the members, the latter can
resign ; in our national relationships,
secession is not practical nowadays.
The last sentence is in clear anti¬
thesis to the latter can resign, &
means You cannot secede, or in other
words Secession is not practicable./
But to plunge into the military ques¬
tion without settling the Government
question would not be good sense or
practicable policy ; & no wise man
would expect to get serviceable recruits
for the Army from Ireland in this
way. The policy was certainly
practicable, for it was carried out ;
& the writer, though he had not the
proof that we have of its practic¬
ability, probably did not mean to
deny that, but only to say that it
was not suited to the conditions,
i.e. practical./IFe live in a low-pres¬
sure belt where cyclone follows cyclone ;
but the prediction of their arrival is at
present not practical.
practice, -se. Noun - ce, verb -se ;
see licence.
practitioner. See physician.
pragmatic(al). In the diplomatic,
historical, & philosophical senses.
PRAISE
454
the • ic form is usual. In the general
sense ot orficious or opinionated,
-ical is commoner. In the interests
of differentiation these tendencies
should be encouraged ; see -ic(al).
praise makes - sable ; see Mute e.
pram (perambulator). See Cur¬
tailed WORDS.
pratique. Pronounce pr&'tik.
pray. 1. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 1.
2. Pray in aid. One of the pictu¬
resque phrases that people catch up
& use without understanding : We
are disturbed to find that this principle
of praying in aid the domestic cir¬
cumstances of the woman appears
to have been sanctioned officially by
the Committee on production. This
writer, & most of those who use the
words, suppose that in aid is an
adverb, & that pray is therefore
free to take an object—here circum¬
stances. The fact is that the object
of pray is aid , & in is not a pre¬
position but an adverb, to pray in
aid being word for word to call in
help i if the helper or helping thing
is to be specified, it must have an
of before it, as in the following OED
quotations :— A city or corporation,
holding a fee-farm of the King, may
pray in Aul of him, if anything be
demanded of them relating thereto./
An incumbent may pray in aid of the
patron & ordinary.
pre-. In compounds whose second
part begins with e or i a hyphen is
used : pre-eminent, pre-issue. In
others the hyphen is not necessary,
but is freely used if the compound
is one made for the occasion, or if
any peculiarity in its form might
prevent its elements from being
instantly recognized, or if recurrence
from the sense now developed to a
more primitive one is to be marked
by especial stress on the elements :
predetermine, prenatal, prearranged ;
pre-Coalition, pre-war, pre-position
(in contrast with preposition the
part of speech),
preachify. For inflexions
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
PRECIPITOUS
precede makes -dable ; see Mui*
precedence, precedent. The pro-
nunciation is tricky. The OEn
gives for the first prlse'dns only
(not prg'sldns), & for the second
prise dnt only in adjectival use, but
pre sidnt only in noun use. This
which is a very disputable account
of present usage, is not likely to
remain true ; pre'sld- is here re-
commended for all alike.
precedent. The House of Commons
is always ready to extend the indul¬
gence which [if] is a sort of precedent
that the mover dc seconder of the
Address should ask for. A bad piece
of Slipshod extension ; a p. is not
a custom or a tradition (though it
may start one ; cf. Haziness), but
a previous case.
preciosity & preciousness illustrate
well the differentiation that should
be encouraged whenever there is an
opening for it between the two
terminations ; see -ty & -ness.
The special sense of excessive fas¬
tidiousness in diction, pronuncia¬
tion, & the like, is almost confined
to -ty, & the more general senses
are left to -ness. The opening here
was provided by the fact that -ty
represents the French form & so
calls up the Prdcieuses Ridicules of
Moliere.
precipitance, -ancy, -ation. The
most economical way of dealing
with the words would have been to
let -ancy perish, & make -ance mean
rashness of action or suddenness of
occurrence or speed of motion, &
-ation the bringing or coming to pass
with especial rashness or speed.
But what is happening is that all
three exist side by side, -ance &
-ancy slowly giving way to - ation
just as their parent precipitant has
given way to precipitate. See also
precipitous.
precipitate. 1. The verb makes
-itable ; see -able 1. 2. The verb is
pronounced -at, the adjective &
noun -at or -It ; Participles 5 B.
precipitous. The position, then , is
PRECIS
455
PREFER(ABLE)
this : (1) Are the workers justified m
taking the precipitous action sug¬
gested in the resolution ?/The step
seems a trifle rash <& precipitous
when one remembers the number of
banking & commercial failures that
... Those who write thus either are
ignorant of the established difference
between p. & precipitate, or must
not be surprised if they are taken to
be so. Formerly, -ous was freely
used where we now always say -ate ;
but that time has long passed away.
See Pairs & snares.
precis. See French words.
preclude makes -dable ; see Mute e.
predestinate. 1. The verb makes
-noble ; see -able 1. 2. The verb is
pronounced -at, the adjective -at or
-It; see Participles 5 B.
predetermine has -nable ; Mute e.
predicate. 1. The verb makes
-cable ; see -able 1. 2. The OED
pronounces p., & its derivatives
predicable & predication, with pr&d-,
not pred-. The verb is said with -at,
the noun with -it ; see Participles
5 B. 3. P.) ( predict . The Latinless
have great difficulty in realizing that
the words are not interchangeable
variants. P. is from Latin prae-
dicare to cry forth or proclaim, but
predict from Latin praedicere to say
beforehand or foretell ; the Latin
simple verbs are different, & prae
has not the same meaning in the
two compounds. P. makes pre¬
dicable & predication, predict makes
predictable & prediction. It is
naturally predicate & its derivatives
that are misused ; examples of the
misuse are:— The case for estab¬
lishing compulsory & voluntary sys¬
tems side by side in the same country
is not only not proven, but involves
a change in strategic theory that pre¬
dicates nothing but disaster (threat¬
ens ? foreshadows ? presages ? just
possibly predicts ; certainly not
predicates)./^ profound change in
the balance of the Constitution pre¬
dicable by anyone who had searched
the political heavens during the last
four years ds observed the eccentric
behaviour of certain bodies db their
satellites is now upon us (predictable)./
What she would say to him, how he
would take it, even the vaguest pre¬
dication of their discourse, was beyond
him to guess (anticipation ? outline ?
prevision ? just possibly prediction ;
certainly not predication).
P. & its derivatives mean to assert,
& especially to assert the existence
of some quality as an attribute of
the person or thing that is spoken of
(Goodness or badness cannot with any
propriety be predicated of motives./
To predicate mortality of Socrates ,
i.e., to state that Socrates is mortal).
The words (apart from predicate n.,
the grammatical term) are mainly
used in Logic, & are best left alone
by those who have no acquaintance
with either Logic or Latin. See
Pairs &
predict makes -tor ; see -or.
predispose makes -sable ; Mute e.
predominate makes -tor ; see -or.
preface. 1 . The verb makes -ceable ,
see -able 1 . 2. For p. & foreword ,
see the latter. 3. For p. & prefix s
w., see prefix.
prefect. Pronounce pre-. The
adjective is prefectorial, not -toral.
prefer(able). 1. -r(r)-. 2. More
preferable. 3. To, rather than, than.
1. Prefer makes -rring, -rred (see
-R-, -RR-), but preferable (prg'ferabl) ;
the latter formation is anomalous
but established ; see confer(r)able
for similar words.
2. More preferable is an inexcusable
Pleonasm (3). The cure for that is
clearly the alternative vote or the
second ballot, the former alternative
being, in our view, on every ground
the more preferable.
3. To, rather than, than. If the
rejected alternative is to be ex¬
pressed, the normal construction for
it is to : 1 p. pears to apples, riding
to walking. The OED, defining the
construction, gives nothing besides
to except before & above, both of
which it obelizes as archaic or dis¬
used. A difficulty arises, however,
with to : the object of prefer is often
456
PREFIX
PREFER(ABLE)
an infinitive, but the sound of 1 p.
to die to to pay blackmail, or even of
I p. to die to paying, is intolerable.
It is easy sometimes to make the
change corresponding to that of
to die to death, but by no means
always. When the infinitive is
unavoidable, the way out is to use
rather than instead of to : / p. to die
rather than pay blackmail. To use
simple than instead of rather than
(I p. to die than pay) is clean against
established idiom, as bad as saying
superior than or prior than instead
of superior or prior to. But this
solecism, of which there is hardly
a trace in the OED article (1908),
has recently become common ; the
array of quotations given below is in
amusing contrast with the solitary
specimen (dated 1778) that the OED
could show. Even the rather than
mentioned above is not much to be
recommended ; but, if the writer is
bent on using prefer, it will pass ;
a better plan is to change the verb
prefer to choose rather or would rather
{He chose to die rather than pay ;
I would rather die than pay) ; the
main point is that prefer than
without rather is not English :—We
shoidd greatly p. to pay the doctors
more than to limit the area of insur¬
ance (We would much rather pay . . .
than limit)./ We should p. to entrust
ourselves without a solitary guarantee
to the goodwill of our Nationalist
fellow-countrymen than fetter the Irish
Parliament with safeguards (we would
sooner entrust). / One would p. to
have Mistress Alys WryghVs own ac¬
count of herself than be invited to
picture her (would rather have)./
They are preferably left, we think, to
the enjoyment of the reader than torn
from their context (are better left)./
The majority of them, we rather think,
would prefer to bear the ills they know
than to fly to the untried remedy of
the State regulation of wages (Shak-
spere preferred rather bear to pre¬
ferred to bear ; the other rather has
caused him to be corrected, but not
improved). /Many p. to go bareheaded
than to reassume the fez (many go
bareheaded rather than reassume) /
They have always preferred to specu-
late on the chance of winning a
General Election than to settle with
their opponents (rather than settle)./
Surely the public would prefer to
arrive half an hour later than run the
ghastly risks (would choose . .
rather than run )./The nine deportees
would p. to go home than to undergo
sentence after trial by Court-martial
(would sooner go ... than undergo)./
Ukrainian peasants even prefer to
fire their crops than to see them seized
by these bullies (even fire their crops
rather than see)./ Any man of ordin¬
ary pride would have preferred to
accept any responsibility than attri¬
bute to himself the cowardly evasion
which . . . (would have accepted ..,
rather than attribute). /He would
certainly p. that we should credit him
with none at all than allow him a
grain too much (would certainly
rather have us credit )./IIe is per¬
suasive rather than dogmatic, & pre¬
fers to suggest than to conclude (sug¬
gesting to concluding).
prefigure. For pronunciation of
this & its derivatives, see figure.
prefix. 1. The noun is pre'fiks, the
verb prlfi'ks ; see Noun & verb
accent, &, for meaning, Technical
terms. 2. For derivative nouns it
is better to rub along with prefix &
prefixing than to resort to prefixion
& prefixture. 3. Prefix, vb) ( preface,
vb. P. is one of the verbs liable to
the Object-shuffling abuse. You
can prefix a title to your name, but
not prefix your name with a title.
Several examples of the confusion
follow ; in each the construction
must be turned inside out if p . is to
be kept, but in most of them the
change of prefix(ed) to preface(d)
would put things right:— The
speeches in the present volume are
prefixed by a clear & connected
account of the administration of
India./Many others are Austrian
Barons of modern creation, these
titles being very numerous, because
every son is allowed to prefix his name
PREGNANT CONSTRUCTION 457 PREPOSITION AT END
with the title./A * Collection of Poems
<fc Essays by Mary Queen of Scots %
prefixed by an essay on the character
& writings of Mary Stuart./Two
notes dealing with recent cases on the
subject of company directors are
prefixed by the catchwords in very
prominent type : ‘ Retirement db Re¬
morse './The story is prefixed by an
introductory sketch of Pope Alexander
VPs Spanish ancestry./Every para¬
graph is prefixed with a kind of title
to it.
The poor old word preface, with
foreword assailing it on one front &
prefix on another, is going through
troubled times.
pregnant construction. See Tech¬
nical terms.
prejudg(e)ment. Keep the -e- ; see
Mute e.
prejudice, n. The Committee's
Report adds that without doubt a
marked prejudice to the eating of
eels exists in Scotland. The preposi¬
tions after p. are against & in favour
of ; this to is transferred from
objection ; see Analogy.
preliminary, adv. See Quasi-
adverbs.
prelude. The noun is prfi'lud ; the
verb used to be prilu'd (‘ All the
verse quotations & the dictionaries
down to c 1830 ’—OED), but is now
pronounced like the noun—a re¬
markable exception to the tendency
mentioned in Noun & verb accent.
premature. The pronunciation
prg'matur is recommended, but the
sound of the e & the place of the
accent are both variable ; in any
case, the last syllable is fully pro¬
nounced & not weakened to -cher.
premier as an adjective is now sug¬
gestive of tawdry ornament, though
it was formerly not avoided by good
writers. The ELEGANT-VARiATiomst
finds it useful ( There was a time when
the School of Literae Humaniores stood
first in point of number , but of late
the History School has taken premier
place), but would do better to find
some other way out. It is wise to
confine it now to such traditional
phrases as p. Earl or Baronet (Bacon
had no issue of his marriage, the
present Sir Hickman Bacon, premier
Baronet of England, being descended
from his half-brother).
premiere. See French words.
premise(s), -ss(es). 1. The noun is
prg'mis, the verb primi'z • see
Noun & verb accent. 2. The verb
is spelt premise, not -ize ; see -ise)
(-ize. 3. The two noun spellings
(-ises & -isses in the plural) may
perhaps be thought useful ; but
ambiguity cannot often arise be¬
tween the parts of a syllogism
(-isses ; see, for meaning, Tech¬
nical terms) & of a public house
(-ises) ; &, except practical utility,
there is no reason for the variation.
The two words are one, the parts of
a syllogism being ‘ the previously
stated ’, & the parts of a public
house &c. being 6 the aforesaid
(facts, places, &c.). The uniform
spelling premise (pi. premises) is
recommended. 4. The verb makes
-sable : see Mute e.
premium. PI. -ms only ; see -um.
preoccupiedly. A bad form; edly.
prep. See Curtailed words.
preparatory. For the use in They
were weighing it preparatory to send¬
ing it to town, see Quasi-adverbs.
prepare makes -rable ; see Mute e.
preparedly. Four syllables if used ;
see -edly.
prepay. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 1.
Preposition at end. It is a
cherished superstition that preposi¬
tions must, in spite of the incurable
English instinct for putting them
late (‘They are the fittest timber
to make great politics of' said
Bacon; & ‘ What are you hitting
me fori' says the modern school¬
boy), be kept true to their name &
placed before the word they govern.
‘ A sentence ending in a preposition
is an inelegant sentence ’ represents
a very general belief. One of its
chief supports is the fact that
Dryden, an acknowledged master of
P REPOSITION AT END _458 PREPOSITION AT END
English prose, went through all his
prefaces contriving away the final
prepositions that he had been guilty
of in his first editions. It is interest¬
ing to find Ruskin almost reversing
this procedure. In the text of the
Seven Lamps there is a solitary final
preposition to be found, & no more ;
but in the later footnotes they are
not avoided ( Any more wasted words
... I never heard of./Men whose
occupation for the next fifty years
would be the knocking down every
beautiful building they could lay their
hands on). Dryden’s earlier practice
shows him following the English
instinct ; his later shows him
sophisticated with deliberate latin-
ism :— 4 I am often put to a stand in
considering whether what I write
be the idiom of the tongue, ... &
have no other way to clear my
doubts but by translating my Eng¬
lish into Latin ’ ; the natural infer¬
ence in this matter would be : you
cannot put a preposition (roughly
speaking) later than its word in
Latin, & therefore you must not do
so in English. Gibbon improved
upon the doctrine, &, observing that
prepositions & adverbs are not
always easily distinguished, kept on
the safe side by not ending sentences
with on, over, under, or the like, even
when they would have been adverbs.
The fact is that the remarkable
freedom enjoyed by English in
putting its prepositions late &
omitting its relatives is an important
element in the flexibility of the
language. The power of saying
A state of dejection such as they are
absolute strangers to (Cowper) instead
of A state of dejection of an intensity
to which they are absolute strangers,
or People worth talking to instead of
People with whom, it is worth while to
talk, is not one to be lightly sur¬
rendered. But the Dryden-Gibbon
tradition has remained in being, &
even now immense pains are daily
expended in changing spontaneous
into artificial English. That depends
on what they are cut with is not
improved by conversion into That
depends on with what they art cat •
& too often the lust of sophistication’
once blooded, becomes uncontrolia-
ble, & ends with, That depends on
the answer to the question as to with
what they are cut. Those who lav
down the universal principle that
final prepositions are ‘inelegant*
are unconsciously trying to deprive
the English language of a valuable
idiomatic resource, which has been
used freely by all our greatest
writers except those whose instinct
for English idiom has been over¬
powered by notions of correctness
derived from Latin standards. The
legitimacy of the prepositional end¬
ing in literary English must be
uncompromisingly maintained ; in
respect of elegance or inelegance,
every example must be judged not
by any arbitrary rule, but on its
own merits, according to the im¬
pression it makes on the feeling of
educated English readers.
In avoiding the forbidden order,
unskilful handlers of words often
fall into real blunders (see Out of
the frying-pan). A few examples
of bad grammar obviously due to
this cause may fairly be offered
without any suggestion that a rule
is responsible for all blunders made
in attempting to keep it ; the words
in brackets indicate the avoided
form, which is not necessarily the
best, but is at least better than that
substituted for it :— The War Office
docs not care, the Disposal Board is
indifferent, & there is no-one on
whom to fix the blame or to hang
(no-one to fix the blame on or to
hang)./The day begins with a ride
with the wife & as many others as
want to ride d? for whom there is
horseflesh available (& as there are
horses for )./The question of an equal
repartition of the cost of reparation,
as well as of the interest & reimburse¬
ment of capital invested, is on w'hat
the whole matter hinges (is what the
whole matter hinges on)./It is like
the art of which IJuysmans dreamed
but never executed (the art that
Huysmans dreamed of )./Recognition
PREPOSITION AT END
459
PRESENTIMENT
is given to it by no matter whom
it is displayed (no matter whom it
is displayed by )./That promised land
for which he was to prepare , hut
scarcely to enter (that he was to
prepare for).
It was said above that almost all
our great writers have allowed them¬
selves to end a sentence or a clause
with a preposition. A score of
specimens follow ranging over six
centuries to which may be added
the Bacon, Cowper, & Ruskin ex¬
amples already given :—(Chaucer)
But yit to this thing ther is yit
another thing y-ioigned, more to
ben wondred upon. (Spenser) Yet
childe ne kinsman living had he none
To leave them to. (Shakspere) Such
bitter business as the day Would
quake to look on. (Jonson) Pre¬
positions follow sometimes the nouns
they are coupled with. (Bible) I will
not leave thee, until I have done that
which I have spoken to thee of. (Mil-
ton) What a fine conformity would it
starch us all into (Burton) Fit for
Calphurnius & Democritus to laugh
at. (Pepys) There is good ground
for what he goes about. (Congreve)
And where those qualities are, ’tis
pity they should want objects to
shine upon. (Swift) The present
argument is the most abstracted
that ever I engaged in. (Defoe)
Avenge the injuries . . . by giving
them up to the confusions their
madness leads them to. (Burke)
The less convincing on account of
the party it came from. (Lamb)
Enforcing his negation with all the
might ... he is master of. (De
Quincey) The average, the prevailing
tendency, is what we look at.
(Landor) The vigorous mind has
mountains to climb, & valleys to
repose in. (Hazlitt) It does for
something to talk about. (Peacock)
Which they would not otherwise
have dreamed of. (Mill) We have
done the best that the existing state
of human reason admits of. (King-
lake) More formidable than any . . .
that Ibrahim Pasha had to contend
with. (M. Arnold) Let us see what
it amounts to. (Lowell) Make them
show what they are made of.
(Thackeray) So little do we know
what we really are after. (Kipling)
Too horrible to be trifled with.
If it were not presumptuous, after
that, to offer advice, the advice
would be : Follow no arbitrary rule,
but remember that there are often
two or more possible arrangements
between which a choice should be
consciously made ; if the abnormal,
or at least unorthodox, final pre¬
position that has naturally presented
itself sounds comfortable, keep it ;
if it does not sound comfortable,
still keep it if it has compensating
vigour, or when among awkward
possibilities it is the least awkward.
presage. The noun is pre'sij, the
verb prisa'j ; see Noun & verb
accent. The verb makes -geable ;
see -able 1.
prescience, -nt. The OED gives
preshyens, -nt, only ; but pr6- is as
often heard.
prescribe makes -bable ; see Mute e.
prescription. For the meaning, &
its relation to imprescriptible, see
that word.
present, a. The p. writer is a peri¬
phrasis for I & me that is not
entirely avoidable under existing
journalistic conditions, & is at any
rate preferable to the false first-
personal one (see one 5) that is being
tried as a substitute ; but it is very
irritating to the reader ; personality,
however veiled, should be intro¬
duced into impersonal articles only
when the necessity is quite indis¬
putable. The worst absurdity occurs
when a contributor or correspondent
whose name appears above or below
his article or letter puts on this
Coa vestis of a veil; but they often
do it.
present, n. & v. The verb is
prizg'nt, the noun prg'znt ; see
Noun & verb accent.
presentiment, presentment, presen-
tient. Nine people out of ten,
challenged to pronounce the first,
will do it with z. On the other hand
PRESERVE
460
PRE-WAR
the OED gives only the pronuncia¬
tion with s ; that is undoubtedly the
correct one, as in sentiment ; but the
sound has been assimilated to that
of present, with which presentment is,
but presentiment is not, connected ;
& with presentient, which is not in
popular use, no-one would make the
same mistake. Mistake or not, how¬
ever, even the OED’s authority is
hardly likely to cure presentiment
of its z, & the pronunciations here
recommended are prlzg'ntlment, pri-
zg'ntment, prese'nshent.
preserve, n. For p. =jam, see
Formal words.
preserve, vb, has -vable; Mute e.
presidentess. See Feminine de¬
signations.
prestidigitator, -tion. Now chiefly
in Polysyllabic humour.
prestige. The anglicized pronun¬
ciation prg'stij is given by the OED
as well as the usual preste'zh, but is
perhaps seldom heard.
prestissimo,presto. PI. -os; -o(e)s3.
presume makes -mable ; see Mute e.
presumedly. Four syllables if used ;
see -edly ; it is better to use pre¬
sumably or other synonym.
presumptive. For heir p., see
heir 2.
Presumptuous word-forma¬
tion. A selection of words follows
that for one reason or another should
not have been brought into existence.
Some, as basal, were not wanted ;
some, as bureaucrat, were bad forma¬
tions ; some, as intensive, were
essentially liable to confusion with
others ; & against some, as dan¬
diacal, more than one of these
objections can be brought. They
are not here sorted into classes, the
particular faults of each being stated
in its dictionary place, but are
merely put together as a general
warning to those who are given
either to reckless wordmaking for
themselves or to catching up of new
vogue-words started by others.
Amoral, amusive, basal, bureaucrat,
calmative, coastal, concision, dan-
diacal 3 declinal, demean (lower),
devolute, duologue, epistolatory, even¬
tuate, feature vb, femininity, force¬
ful, foreword, funniment, happening
historicity, idiosyncratic, intensive
interpretive, lectureship, locution,men¬
tality, mineralogy, minify, monachal
monarchial, opinionative, pacifist
pleistocene, purposive, speedometer. ’
presuppose makes - sable ; Mute e.
preterite. In dealing with English
grammar, it is better to say past.
pretermit makes -tted, -tting (see
-T-, -TT-), & -ssible or -ttable (see
-ABLE 1, 2.
prettify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
preux chevalier. French words.
prevaricate makes -tor ; see -or.
preventable, -ible. The first is re¬
commended ; see -able 2.
prevent(at)ive. The short form is
better ; see Long variants.
previous. 1. For the construction
in will consult you previous to acting,
see Quasi-adverbs. 2. Too pre¬
vious, originally amusing both be¬
cause the sense of p. was a specially
made one, & because too was with
that sense deliberately redundant,
has passed into the realm of Worn-
out humour. 3. The previous ques¬
tion is a phrase that does not explain
itself. We all know that moving
the p. q. is somehow a way of
attempting to shelve the matter
under debate, but the light of nature
would suggest only, & wrongly, that
the proposal was to go back to what
the House had been engaged upon
before this present matter. The
p. q. is in fact a proposal that the
matter under debate should not now
(formerly, should now) be divided
upon. Those who wish to shelve the
matter move this p. q., to which they
now vote ay (formerly no).
pre-war. The only justification for
saying p. instead of before the war
is that before the war makes a very
unhandy adjective, & we are now
constantly in need of a handy one ;
before-the-war conditions, politics,
prices, as phrases for everyday use,
will never do, & the only justifica-
PREY
461
primeval
tion is also sufficient. But it fails
to cover the use of pre-war as an
adverb, now making its way into
the newspapers. There is nothing
unhandy in that use of before the
war, which should be restored in all
contexts of the kind here shown—
The suggestion is utterly untrue, as
a comparison of present prices with
those prevailing pre-war will show./
The difference is made up, though not,
of course, to the same extent as pre¬
war, by interest on our foreign invest¬
ments./The season-ticket holder, too,
is to pay about 75 per cent, more than
he did pre-war ./The number of
houses demolished annually pre-war
is again not accurately known.
prey, vb. For inflexions, see
Verbs in -ie &c., 2.
price, vb, makes -cedble\ -able 1.
prickly. For the adverb, see -lily.
pride. For P. goeth before a fall,
see Misquotation.
Pride OF KNOWLEDGE is a very
unamiable characteristic, & the
display of it should be sedulously
avoided. Some of the ways in
which it is displayed, often by
people who do not realize how dis¬
agreeable they are making them¬
selves, are illustrated in the follow¬
ing among many articles : k l’ou-
trance, amuck, Army & Navy,
averse, baluster, bedouin,
different, double entendre, egregious,
flautist, Hindu, implement, ingem¬
inate, journal, Mahomet, moral(e),
moslem, naif, nom-de-guerre, shame¬
faced, taboo.
prie-dieu. See French words.
priestess. See Feminine designa¬
tions.
priestly. For the adv., see -lily.
prig is a word of variable & inde¬
finite meaning ; the following, from
an anonymous volume of essays,
may be useful:—‘ The best thing
I can do, perhaps, is to give you the
various descriptions that would
come into my head at different
times if I were asked for one sudden¬
ly. A prig is a believer in red tape ;
that is, he exalts the method above
the work done. A prig, like the
Pharisee, says : “ God, I thank thee
that I am not as other men arc ”
except that he often substitutes
Self for God. A prig is one who
works out his paltry accounts to the
last farthing, while his millionaire
neighbour lets accounts take care of
themselves. A prig expects others
to square themselves to his very
inadequate measuring-rod, & con¬
demns them with confidence if they
do not. A p. is wise beyond his
years in all the things that do not
matter. A p. cracks nuts with a
steam hammer : that is, calls in the
first principles of morality to decide
whether he may, or must, do some¬
thing of as little importance as
drinking a glass of beer. On the
whole, one may, perhaps, say that
all his different characteristics come
from the combination, in varying
proportions, of three tilings—the
desire to do his duty, the belief that
he knows better than other people,
& blindness to the difference in value
between different things ’.
prima donna. Pronounce pre-. PI.
prime donne (-ema, -na) or prima
donnas.
prima facie. Pron. pri'ma fa'shie.
primary colours. As the phrase is
used in different senses, the OED
definition is here given :—Formerly,
the seven colours of the spectrum,
viz. red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, violet ; now, the three
colours red, green, & violet (or, with
painters, red, yellow, & blue), out of
different combinations of which all
the others are produced.
primates. Pronounce prima'tez.
prime, vb, has -mable ; Mute e.
primer. The traditional pronun¬
ciation is pri'mer, & the word was
very commonly spelt with -mm-.
This pronunciation is still used in
the names of types ; but in the
names of modern school manuals
pri'mer is now more usual.
primeur. See French words.
primeval, -aeval. The first is re¬
commended ; see je, ge.
PRINCELY
462
princely. For the adv., see -lily.
princess. As a prefix (P. Edith,
P. Victoria, P. lloyal, &c.) pro¬
nounced pri nsis ; as an independent
noun, pri'ns&s or prinse's.
principal, principle. Misprints of
one for the other are very frequent,
& should be guarded against,
prior. For the adverbial use ( p. to
= before) see Quasi-adverbs. But
the phrase is incongruous, & ranks
merely with Formal words, except
in contexts involving a connexion
between the two events more essen¬
tial than the simple time relation,
as in Candidates must deposit security
prior to the ballot. The use depre¬
cated is seen in : Prior to going to
Wiltshire, Mr - very successfully
hunted the -- Hounds.
prise. This spelling is sometimes
used to differentiate the verb mean¬
ing to force up by leverage from the
other verb or verbs spelt prize ; it
is also the old spelling of the nautical
verb meaning to capture. But the
pronunciation (always -z) is against
the success of this distinction, & the
ordinary form prize is recommended.
privacy. The OED recognizes only
prlv-, not priv-.
privative. See Technical terms.
privilege, vb. He was generally
believed to be an exceptionally taciturn
man, but those zvho were privileged
v/ith his friendship say that this was
a habit assumed against the inquisi¬
tive. An unidiomatic use, on the
Analogy of honoured with.
prize, vb, makes -zable ; see Mute
e. For the spelling in various senses,
see prise.
pro (professional). See Curtailed
words. PI. pros ; see -o(e)s 5.
pro & con. PI., as noun, pros <£■
cons.
probable. Two temptations call
for notice. The first is that of
attaching an infinitive to p. ; cf.
possible ; a thing may be likely to
happen, but not p. to happen ;
Analogy is the corrupter : Should
Germany meditate anything of the
PROEM
kind it would look uncommonly lik»
a deliberate provocation of France A
for that reason it seems scarcely pro¬
bable to be borne out by events /
Military cooperation against Russia is
scarcely pro bable to be more than a
dream. The second is the wrong use
of the future after p. The result will
probably be is right; but The probable
result will be is a mixture between
that & The probable result is ; cor¬
rect accordingly to is in: It is
believed that Said Pasha will be
forced to resign, & that his most
probable successor will be Kiamil
Pasha.
probe, if an -able adjective from it
is required, must make probeable for
fear of confusion with the ordinary
probable —one of the extremely rare
necessary exceptions to the rule given
under Mute e.
problematic(al). The longer form
is slightly more common ; there is
no clear difference in usage ; -ic(al).
proboscis. The pi. recommended is
-seises ; the Latin form is -scides
(-ez), & probosces is wrong. Forp. =
nose, see Polysyllabic humour.
proceleusmatic. See Greek g.
process. The OED gives pro's6s as
the better pronunciation ; but pro'-
ses or pro'sis seems more likely to
prevail.
process (go in procession) is a Back-
formation ; pronounce prose's,
proc6s-verbal. See French words.
proclitic. See Technical terms.
procrastinate makes -nable, -tor ;
see -able 1, -OR.
proctorize makes -zable ; Mute e.
procure makes -rable ; see Mute e.
procuress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
produce. Verb produ's, noun pro'-
dus ; see Noun & verb accent.
The verb makes -cible ; see -able 2.
proem, proemial. Pronounce pro'-
6m, proe'mial. But the words, not
having made their way like poem &
poetic into common use, remain
puzzling to the unlearned & are
better avoided in general writing.
PROFANE
463
PROGRESSIONIST
profane, vb, has -noble; Mute e.
professedly. Four syllables; -edly.
professorate, -riate„ The differ¬
entiation that makes -rate the office
of professor, & -riate the body of
professors, deserves recognition.
professoress. See Feminine de¬
signations.
proffer makes -ering, -ered ; -r-,*rr-.
profile. Pronounce pro'fel.
profound makes -er, -est ; sec -er
& -EST 1 C.
profoundly. See Positive words.
profuse makes -er, -est ; see -er &
-est 1 c.
progenitress. See Feminine de¬
signations.
prognosis. PI. -oscs (-ez) ; see
Latin plurals.
prognosticate makes -cable, -tor ;
see -able 1, -OR.
prognostic. For synonymy see sign.
program(me). It appears from the
OED quotations that -am was the
regular spelling until the 19th c.,
& the OED’s judgement is : ‘ The
earlier program was retained by
Scott, Carlyle, Hamilton, & others,
& is preferable, as conforming to
the usual English representation of
Greek gramma , in anagram, crypto¬
gram, diagram, telegram, &c.\
progress. The OEDgivcspro-aspre¬
ferable to pro-. Noun prfi'gris, verb
progrg's ; see Noun & verb accent.
progression. Arithmetical p. &
geometrical p. These are in constant
demand to express a rapid rate of
increase, which is not involved in
either of them, & is not even
suggested by a.p. Those who use
the expressions should bear in mind
(1) that you cannot determine the
nature of the progression from two
terms whose relative place in the
series is unknown, (2) that every
rate of increase that could be named
is slower than some rates of a. p. &
of g. p., & faster than some others,
& consequently (3) that the phrases
* better than a. p., than g. p.’,
‘ almost in a. p., g. p.% are wholly
meaningless.
In 1903 there were ten thousand
4 paying guests ’, last year [1906]
fifty thousand . The rate of increase,
is better, it will be observed, than
arithmetical progression. Better, cer¬
tainly, than a. p. with increment
1, of which the fourth annual term
would have been 10,003 ; but as
certainly worse than a. p. with in¬
crement a million, of which the
fourth term would have been
3,010,000 ; & neither better nor
worse than, but a case of, a. p. with
increment 13383L The writer meant
a. p. with annual increment 10,000 ;
but as soon as we see what he meant
to say w r e see also that it was not
worth saying, since it tells us no
more than that, as we knew before,
fifty thousand is greater than forty
thousand.
Even g. p. may be so slow that to
raise 10,000 in three years to as
little as the 10,003 mentioned above
is merely a matter of fixing the
increment ratio low enough. Neither
a. p. nor g. p. necessarily implies
rapid progress. The point of con¬
trast between them is that one
involves growth or decline at a con¬
stant pace, & the other at an
increasing pace. Hence the famous
sentence in Malthus about popula¬
tion & subsistence, the first increas¬
ing in a g. & the second in an a.
ratio, which perhaps started the
phrases on their career as Popu¬
larized technicalities. Of the
following extracts, the first is a copy
of Malthus, the second a possibly
legitimate use, according to what it
is meant to convey, & the third the
usual absurdity :— The healthy por¬
tion of the population is increasing
by a. p., & the feeble-minded by g. p./
Scientific discovery is likely to proceed
by g. p./As the crude prejudice against
the soldier's uniform vanished, cfc as
ex-Regular officers joined the Volun¬
teers, & Volunteers passed on to the
Army, the idea that every man owes
willing service to his country began to
spreadin an almost geometrical ratio.
progressionist, progressist, progres¬
sive, nn. The last is recommended.
PROHIBIT
464
pronouns
prohibit. The modern construc¬
tion, apart from that with an object
noun as in an Act prohibiting export ,
is f rom doing, not to do ; the OED
marks the latter as archaic, but it
is less archaism than ignorance of
idiom & the analogy of forbid that
accounts for it in such contexts as :__
Marshal Oijama prohibited his troops
to take quarter within the walls./The
German Government has decided to
issue a decree prohibiting all Govern¬
ment officials to strike. P. makes
-tor ; see -or.
prohibition. Pronounce proi- ; the
h is sounded, however, where the i
following it bears the accent, as in
prohibit itself. See Pronunciation.
project. Verb proje'kt, noun pro'-
jikt ; see Noun & verb accent.
The verb makes -tor ; see -or.
prolate, -lative. See Technical
terms.
prolegomena. A plural, of which
the sing., rarely used, is -menon.
prolepsis. See Technical terms.
prolific is in common use, but to
make a satisfactory noun from it
has passed the wit of man. Pro¬
lificacy, prolificalness, prolificity, cG
prolifiicness, have been tried & found
wanting ; substitutes such as fer¬
tility, productiveness, fruitfulness , are
the best solution.
prologue, -logize, -loguize. The
prevalent modern pronunciation is
prodog, but the OED gives prefer¬
ence to pro'log. In the verb it
seems best to spell -gize, the Greeks
having the verb -gizo, but with
licence at least (see Greek g) to
pronounce it pro'logiz.
promenade. Pronounce -ahd.
Promethean. See herculean.
prominence, -cy. The second is a
Needless variant. See -ce, -cy.
promiscuous. The colloquial use for
random, chance, casual, &c., springs
from Polysyllabic humour.
promise makes -sable ; see Mute e.
The noun promisor is confined to
legal use, & -er is the ordinary word.
P., vb, is liable to the abuse dis¬
cussed in Double passives : If it
had been taken down , even though
promised to be re-erected, it might
have shared the fate of Temple Bar.
promissory. So spelt, not -isoru
promote, l. P. makes -table; see
Mute e. 2. Construction. You can
p. a person to an archbishopric, or p
him to be archbishop , or p. him arch-
bishop , but not mix two of these &
P. him to archbishop. The unidiom-
atic construction, however, is now
commoner in the newspapers than
it should be : — The crowning glory
of an executive naval officer's career is
to be promoted to Admiral of the
Fleet./Major-General - has been
appointed to succeed Lieutenant-
General - as Director-General
{temp.) of the Army Medical Service,
<& has been promoted to Lieutenant-
General {temp.)./Over 1150 cadets of
the Military Colleges were promoted
to officers.
promulgate makes - atable, -tor ; see
-atable, -or.
pronounce makes -ceable; see
-able 1. Pronouncedly has four
syllables ; see -edly. Pronounce¬
ment is kept in being by the side of
pronunciation owing to complete
differentiation ; it means only de¬
claration or decision, which the
other never does.
PRONOUNS & pronominal adjectives
are rather tricky than difficult.
Those who go wrong over them do
so from heedlessness, & will mostly
plead guilty when they are charged.
It is enough to state the dangers
very shortly, & prove their existence
by sufficient citations. 1. There
must be a principal in existence for
the pronoun or proxy to act for.
2. The principal should not be very
far off. 3. There should not be two
parties justifying even a momentary
doubt about which the pronoun
represents. 4. One pronoun should
not represent two principals on one
occasion. 5. The pronoun should
seldom precede its principal.
1. No pronoun without a principal
in being. Viscount Wolverhampton ,
PRONOUNS, 2
465
PRONOUNS, 3
acting under medical advice, has
resigned the office of Lord President ,
do His Majesty the King has been
pleased to accept it (it is resignation ;
but as that word has not been used
we can only suppose H.M. to have
accepted the office)./The member
for Morpeth has long been held in the
highest respect by all who value
sterling character & whole-hearted
service in the cause of his fellows ;
it was Earl Grey who once declared
that Mr Burt was ‘ the finest gentle¬
man ’ he ever knew (His means a
man’s, & not, as grammar requires
since ‘ a man ’ has not been men¬
tioned, Mr Burt’s). /Now, the public
interest is that coal should be cheap
& abundant, & that it should be got
without the dangerous friction which
has attended the disputes between
masters & men in this trade. And,
if nationalization is to be the policy,
it looks to an assured peace in the
coal-trade as its main advantage.
For this it will pay a fair price & be
willing that a considerable experiment
should be made, but without the sure
prospect of such a peace it zvill see no
benefit to itself & a very doubtful
benefit to the miners in the change
from private to State ownership (Each
of these its means the public, not the
public interest). /The number of these
abstainers is certainly greater than can
be attributed to merely local or per¬
sonal causes, & those who have
watched the election agree that a por¬
tion of them are due to doubts cfc
uncertainties about the Insurance Act
(A portion, that is, of the absten¬
tions, not of the abstainers )./An
American Navy League Branch has
even been established in London, & is
influentially supported by their coun¬
trymen in this city (Whose country¬
men ?).
2. The principal should not be very
far off. We have to go further back
than the beginning of the following
extracts to learn who he & she are :—
And yet, as we read the pages of the
book, we feel that a work written when
the story is only as yet half told,
amid the turmoil of the events which
he is describing, can only be taken as
a provisional impression./It is always
a shock to find that there are still
writers who regard the war from the
standpoint of the sentimentalist. It
is true that this story comes from
America dk bears the traces of its
distance from the field of action. But
even distance cannolwholly excuse such
an exterior view as she permits herself.
3» There should not be two parties
justifying even a moment’s doubt
about winch the pronoun represents.
Mr Harcourt, who presided at a large
public meeting, declared that it was
his experience as Home Secretary
which changed Sir William Har-
courVs earlier views A convinced him
that drastic legislation teas necessary
(Mr H.’s experience, or Sir W.’s V
See also 5). /In the December previous
to his raid on the Tower he was chief
of a gang who, overpowering ins
attendants, seized the Duke of Ormonde
in St-James Street when returning
from a dinner-party (Ilis refers not
to the preceding he, but to the
following Duke ; see 5, & False
scent). /Four years, the years that
followed her marriage, suffice Lady
Younghusband for her somewhat
elaborate study, * Marie Antoinette :
Her Early Youth, 1770-1774 ’ (Not
Lady Y.’s marriage ; see False
scent). /Professor Geddes's fine ex¬
ample of sociology applied to Civics,
his plea for a comprehensive <& exact
survey of his own city as a branch of
natural history required for the culture
of every instructed citizen (The pro¬
fessor’s own city ? Ah, no ; here
comes, perhaps better late than
never, the true principalb/^ls it is,
the shortsighted obstinacy of the
bureaucracy has given its overwhelm¬
ing strength to the revolution (Not
bureaucracy’s, but revolution’s,
strength ; see also 5 )./Coriolanus
is the embodiment of a great noble ;
db the reiterated taunts which he hurls
in play after play at the rabble only
echo the general temper of the Renas¬
cence (Not Coriolanus, but Shak-
spere, is the hurler ; the interloping
of Coriolanus between Shakspere &
PRONOUNS, 4
466
his proxy makes things difficult for
the reader). /On the Lord Mayor's
left was Queen Elena, as calm &
placid as her husband, who had come
into the Guildhall in Parma violet
silk, with a large violet-coloured hat
& a bouquet of orchids of the same hue.
4. One pronoun, one job. ...which
opens up the bewildering question as
to how far the Duma really represents
the nation. The answer to this is far
from solving the Russian riddle, but
without answering it it is idle even
to discuss it (It represents, first, the
bewildering question, secondly, the
discussion of that riddle, & last, the
riddle itself—which is not the same
as the question )./This local option
in the amount of outdoor relief given
under the Poor Law has always
operated inequitably & been one of
the greatest blots on the system ; to
extend it to the first great benefit under
the Insurance Act will greatly lessen
its usefulness (It is the blot, but its
is the Act’s )./Again, unconsciousness
in the person himself of what he is
about, or of what others think of him,
is also a great heightener of the sense
of absurdity; it makes it come the
fuller home to us from his insensi¬
bility to it (It is first the unconscious¬
ness, secondly the sense of absurdity,
& thirdly absurdity).
5. The pronoun should seldom
precede its principal. For Plato,
being then about twenty-eight years
old, had listened to the 4 Apology ’ of
Socrates ; had heard from them all
that others had heard or seen of his
last hours (had heard from others all
that they had heard &c .)./The old
Liberal idea of cutting expenditure
down to the bone, so that his money
might fructify in the pocket of the
taxpayer, had given place to the idea
of .. . (the taxpayer’s money might
fructify in his pocket )./Both these
lines of criticism are taken simul¬
taneously in a message which its
special correspondent sends from
Laggan, in Alberta, to the Daily Mail
this morning (which the D. M. prints
this morning from its correspondent
&c ).
PRONUNCIATION
pronunciam(i)ento. The Spanish
spelling is with the i, but the OED
gives the English word without it
PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
PRONUNCIATION. The ambition
to do better than our neighbours is
in many departments of life a virtue;
in pronunciation it is a vice ; there
the only right ambition is to do as
our neighbours. It is true this at
once raises the question who our
neighbours are. To reply that some
people’s neighbours are the edu¬
cated, others’ the uneducated, &
others’ again a mixture, is not very
helpful in itself, suggesting social
shibboleths ; but there is truth in
it, for all that, which may serve us
if we divide words also into classes,
viz that of the words that everybody
knows & uses, & that of the words
that only the educated, or any other
section of us, know & use. As
regards the first of these classes, our
neighbour is the average English¬
man ; as regards the second, our
neighbour is our fellow member of
the educated or any other section.
The moral of which is that, while we
are entitled to display a certain
fastidious precision in our saying of
words that only the educated use,
we deserve not praise but censure
if we decline to accept the popular
pronunciation of popular words. To
make six syllables of extraordinary,
or end level & picture with a clear
-61 & -tur, or maintain the old
accent on the middle syllable of
contemplate, all everyday words—
these feats establish one’s culture at
the cost of one’s modesty, & perhaps
of one’s hearer’s patience. But if,
with some word that most of us pass
their lives without uttering— com-
minatory, for instance, or interca¬
lary —, a scholar likes to exhibit his
deftness in saying many successive
syllables after a single accent where
the vulgar would help themselves
out with a second one (kb'mlnctorl,
kd'mma'torl ; Inter'kalarl, I'ntcr-
k&'lari), why, no-one need mind
The broad principles are: Pro-
PRONUNCIATION
467
PROPENSITY
nounce as your neighbours do, not
better ; For words in general use,
your neighbour is tbe general public.
A few particular points may be
touched upon :—
Silent t. No effort should be made
to sound the t in the large classes of
words ending in - sten ( chasten,
fasten, listen) & -stle {castle, wrestle,
epistle, jostle, bustle), nor in often,
soften, ostler, nestling, waistcoat,
postpone. But some good people,
afraid they may be suspected of not
knowing how to spell, say the t in
self-defence.
Silent h. In Hunt has hurt his
head, it is nearly as bad to sound the
h of has & his as not to sound that
of Hunt & hurt & head. In many
compounds whose second element
begins with h, the h is silent unless
the accent falls on the syllable that
it begins ; so philhe'llenism sounds
the h, but philhelle'nic does not ;
similarly Phi'lharmo'nic has fl'lar-.
In nihilism the h should be silent,
though nihil , if there is occasion to
say the word, sounds it.
Demonetize & decolo(u)rize raise the
question whether the peculiar vowel
sound of money & colour (-u-) is to
be extended to derivatives involving
recurrence to the Latin nouns ;
-raon- is recommended, &, if de¬
colorize is spelt, as it should be,
without u, then -col-.
Clothes, forehead, fortune, fossil,
knowledge, are samples of the many
words whose spelling & ordinary
pronunciation do not correspond,
but with which mistaken attempts
are made to restore the supposed
true sound. They should he called
kloz, fd'rid, for'choon, fo'sl, no'llj,
in accordance with the principles
laid down above.
The variations ah & & for a, aw &
6 for ©, loo & lu for lu, are widely
prevalent in large classes of words
{pass, telegraph, ask ; gone, soft ,
loss ; lucid, absolute, illumine) ; it
need only be said that the first two
are roughly local distinctions, ah &
aw being southern & & & o northern,
while loo is displacing lu, especially
in certain positions (see lu), irre¬
spective of locality.
Obdurate & recondite , formerly ac¬
cented on the middle syllable, but
now more often on the first, repre¬
sent many more whose accent has
shifted or is shifting towards the
beginning ; but they are not in very
common use, so obdu'rate & reco'n-
dite are more often heard than
conte'mplate & illu'stratc ; see
Recessive accent.
For a particular affectedly refined
pronunciation, see girl.
Participles &c. of verbs &c. in
-er{r), -ur{r). Is erring to follow err
(er'ing) or errant (e'ring) ? are furry
& currish to be fer'i & ker'ish, or
fu'ri & ku'rish ? The OED is nearly
but not quite consistent ; in the
words concurring, currish, demurring,
deterring, erring, furry, purring, slur¬
ring, & spurring, the full er sound is
given ; recurring, however, is given
as riku'ring, & incurring & occurring
are not marked. It may be taken
that -ering &c. (not -Srlng, -uri, &c).
are the orthodox sounds.
Readers to whom the pronuncia¬
tion of English words derived from
Latin (very slightly touched upon in
False quantity) is bewildering will
find some clues in an interesting
article by the late John Sargeaunt
in S.P.E. Tract iv.
For an easily intelligible yet fairly
complete system of showing pronun¬
ciation in print, see Phonetics.
propaganda is singular, not plural :
c p., this p., &c. ; & the plural, if
required, is - as {The difference be¬
tween these propagandas is obvious
enough). But it is not unnaturally
mistaken for a Latin neuter plural =
things to be propagated ; it is in
fact a curtailed phrase Congregatio
de Propaganda, Fide = Board for
Propagating the Faith.
propagate makes -gable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
propel makes -lied, -lling, -liable ;
see -LL-, -L-.
propensity. That propensity of
lifting every problem from the plane
PROPER
468
PROPORTION
of the understandable by means of
some sort of mystic expression is
very Russian. P. to do or for doing,
not of doing ; the Analogy of
practice, habit, &c., is responsible.
proper makes -est; see -er <& -est 2.
prophecy, -sy. The noun prophecy.
the verb prophesy ; see licence.
prophetess. See Feminine de¬
signations.
prophetic. For my p. soul see
Hackneyed phrases.
prophetic(al). The -al form perhaps
lingers only in such phrases as the
-al books, in which the meaning is
definitely ‘ of the Prophets ’; -ic(al).
propitiate makes -liable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
propitiation. See -ciation.
proportion. It has been recorded
as a common Misapprehension
that p. is a sonorous improvement
upon part. What was meant will
be plain from the following examples,
in all of which the word has been
wrongly used because the writers,
or others whom they admire &
imitate, cannot resist the imposing
trisyllable ; the greater part, most,
&c., should be substituted ; see
Pomposities for other such tempta¬
tions. The greater proportion of
these old hands have by this tune
already dropped out ; it is estimated
that only 25,000 of them remain now
(Most of )./A few years ago the
largest proportion of the meat coming
through Smithficld had its origin in
the United States (the greater part)./
The total number of all classes <& all
nationalities carried outward <& in¬
ward on board British & foreign ships
was 6,053,382, of which the great
proportion were carried in British
ships (the great majority). /There
was a large <£ fashionable audience,
<&, as might be expected, the greater
proportion of them were natives of
India (most of them). /By far the
largest proportion of applications for
using the machinery of the Act came
from the employees (the most applica¬
tions). /The larger proportion of the
children received are those of un¬
married mothers (Most of)./Eighty
six estates worth over a quarter of
a million paid death duties, db the
total amount on which estate duty was
levied was nearly 273 millions staling-
the largest proportion of this came
from estates ranging between 11,000 &
£25,000 (The greater part).
‘ The word has been wrongly used \
It is not merely that here are two
words, each of which would give the
sense equally well, & that the writer
has unwisely allowed length to
decide the choice for him ; p. does
not give the sense so well as part.
Where p. does so far agree in sense
with part that the question of an
exchange between them is possible,
i.e. where it means not a ratio but
a quota or amount, there is never¬
theless a clear difference between
them ; a p. is indeed a part, but
a part viewed in a special light, viz
as having a quantitative relation to
its whole comparable with the same
relation between some analogous
whole & part. Thus a man who out
of an income of £500 spends £200
upon house-rent is rightly said to
spend a large p. of his income in
rent, if it is known that most people's
rent is about 1 /5 of their income;
p. is there a more precise & better
word than part, just because other
ratios exist for comparison. But to
say ‘ A large p. [instead of a large
part ] of these statements is unveri¬
fied ’, where there is no standard of
what ratio the verified facts bear to
the unverified in most stories, is to
use a worse long word instead of
a better short one.
The case is much stronger against
p. in the extracts, all of which, it
will be noticed, show a comparative
or superlative ( greater, largest, &c.)
accompanying p. & showing that
the comparison is not between two
ratios, that of the part & whole in
question & that of another part &
whole, e. g. the standard ones, but
simply between the two parts into
which one whole is divided ; of these
two parts of course one is greater
or less than or equal to the other,
PROPORTIONABLE
469
PROPOSITION
but that relation is adequately
given by greater &c. part, & only
confused by the dragging in of the
comparison of ratios expressed by
p. It is a clumsy blunder to use
words like greater & largest with p.
when the comparison is between
the parts of one whole & not
between the ratios borne by parts
of different wholes to their respective
wholes. To give contrasted ex¬
amples of the wrong & the right :
We passed the greater proportion of
our candidates is wrong ; read part;
We hope to pass a greater proportion
of our candidates next year is right.
For a parallel, see percentage.
proportionable, -nal, -nate. All
three adjectives have existed since
the 14th c., & it is presumptuous to
advise the superannuation of any
of them. The statement may be
ventured that the latest OED
quotation for - nable is dated 1832,
& that far from needing three words
we can hardly provide two with
separate functions ; the -al word is
better suited to the most general
sense of all, 4 concerned with pro¬
portion’, & the -ate word to the
particular sense ‘ analogous in quan¬
tity to ’, but -al & -ate are both so
fully in possession of the most usual
sense 4 in proportion ’ or 4 in due
proportion ’ that it is useless to
think of confining it to either.
proposal. See proposition.
propose. 1. P. makes -sable ; see
Mute e. 2. The Insurance Com¬
missioners proposed to be appointed
will give their whole time to the work
of the Commission. P. is one of the
verbs liable to be used in this
ungainly construction, for which see
Double passives.
proposition. The modern use as
a Vogue-word, in senses of which
the OED, in a section published so
recently as 1909, shows no trace,
is an Americanism. It runs riot in
20th-c. newspapers, but is so slightly
recognized in British dictionaries
that probably few people realize its
triumphant progress. Those who
will look through the instances
collected below may perhaps be
surprised to see the injury that is
being done by this single word to
the language, & resolve to eschew it.
Like mentality, it is resorted to
partly because it combines the
charms of novelty & length, &
partly because it ministers to lazi¬
ness ; there is less trouble in using
it than in choosing among the dozen
or so of words, one or other of them
more suitable, for any of which it
will pass.
It may be granted that there is
nothing unsound in principle about
the development of sense. Proposi¬
tion does or did mean propounding,
&, like other -tion words, may
naturally develop from that the
sense of thing propounded , from
which again is readily evolved the
sense thing to deal with, & that
sufficiently accounts for all or
nearly all the uses to be quoted.
And, on another line, there is no
objection to proposition's having
the sense proposal, except one—
that idiomatic usage is clean against
it, & that confusion between the two
words has been, until the American¬
ism reached us, very rare.
It is much to be desired that p.
should be brought back to its
former well defined functions in
Logic & Mathematics, & relieved of
its new status as Jack-of-all-trades.
Used for proposal : 4 Let us pull
down everything ’ seems to be his
proposition./Newman said to Mr
Hastings 4 You must share my room
& bed ’. This (says Mr Hastings)
was to me a curious proposition, but
one I had to accept./He prefaced his
speech by observing that he intended
to put Home Rule before them as a
business proposition.
Used for task, job, problem, objec¬
tive : Servia certainly is up against
a tough proposition./England has
now to meet France, which is a differ¬
ent proposition./With Mr Holbrooke's
4 XJlalume after Edgar Allan Poe,
came a much stiffer proposition, un¬
less one was prepared to . . ./Never
PROPOSITION
470
PROTAGONIST
let it be said again that the unlettered
British public are a hopeless proposi¬
tion in the matter of grand opera.
Used for undertaking, occupation,
trade : He has got a foothold mainly
because the English maker has been
occupied with propositions that give
a larger proportion of profit./Estab¬
lishing floating supply depots at
frequent intervals across the ocean,
a proposition which only a multi¬
millionaire could have undertaken./
The old spirit of common brotherhood
amongst the members dies day by day,
<£ insurance is becoming 4 a business
proposition \/For good or evil, rail¬
way nationalization is a vast business
proposition./Colonial Preference be¬
came the 4 sentimental side merely
appealing to the Colonies, of what had
become a business proposition./The
agriculturist asks that 4 corn-growing
shall become a paying proposition ’./
Agriculture in England can never
again become a paying proposition./
The future of the taximeter-cab pro¬
position in the Metropolis presents a
very interesting problem.
Used for opponent: F. Ouimet,
who played so brilliantly yesterday,
was the proposition the holder had to
face./The former is a very tough
proposition as an opponent in sin¬
gles./This Sixth Army now standing
opposite us was not a very fearsome
proposition./The Roumanian army
has proved a peculiarly tough pro¬
position.
Used Hot possibility, prospect: Petrol
at d. or d. a gallon was hardly
a commercial proposition./The only
way to increase the recruiting standard
of the Territorial Force is to make
the service a more attractive proposi¬
tion to the man <& the employer.
Used for area, field : The mining
district, according to the best informa¬
tion obtainable, is a placer proposi¬
tion, & placer mining ruins the land./
Lancashire is vitally interested to
secure a sufficient supply of cotton on
the Gezira plains in the Soudan, this
locality being what one speaker de¬
scribed as 4 the very finest cotton-grow¬
ing proposition in the ivhole world \
used tor method, experiment : The
territories will certainly require mam
novel propositions for their develop
ment. *
proprietress. See Feminine de-
SIGNATIONS.
propylaeum. Pi. -laea. For spell-
ing see je , ce.
prorogue makes -gable, -gation.
proscenium. PI. -ia.
proscribe makes -bable; see Mute e.
prosecute makes -table (see Mute e)*
-tor (see -or), -trix (see Feminine
DESIGNATIONS, & -TRIX).
proselyte makes -tism ; see Mute e.
prosify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
prosody. See Technical terms.
The adjective recommended is pro¬
sodic, & the -ist noun prosodist, for
which see -ist B on philanthropist.
prosopopoeia. Pronounce prosopo-
pe'a ; for spelling see m , ce, & for
meaning Technical terms.
prospect, vb, makes -tor; see -or.
The OED accents pro'spect, not
prospe'et, in the only current verb
senses ; but the analogy of similar
Noun & verb accents is almost
sure to prevail before long.
prospectus. PI. -tuses, not - ti; -us.
prosper makes -ered &c.; -r-, -rr-.
prostitute, vb, makes -utable, -lor;
see Mute e, -or.
prostrate. The adjective pro’strait,
the verb prostra'te; see Partici¬
ples 5 A.
prosy, not -sey ; see -ey & -y.
protagonist. 1. Pronunciation. 2.
Meaning & use.
1. Pronunciation. The popular
rendering is prot&'gonist; but, if
any weight is allowed to the con-
si derations advanced in 2, pro-
tago'nist would be better, (a) as
being the scholar’s natural way of
saying what should never have been
anything but a scholar’s word, &
(b) as at least discouraging the mis¬
taken notion that p. & antagonist
are a pair of words showing the
common contrast between pro- for
& anti- against.
2. Meaning & use. The word that
PROTAGONIST
471
PROTAGONIST
has so suddenly become a prime
favourite with journalists, who more
often than not make it mean cham¬
pion or advocate or defender, has
no right whatever to any of those
meanings, & almost certainly owes
them to the mistaking of the first
syllable (representing Greek protos
first) for pr6 on behalf of—a mistake
made easy by the accidental resem¬
blance to antagonist. ‘ Accidental ’,
since the Greek agonistes has differ¬
ent meanings in the two words, in
one combatant, but in the other
play-actor. The Greek protagonistes
means the actor who takes the chief
part in a play—a sense readily
admitting of figurative application
to the most conspicuous personage
in any affair. The deuteragonist &
tritagonist take parts of second &
third importance, & to talk of
several protagonists, or of a chief
p. or the like, is an absurdity as
great, to anyone who knows Greek,
as to call a man the p. of a cause or
of a person, instead of the p. of
a drama or of an affair. In the
newspapers it is a rarity to meet
p. in a legitimate sense ; but two
examples of it are put first in the
following collection. All the others
are (for Greek scholars, who perhaps
do not matter) outrages on this
learned-sounding word, because some
of them distinguish between chief pp.
& others who are not chief, some state
or imply that there are more pp. than
one in an affair, & the rest use p. as
a mere synonym for advocate.
Legitimate uses : In Jeppe the sub¬
sidiary personages do little more than
give the p. his cues./Marco Landi,
Ike p. & narrator of a story which is
skilfully contrived & excellently told,
is a fairly familiar type of soldier of
fortune.
Pro - and ant -: Protagonists &
antagonists make a point of ignoring
evils which militate against their
ideals.
Absurd uses with chief &c.: The
chief p. is a young Nonconformist
minister./Unlike a number of the
leading pp. in the Home Rule Hekt.
Sir Edward Carson was not in Par¬
liament when . . ./It presents a
spiritual conflict, centred about its
two chief pp., but shared in by all its
characters./
Absurd plural uses : One of the pp.
of that glorious fight for Parliamen¬
tary Reform in 1866 is still actively
among us./One of these immense pp.
must fall, &, as we have already
foreshadowed, it is the Duke./By a
tragic but rapid process of elimination
most of the pp. have now been re¬
moved./As on a stage where all the
pp. of a drama assemble at the end
of the last act./That letter is essential
to a true understanding of the relations
of the three great pp. at this period./
The pp. in the drama, which has the
motion & structure of a Greek tragedy,
are . . . (Fie! fie! a Greek tragedy
& pp. ?).
Confusions with advocate &c. : The
new Warden is a strenuous p. of that
party in Convocation./Mr -, an
enthusiastic p. of militant Protestant¬
ism./The chief p. on the coinpany's
side in the latest railway strike, Mr
- - -./It was a happy thought that
placed in the hands of the son of one
of the great pp. of Evolution the
materials for the biography of another./
But most of the pp. of this demand
have since shifted their ground./As
for what the medium himself or his
pp. may think of them—for etymo¬
logical purposes that is neither here nor
there.
It was admitted above that we
need perhaps not consider the Greek
scholar’s feelings ; he has many
advantages over the rest of us, &
cannot expect that in addition he
shall be allowed to forbid us a word
that we find useful. Is it useful ?
or is it merely a pretentious blunder¬
ing substitute for words that are
useful ? Pro- in protagonist is not
the opposite of anti- ; -agonist is not
the same as in antagonist ; advocate
& champion & defender & combatant
are better words for the wrong
senses given to p., & p. in its right
sense of the (not a) chief actor in an
affair has still work to do if it
protasis. PI. -ases (-ez) ; see
Latin plurals 2 ; &, for meaning,
Technical terms.
protean. Pronounce pro'tlan ; see
HERCULEAN.
protect makes -lor (see -or), - tress
(see Feminine designations).
protegS. See French words. A
female p. is spelt -6e, pi. -ees.
protest. Verb prote'st, noun pro'-
tSst ; see Noun & verb accent.
The verb makes -tor, but it is less
used than -ter.
protestant, when used as adjective
or noun without reference to the
specialized sense in religion, is often
pronounced protS'stant for dis¬
tinction.
Proteus. Pronounce pro'tus.
protocol, vb, has - lied, -lling ; -ll-, -l-.
prot(h)onotary. The spelling with¬
out h, & the pronunciation with
-n5- as the accented syllable, are
recommended ; but prot(h)o'notari
is also permissible. ‘ Both pronun¬
ciations, with the variants proto- &
protho-, are now in official use in
different quarters OED.
prototype. William Hickey, gay
young man about town, . . . would be
amazed if he could see his prototype
of today drinking barley-water at
luncheon./The book is 4 A Guide to
Modern Cookery ’, cb the author is no
less an authority than M. Escojfier,
the ruler of the Carlton roast, the
modern prototype of the immortal
Brillat-Savarin, cb . . ./It is per¬
plexing to find the American Ex¬
peditionary Force described as 4 the
immortal prototype of Britain’s
gallant 44 First Seven Divisions ”
until you find that for Mr - the
word 4 prototype ’ has exactly the
opposite meaning of that which is
given in the dictionary. And by no
means for Mr -alone ; for type,
antitype, cb prototype, see type.
protract makes -tor ; see -or.
protrude makes -dable (see Mute e),
recommended in preference to pro.
trusible ; see -able 2. *
protyle (original undifferentiated
matter). A Barbarism : prothul
would be better. F y
prove makes -vable ; see Mute e.
Proved, not proven, is the regular
p.p., the latter being properly from
the verb preve used in Scotland
after it had given way to prove in
England ; cf. weave woven, cleave
cloven. Except in the phrase not
proven as a quotation from Scotch
law, proven is better left alone.
provenance, provenience. The word
is, & will doubtless continue to be,
in literary use only. It is therefore
needless to take exception to the
first much better known form on the
ground that it is French & try to
convert the literary to the second,
even if it is better in itself.
provide makes -dable ; see Mute e.
provided (that). The following
examples show that care is needed
in substituting this for if: — Gan-
ganclli would never have been poisoned
provided he had had nephews about to
take care of his life./The kicks &
blows which my husband Launcelot
was in the habit of giving me every
night, provided 1 came home with less
than five shillings./She & I agreed
to stand by each other, & be true to old
Church of England, cb to give our
governors warning, provided they tried
to make us renegades./A society has
just been founded at Saratoff, the
object being, as the members declare
in a manifesto to the Liberals, to use
violent methods cb even bombs provided
the latter do so themselves./The chances
are that the direction to proceed to
Vladivostok at all costs, provided such
instruction were ever given, may have
been reconsidered./When will the War
Council at the capital decide provided
the war is to continue ?
It will be agreed that if should
have been written in all, & the
object-lesson is perhaps enough.
Those who wish for an abstract
statement in addition may find that
the following test, applied to each
PROTASIS
472
provided
could only be allowed to mind its
own business.
PROVINCE
473
PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT
of the examples, will compel their
rejection : A clause introduced by
provided must express a stipulation
(i.e. a demand for the prior fulfil¬
ment of a condition) made by the
person who in the main sentence
gives a conditional undertaking or
vouches conditionally for a fact.
province. For synonyms, see field.
proviso. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
provoke. For the adjective pro¬
vocable (pro'vokabl) is recommended
in preference to provokable (pro-
vd'kabl).
provost. In the names of military-
police officials, pronounce provo',
elsewhere pro'vost.
proximo accessit. PI., used in
naming more than one, proximo
accesserunt (aksfiser'unt).
prox(imo). See instant.
prude makes -dish ; see Mute e.
prudent makes -est ; -er & -est 4.
prudent(ial). While -ent means
having or showing prudence, -ial
means pertaining to, or considered
from the point of view of, or dictated
by, prudence. To call an act -ent is
normally to commend it ; to call it
-ial is more often than not to dis¬
parage it. A prisoner’s refusal to go
into the witness-box is prudential
but not prudent if he refuses for
fear of giving himself away but
actually creates prejudice against
himself, prudent but not prudential
if it deprives the prosecution of a
necessary link in the evidence but
is dictated merely by bravado, &
both or neither in conditions as easy
to invent. But the difference is
sometimes neglected, & - ial pre¬
ferred merely as a Long variant.
prud’homme. See French words.
prune, vb, makes -noble ; Mute e.
prunella. For the meaning of
leather or (usually misquoted &) p.,
see leather 2.
prunello. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
prurience, -cy. There is no differ¬
entiation ; -ence is recommended ;
see -ce, -cy.
prurigo. Pronounce proori'gS ; pi.
-os; see -o(e)s 6.
pry. For inflexions, see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
PS-. With the advance of literacy
the pronunciation of the p in words
beginning thus is likely to be
restored except in psalm & its
family, e.g. in the compounds of
pseud(o)- & such important words
as psychical & psychology. The
OED describes the dropping of the
p sound as ‘ an unscholarly practice
often leading to ambiguity or to
a disguising of the composition of
the word ’.
pseud(o)-o For the sound, see ps-.
pseudonym. See nom-de-guerre,
Psyche. Pronounce psi'ki ; see ps-.
psychic(al). Both forms have been
& are in common use in all senses,
& differentiation has not yet started;
but -al is, partly perhaps as corre¬
sponding in form to the frequent
antithesis physical, tending to pre¬
vail ; see -ic(al). The spiritualists
have indeed taken possession of -ic
as a noun (= medium ?), & the rest
of us might without much loss let
them have it to themselves. Pro¬
nounce psi'kik-; see ps-.
psychological moment. The original
German phrase, misinterpreted by
the French & imported together
with its false sense into English,
meant the psychic factor, the mental
effect, the influence exerted by a
state of mind, & not a point of time
at all, das Moment in German corre¬
sponding to our momentum, not our
moment. Mistake & all, however,
it did for a time express a useful
notion, that of the moment at which
a person is in a favourable state of
mind (such as a skilled psychologist
could choose) for one’s dealings with
him to produce the effect one de¬
sires. But, like other Popularized
technicalities, it has lost its
special sense & been widened till it
means nothing more definite than
the nick of time, to which as an
expression of the same notion it is
plainly inferior. It should be
avoided in the extended sense as a
PSYCHOSIS
474
Hackneyed phrase, & at least
restricted to contexts in which
■psychological is appropriate; see
also Irrelevant allusion. Three
examples follow, going from bad to
worse '.—It is difficult to believe that
grievances which have been spread
over many years have suddenly reached
ihe breaking-point at the precise p. m.
when the Franco-German settlement
was reaching its conclusion./There is
a feeling that the p. m. has come to
fight with some hope of success against
la vie chdre./Everything goes right, no
sleeping calf or loud-crowing cock
grouse is disturbed at the p. m., the
wind holds fair.
psychosis. PI. -oses (- ez ); see
Latin plurals 2.
PT-. In ptarmigan, & in Ptolemy
& its derivatives, the p is always
silent. In other words the OED
favours its being sounded ; cf. ps-.
But ptomaine is perhaps the only
one sufficiently common in talk for
the pronunciation to matter.
ptomaine. The OED stigmatizes
toraa'n as an illiterate pronuncia¬
tion ; but, as with cocaine, it is
impracticable to maintain the three-
syllable (p)t5'maln.
pub. See Curtailed words.
pucka, pakka, pucca, pukka, &c.
The OED gives precedence to the
first spelling.
pucker makes -ered &c.; -r-, -rr-.
pudenda, -dum, are used indiffer¬
ently with the same sense, but the
first with plural, the second with
singular, construct : on.
puggree, puggaree. The OED
treats the first as the standard form,
puisne. Pronounce pu'ni.
puissant. The disyllabic pwi'sant,
the older pronunciation, is recom¬
mended, the word itself being
archaic. P. makes -est ; -er & -est 4.
pulley. PI. -eys ; for verb inflex¬
ions see Verbs in -ie &c., 2.
pullulate. Pronounce pix'lulat.
pulpify. For inflexions see Verbs
sn -ie &c„ 6.
purism
pulque. Pronounce poo'lkl
pulsate makes - atable , -tsr - RP<1
-able 1, -or. 1 8ee
t P ulse (heart-beat). The OED savs
Formerly sometimes construed erro
neously as a plural The mistake
is still made.
pulverize makes -zable; see Mute e
pummel. See pommel.
pun. The assumption that puns
are per se contemptible betrayed by
the habit of describing every pun
not as a pun, but as a bad pun or
a feeble pun, is a sign at once of
sheepish docility & desire to seem
superior. Puns are good, bad, &
indifferent, & only those who lack
the wit to make them are unaware
of the fact.
Punchinello. Plural -os ; -o(e)s 3.
punctilio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
punctuate makes - uable, -tor ; see
-able l, -or.
punctum. PI. - ta .
puncture, vb, makes -rable ; see
Mute e.
pundit. For the correction of this
into pandit, see Didacticism.
pupa. PI. -ae.
pupil. For the derivatives pupil-
(l)age, pupil(l)ary, pupil(l)ate, pupil-
( l)ed, pupil(l)ize, &c., the double I is
recommended : see -ll-, -l-.
purchase, vb, makes -sable ; sec
Mute e. As a substitute for buy
(goods for money), p. is to be
classed among Formal words ;
but in figurative use (p. victory by
sacrifice &c.) it is not open to the
same objection.
puree. See French words.
purge makes -geable ; see -able 1.
purify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
PURISM. Now & then a person
may be heard to ‘ confess in the
pride that apes humility, to being
‘ a bit of a purist *; but purist &
purism are for the most part missile
words, which we all of us fling at
anyone who insults us by finding
not good enough for him some
manner of speech that is good
PURISM
475
PURPORT
enough for us. It is in that dis¬
paraging sense that the words are
used in this book; by purism is to
be understood a needless & irritating
insistence on purity or correctness
of speech. Pure English, however,
even apart from the great number
of elements (vocabulary, grammar,
idiom, pronunciation, & so forth)
that go to make it up, is so relative
a term that almost every man is
potentially a purist & a sloven at
once to persons looking at him from
a lower & a higher position in the
scale than his own. The words have
therefore not been very freely used ;
that they should be renounced alto¬
gether would be too much to expect
considering the subject of the book.
But readers who find a usage
stigmatized as purism have a right
to know the stigmatizer’s place in
the purist scale, if his stigma is not
to be valueless. Accordingly, under
headings of various matters with
which purism is concerned, a few
articles are now mentioned illus¬
trating the kind of view that may
be expected in other articles of a
similar nature :—
Word-formation : amoral, coastal,
funniment. Hybrid derivatives,
pleistocene.
New words : happenings, men¬
tality, protagonist.
Old words : howbeit.
Foreign words : French words,
Gallicisms.
Foreign senses : intrigue, meti¬
culous.
Distinctions of sense : apt, defini¬
tive, masterful, one.
Precision of sense : ago, because,
England, Haziness, only. Pleonasm.
Popular misuses : aggravate, asset,
dastard, idiosyncrasy, journal, op¬
timism, otherwise, percentage, Pop¬
ularized technicalities.
Corrections : bar sinister, Mahomet,
morale, naif, plain sailing.
Bad constructions : avail, different,
Double passive, due, Fused par¬
ticiple, infringe, Object-shuffling,
oblivious.
Idiom ; first, follow, Idiom, like.
Framework : and, between, neither,
of, or Position of adverbs. Pre¬
position at end.
Pronunciation : apophthegm, False
quantity, often, philharmonic, Pro¬
nunciation, Ps-.
Spelling : gypsy, Mute e.
Sound : Jingles.
puritanic(al). The long form is
commoner, & there is no perceptible
( difference in meaning. The exist¬
ence of a third adjective puritan,
which suffices for the mere labelling
function (= of the puritans), makes
the -ic form even less useful than it
might otherwise be, & it will prob¬
ably be squeezed out ; see -ic(al).
purple makes - lish, - ly ; see Mute k,
purport. I. Noun per'port, verb
perpor't ; see Noun & verb accent,
2. Meaning. The word is one that,
whether as noun or as verb, requires
cautious handling. The noun may
be said to mean ‘ what appears to
be the significance ’ (of a document,
an action, &c.) ; its special value is
that it is non-committal, & abstains
from either endorsing or denying,
but lightly questions, the truth of
the appearance. When such an
implication is not useful, the word
is out of place, & tenor, substance,
pith, gist, or other synonym, should
be preferred. But Novelty-hunt¬
ing discovers p. sometimes in place
of scope or purview, & even of
purpose. Read purview or scope in :
In ‘ A Note on Robert Fergusson ’ he
touches a theme outside the general
purport of the book.
As to the verb, there are certain
well-defined idiomatic limitations
on its use, one of which, in an ugly
recent development, is beginning to
be neglected. This development is
the use of the passive, as in :— Pro¬
fessor Henslow compiles from pub¬
lished works the information as to the
other world , Christian life & doc¬
trines, the nature of man, <fcc., pur¬
ported to be conveyed in communi¬
cations from ‘ the other side './Many
extracts from speeches purported to
have been made by Mr Redmond
PURPOSE
476
PURULENT
are pure fabrications./An alternative,
brief er, & much more probable account
of the Controversial Parts of the
Dialogue Purported to be Recorded
in the Republic of Plato./He had no
information of a Treaty between
Japan & Germany purported to have
been made during the war. Though
the verb is an old one, there is in
the OED quotations only one pas¬
sive use, & that dated 1894. The
above extracts are doubtless due to
the corrupting influence of the
Double passive ; that construction
is especially gratuitous with p., the
sense of which fits it to serve, in the
active, as a passive to suppose,
represent , &c. In all the extracts
supposed would stand ; pretentious¬
ness has suggested purport as a less
familiar & therefore more imposing
verb, & ignorance has chosen the
wrong part of it ( purported ) instead
of the right ( purporting ).
> The first idiomatic limitation, then,
is that the verb, though not strictly
intransitive only {It purports, i.e.
it is to the effect, that someone from
Oxfordshire applied), should never
be used in the passive. The second
is that the subject, w 7 hich is seldom
a person at all, should at any rate
not be a person as such—only a
person viewed as a phenomenon of
which the nature is indicated by
speech, actions, &c., as the nature
of a document is indicated by its
wording. Normal subject : The
story purports to be an autobiography.
Legitimate personal subject : The
Gibeonites sent men to Joshua pur¬
porting to be ambassadors from a far
country. Illegitimate personal sub¬
ject : She purports to find a close
parallel between the Aeschylean Tri¬
logy & The Ring, but she does it by
leaving out Siegfried altogether./Sir
Henry is purported to have said ‘ The
F.A. are responsible for everything
inside the Stadium './Its genuineness
is denied by Rakovsky <& by both
Zinoviev <& McManus, who are pur¬
ported to have signed it.
purpose, n. It serves very little
purpose to ask the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to give a little more in this
/i/%* /i /i a . i I m rva«
direction or in that. There are three
idioms : Be to the , to {very) little
to no, p. ; Do something to some
to much, to no, to {very) little, v •
Serve the, my &c., no, p. These
should not (see Cast-iron idiom) be
confused. Serve very little purpose
is a mixture of the third with one
of the others.
purpose, vb., has -sable ; Mute e.
purposive (‘ an anomalous form
OED) is one of the Hybrid de¬
rivatives described in the article of
that name as spurious ; the Latin
suffix -ive is unsuited to the delatin-
ized & anglogallicized pur-, which
represents but conceals the Latin
pro. Purposeful in some contexts,
& purposed in others, will meet
most needs, & there are deliberate ,
designed, adaptive, teleological, &
many more synonyms. In the first
of the following extracts purposeful ,
& in the second adaptive, would
enable p. to be dispensed with
The tendency is all in the direction
of what Mr Masterman calls national
self-consciousness ; progress, steady
& purposive, by the means of social
science./The material origin of all
purposive reactions would be ade¬
quately explained by the theory of
natural selection.
purr. For purring see Pronun¬
ciation s.f.
pur sang. See French words.
The men who direct it are pur-sang
mandarins, trained in all the tradi¬
tions of a bureaucracy which lives
not for, but on, the people. If one is
brave enough to use the French
words, one should be brave enough
to place them as such — are man¬
darins pur sang.
purse, vb, makes -sable ; Mute e.
purseful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
pursuant(ly). See Quasi-adverbs.
pursue makes -uable ; see Mute e.
pursuivant. Pron. per'swlvant.
pursy, not -sey ; see -ey_&jY.
purulent. Pronounce pur'oolent.
PURVEY
477
QUALM
purvey makes -or. For inflexions
see Verbs in -ie &c., 2.
purview. For synonyms see field.
Pushtoo. Pronounce pu-, not poo-,
pussy. So spelt; see *ey, -ie, -y.
put(t). According to the OED the
pronunciation pfit, with or without
the additional -t, & with verbal
forms putted instead of put , is
universal in golf, but only Scotch in
weight-putting.
putrefy. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
putrid makes - est; see -er & -est 4.
puttee. Pronounce pu'ti, not pate',
putty. For verb inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
pyaemia. See je, ce.
pygmean, -aean. The first is re¬
commended ; see m, <e. Pron.
plgme'an.
pygmy, pi-. For the reason why
py- is the better, see gypsy.
pyjamas, pa-. Spell py-, & pro¬
nounce pijah'maz. The adjective
should be pyjama'd ; see -ed & ’d.
pylon. PI. -s ; see -on 3.
pyorrhoea. Write so ; see m, ce.
pyra midal . Pronounce pir&'midl,
not pirami'dl.
pyrites. Pronounce piri'tez.
pyrrhic. See Technical terms.
Q
qua is sometimes misused like
other Latin words ; see e. g., i. e.,
PAck, re, vide. The real occasion
for the use of q. occurs when a person
or thing spoken of can be regarded
from more than one point of view
or as the holder of various coexistent
functions, & a statement about him
(or it) is to be limited to him in one
of these aspects : Qua lover lie must
be condemned jot doing what qua
citizen he would be condemned for not
doing ; the lover aspect is distin¬
guished from another aspect in
which he may be regarded. The
two nouns (or pronouns) must be
present, one denoting the person or
thing in all aspects (he), & the other
singling out one of his or its aspects
(lover, or citizen). In the first ex¬
tract below, a gross misuse, Great
Britain, & Ireland, are not aspects
of the conviction, but things as
different from a conviction as an
hour from a walking-stick. In the
second, a much less definite offence,
financier &c. do not give aspects of
the man to be distinguished from
other coexistent aspects, but merely
successive occupations ; the fault is
that the occasion does not justify
the substitution of the very precise
qua for the here quite sufficient as.
The root of this conviction, qua Great
Britain, is the preposterous fiction of
the military value of the Ulster volun¬
teers ; & the root of this conviction,
qua Ireland, is the shameful & cruel
bamboozling of a section of my un¬
fortunate fellow-Provincials into the
delusion that few soldiers & no
artillery will be available against
them./The familiar gentleman burglar
who, having played wolf to his fellows
qua financier, journalist, & barrister,
undertakes to raise burglary from
being a trade at least to the lupine
level of those professions.
quad. See Curtailed words.
quadrate. The verb kwadra't, the
adjective & noun kwo'drat;
Participles 5 A.
quadr(i)ennium, -ial. Quadrien-
nium is true Latin, & the -i- should
not be, but usually is, dropped in
the English words.
quadriga. Pron. kivadri'ga; pi. -gae.
quadrille. Pronounce ka- or kwa-.
quadrillion. See billion.
quadroon. See mulatto 2.
quadruplicate. Verb -at, adj. & n.
-at ; see Participles 5 B.
quaere, the original of query, is now
little used, & nothing is gained by
keeping it in being.
quaestor. See je, ce.
qualify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
quality. 1. For 4 has the defects
of his qq.’ see Hackneyed phrases.
2. The adj. is - itative , not -itive ; see
Quantitative.
qualm. The OED puts first the
pronunciation kwahm.
quandary
quandary The pronunciation
kwondar i ( the original stressing
. D ) , IS recommended, the word
nnl ng ii la + r « y a P°P uIar colloquial
one j, But ^Recessive accent, givincr
kwo ndan, has been at work with it*
quand meme. See French words
quantify. For inflexions see Verbs'
in -IE &e., 6.
quantitative. The long form is the
right ; but the use of the shortened
one is more frequent, & perhaps less
of a mere inadvertence, than that of
quahtive for qualitative, & authoritive :
Ana what is true of railway traffic is
true, so far as this quantitive economy
of labour is concerned, of all industry
m which mechanical power & labour-
saving appliances are employed ; & see
Long variants s.f. In the light of
the Latin words tempestivus, primi¬
tive, & adoptivus, anomalous in dif¬
ferent ways, it would be rash to say
that quantitive, qualitive, & auihori-
tive, were not defensible forms ; but
at any rate good English usage is
against them.
quantity. A negligible q. is a
Popularized technicality, often
used where negligible by itself gives
all that is wanted, in the way noted
in Irrelevant allusion.
quarenden, -der, quarantine, the
apple. The OED treats the first as
the standard form.
quarrel makes -lied &c.; -ll-, -l-.
quarry, vb. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
quart (fencing). See carte.
quarter, n. 1. Hyphening. 2.
Constructions. 1. Hyphening. Quar¬
ter mile, not quarter-mile ; but
quarter-day, not quarter day ; the
difference depends upon the accent,
is explained in Hyphens h B ;
winter quarters, similarly, should be
two separate words. 2. Construc¬
tions. For a q. of the price, for q. of
the price, for a q. the price, for q. the
price, are all blameless English.
After three cfi a q. centuries, or three
centuries cfc a q. ? See half.
quarter, vb, makes -ering, -ered,
; see -R-, -RR-.
querist
&c.
quartet(te). Spell -el ; DV Z
Quasi-adverbs. He was rolling 1
his sleeves preparatory to punthZ
my head. From a narrowly gran/
matical point of view, the word
should be preparatorily ; but ii
never is except in the mouths of
those who know just enough gram,
mar to be timid about it. The
adjective is loosely attached to the
action described in ‘ rolling up his
sleeves ’. Most of those who would
correct, or be tempted to correct
preparatory to preparatorily feel no
temptation to write accordinglu
instead of according, as or to, because
the latter is so familiar as not to
draw their attention. See also
unidiomatic -LY, in which words of
a slightly different kind are con-
sidered. It should be observed that
it is only certain adjectives with
which the use is idiomatic; for
instance, He did it contrary to my
wishes, but neither opposite to nor
different from them. A few of the
adjectives concerned are : according
& pursuant; contrary ; doubtless ;
preliminary, preparatory, previous,
& prior; irrespective & regardless.
Another pair of adjectives exhibiting
the same arbitrary distinction of
idiom as that between contrary &
opposite is due & owing.
quassia. The pronunciation likely
to prevail is kwd'sha.
quater-centenary. The form re¬
commended is quadringenary ; see
CENTENARY.
quaternarius. See Teciinicalterms.
quatorzain. See -stich. Pro¬
nounce kh'terzan.
quatrain. See -stich. Pronounce
kwo'tran.
quatrefoil. Pron. k&'ter- or k&'tre-.
quattrocento. Pronounce -chS'nto;
see Italian sounds, & trecento.
quaver makes -ered &c. ; -r-, -rr-.
queen. For the Q. of the Adriatic
see Sobriquets.
queenly. For the adverb, see -lily.
quenelle. See French words.
querist. The form queryist would
querulous
479
QUIETEN
be better (see -ist, & cf. accompany -
ist ), but q. seems established,
querulous. Pronounce -roo-.
query, vb. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
qu e s tio n. 1. For leading ques¬
tion, see that article. 2. For pre¬
vious q., see previous 3. 3. For
order of words in indirect questions
(He asked what was he to do &c.), see
Indirect question. 4. For the
question mark wrongly & rightly
used, see Stops. 5. For beg the
question , see Technical terms.
C. Question as to. This ugly & need¬
less but now common formula is
discussed & illustrated under as 3 ;
but it is worth while to repeat here
that it is at its worst when question
has the y as in :— When the nation
repudiated Papal authority, the ques¬
tion naturally arose as to who were
to have the endowments./From time
to time there appears in the weekly
Revenue Statement an item on the
expenditure side of 4 War Loans &
Exchequer Ronds ’, & the question
has cropped up as to its meaning.
The reason is that you do not say
the instead of a question unless
either it is already known what q.
is meant or you are about to supply
that information at once ; the
function of the as to phrase is to
fulfil expectation of the latter pro¬
cedure ; that is, you explain in it
what the q. is, not what it concerns ;
& to do that you must use an inter¬
rogative clause in simple apposition
with q. ( the q. who was to have), or,
if a noun is to be used instead of
such a clause, attach that noun to
q. by of (the q. of its meaning) ; of
is the preposition that expresses
identity, as in the dty of Exeter , the
crime of murder.
question, vb, makes -oned &c. ;
see -n-, -NN-.
* questionnaire is too recent an
importation to be in the OED
(1904). It should be treated like
commissionaire, lose an n, & be
called kw&schonar', not kgstlonar'.
But is the noun questionary ( 4 rare ’
OED, but quoted from 16th &
19th cc.) too far gone to be resus¬
citated ? Commentary, glossary,
dictionary, & vocabulary, with many
less common words would keep it
well in countenance, & the success
of closure (see Revivals) lends hope
to the attempt. Cf. also, under
intended, the case Betrothed v «
Fianc6(e).
queue. Pronounce ku.
quid (sovereign). With plural
numbers, use quid , not quids.
quiescence, -cy. The former is
best ; see -ce, -cy.
quiet, adj., makes -er, -est.
quiet, n., quietness, quietude. The
first is much more used than the
others ; it is possible to distinguish
roughly the senses to which each is
more appropriate, but often there
is a legitimate choice between two
points of view. Quiet is a state of
tilings or an atmosphere : A period
of quiet followed ; Seeking quiet &
rest. Quietness is a quality exhibited
by something : The quietness of his
manner, of rubber tires. Quietude
is a habit or practice : Quietude is
out of fashion in these days. An
example of each follows in which
(if what has been said above is true)
one of the others would have been
preferable :— How becomingly that
self-respecting quiet sat upon their
high-bred figures (quietude) ; Enjoy¬
ing the fruit of his victory, peace &
quietness (quiet) ; The quietude of
the meadows made them his favourite
resorts (quietness or quiet).
quieten, whether as transitive or
as intransitive, is a Superfluous
word. Whether that can be attributed
to genuine American support or to
a quietening down of the speculative
position is a matter of some doubt./
GERMAN OPINION EXCITED:
War Correspondents' Attempts to
Quieten lt./Real Prussianism would
soon quieten Ireland. It is perhaps
used chiefly not in preference to
quiet, but by writers who are hardly
aware that there is such a verb as
quiet ; at any rate, while good
quinarius
480
writers seem to avoid it,
mon in uneducated talk.
VARIANTS, & -EN VERBS.
it is com-
See Long
quinarius. See Technical terms.
qumte. See French words.
quintet(te). Spell -et ; see duet.
quintiliion. See billion.
quire, choir. See choir.
quite. 1. Excessive use of q. often
amounts to a Mannerism, & many
writers would do well to convict &
cure themselves of it by looking
over a few pages or columns of their
work. 2. The now favourite col¬
loquial formula ‘ quite all right ’
is a foolish Pleonasm, quite & all
being identical in sense ; 4 quite
right ’ is all right, & 4 all right ’ is
quite right, but 4 quite all right ’ is
all quite wrong. 3. Quite (so).
Many people are in the habit of
conveying their assent to a state¬
ment that has just been made to
them in talk by the single word
quite, where the rest of us say quite
so. Oddly enough, they are mostly
of a class that should know better,
the class that attaches some im¬
portance to the way things are said ;
quite sounds to them neater, con-
ciser, than quite so. What they do
not realize is that choice between
the two is sometimes open to them,
but by no means always ; used in
wrong places, quite is an example of
Slipshod extension. Three speci¬
men exchanges will make the matter
clear :—(a) He seems to be mad.—
Quite, (b) To demand that English-
■ j
men should act on logic is absurd.
Quite (so), but ... (c) Well, any¬
how, he did it.—Quite so, but the
question is . . . In a, quite so would
be out of place, because what is to
be qualified by quite is simply the
word mad, understood directly from
what precedes. In b, choice is open ;
quite will amount to quite absurd
(as in a) ; quite so will amount to
it is quite as you say ; & the general
effect of each is the same. In c,
quite would be wrong, because the
other speaker’s words do not supply
anything, as in a & b, for quite to
QUOTATION
qualify ; the sense is clearlv « *
he quite did it, but, as in the second
alternative of b, it is quite
l “ f•, Th . e ba <i modern use S ? n
actual life, is well shown in this
scrap of lawcourt examination!
There was no power in anyone to
bring the child back ? — Quite.
quiver. For have one’s quiver full
see Hackneyed phrases. ’
qui vive. See French words.
quoin, quoit. Pronounce koi-.
quondam. See late &c.
quorum. PI. -urns, not -a; see
-um, & Latin plurals.
quota. Pi. -as.
Quotation. Didactic & pole
mi cal writers quote passages from
others to support themselves by
authority or to provide themselves
with something to controvert; critics
quote from the books they examine
in illustration of their estimates.
These are matters of business on
which no general advice need be
offered. But the literary or decora¬
tive quotation is another thing.
A writer expresses himself in words
that have been used before because
they give his meaning better than
he can give it himself, or because
they are beautiful or witty, or be¬
cause he expects them to touch
a chord of association in his reader,
or because he wishes to show that
he is learned or well read. Quota¬
tions due to the last motive are
invariably ill advised ; the dis¬
cerning reader detects it & is con¬
temptuous ; the undiscerning is
perhaps impressed, but even then
is at the same time repelled, pre¬
tentious quotations being the surest
road to tedium ; the less experienced
a writer is, & therefore on the whole
the less well read he is also, the more
is he tempted to this error; the
experienced knows he had better
avoid it ; & the well-read, aware*
that he could quote if he would, is
not afraid that readers will think
he cannot. Quoting for association’s
sake has more chance of success,
or les3 certainty of failure ; but it
QUOTATION
481
QUOTH
needs a homogeneous audience ;
if a jest’s prosperity lies in the ear
of him that hears it, so too does a
quotation’s ; to each reader those
quotations are agreeable that neither
strike him as hackneyed nor rebuke
his ignorance by their complete
novelty, but rouse dormant memor¬
ies ; quotation, then, should be
adapted to the probable reader’s
degree of cultivation ; which pre¬
sents a very pretty problem to those
who have a mixed audience to face;
the less mixed the audience, the
safer is it to quote for association.
Lastly, the sayings wise or witty or
beautiful with which it may occur
to us to adorn our own inferior
matter, not for business, not for
benefit of clergy, not for charm of
association, but as carvings on a
cathedral facade, or pictures on the
wall, or shells in a bowerbird’s run,
have we the skill to choose & place
them ? are we architects, or bric-4-
brac dealers, or what ?
Enough has perhaps been said to
indicate generally the dangers of
quoting. A few examples follow of
oddities that may serve as particular
warnings ; see also Misquotation.
PRETENTIOUSNESS
In the summer of 1867 England
received with strange welcome a strange
visitor. 4 Quis novus hie nostris
successit sedibus hospes ? ’ Looking
forward into the future we may indeed
apply yet other words of Dido, db say
of the new comer to these shores
‘Quibus ille jactatus fatis ! ’ It was
the Sultan of Turkey who came to
visit England.
MANGLINGS
It may seem somewhat unfair to
quote the saying of the old Latin poet ,
4 Montes parturiunt, ridiculus mus
est \ in relation to the Government's
achievements in matters of domestic
legislation . Something seems to
have happened to the old Latin
poet’s metre. /His treatment of the
old, old story of the Belgian franc-
Hreur is typical. 4 V animal est trts
mdchant, u se defend quand on Vat-
1351
toque.' Something has happened to
the French poet’s rhyme, as well as
his metre ./Here again, however, there
was a fly in the amber—the incoming
of the Italians. A fly in amber, or
a fly in the ointment—what can it
matter ?/The happy phrase that an
Ambassador is an honest man sent
abroad to lie for his country. There
are lyings abroad & lyings abroad,
but only one kind of lying for one’s
country.
QUOTATION SANDWICH
Yet if we take stock of our situation
today, even those of us who are 4 fearful
saints' can afford ‘‘fresh courage ’ to
4 take './The 4 pigmy body ' seemed
‘‘fretted to decay ’ by the ‘‘fiery soul *
within it. Original: A fiery soul
which, working out its way, Fretted
the pygmy-body to decay.
FOREIGN OIL & ENGLISH
WATER
Who will be pleased to send details to
all who are interested in strengthening
I'entente cordiale. Read the entente
cordiale./Euen if a change were desir¬
able with Kitchener duce et auspice./
Salmasius alone was not unworthy
sublimi flagello./The feeling that one
is an antecedentem sceleslum./The
clergy in rochet, alb, & other best
pontificalibus.
CLUMSY ADAPTATION .
But the problem of inducing a re¬
fractory camel to squeeze himself
through the eye of an inconvenient
needle is db remains insoluble./
Modern fashions do not presuppose
an uncorseted figure ; that way would
modish disaster lie./Gossip on a sub¬
ject which is still on the knees of the
future.
Quotation marks. See Stops.
quote. 1 . Q . makes -table; see
Mute e. 2. The devil can q. &c.
q . should be cite ; see Misquotation..
quotes, n. pi., may be regarded as a
Curtailed word, & left to those
whose occupation makes a shortening
of 4 quotation marks ’ indispensable*
quoth, quotha. See Archaism.
RABBIT
482
range
R
rabbit makes -iting, -ity ; see -t-,
-tt-. For Welsh r., see True & false
ETYMOLOGY.
, Rabelaisian, -aesian. The former
is usual ; those who write - ae- do so
to avoid combining the unLatin
vowel ai with the Latin termination ;
see Hybrid derivatives.
rabid makes -est ; see -er & -est 4.
rabies. Three syllables—ra'blez.
raceme, racemose. Pronounce
rase'm, r&'simos.
rachitis. Pronounce raki'tis.
racial. See Hybrid derivatives
for this & other questionable adjec¬
tives in -al.
rack & ruin. The OED, though it
calls rack a variant of wrack, recog¬
nizes this spelling ; it is no doubt
helped by the visible alliteration.
racket (bustle &c.) makes -cling,
-ety, &c. ; see -T-, -tt-.
racket, racquet, (bat &c.). The
OED treats -ket as the standard form,
raconteur. See French words.
racoon, -cc-. The first is usual,
rad. See Curtailed words.
raddle. See ruddle.
radiance, -cy. The second is rare,
but kept in being as metrically use¬
ful or rhetorically effective ; -ce, -cy.
radiate. The verb -at, the adjec¬
tive -at ; see Participles 5 B.
The verb makes -table, -tor; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
radius. PI. -ii (-ii). For synonyms
in sense reach &c., see field.
radix. PI. -ices (-Isez ; cf. -trix
for the quantity).
Raffaelesque. See Raphaelesque.
rage jmakes -ging ; see Mute e.
ragout. See French words.
railroad. ‘ Now chiefly U.S., the
usual term in Great Britain being
railway ’—OED.
rain or shine, as a phrase for ‘ what¬
ever the w’eather ’, is mentioned in
very few dictionaries, & has an
American sound. It is quoted,
however, from Dryden —Be it fair
or foul, or rain or shine— in thr
Century Dictionary.
raise makes -sable ; see Mute e
hor r, one’s hat, as compared with
take off one’s hat, & bow, see Format
WORDS.
raison d’etre. See French words
How not to use it can hardly be
better shown than in : It has been
proposed by the Liberal Nonconform¬
ist M.P.s that it shall be sufficient for
the Sovereign to affirm a belief in the
Protestant Faith without pledging
himself to be a member of the Church
of England ; the raison d'itre is
obvious ; but . . .
raj. Pronounce rahj.
raja(h) & maharaja(h) have the -h,
an English addition, much more
often than not, & it is better to
abstain from the Didacticism of
omitting it.
Rajpoot, -ut. Spell -oot, & pro¬
nounce rah'jpoot.
rake makes -kable, -kish, &c. ; see
Mute e.
rale. See French words.
rallentando. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
rally. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
ramekin, -quin. Pron. rii'mikin.
ramify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
rancid makes -est; see -er & -est 4.
rancour, -corous. See -our & -or,
-our- & -OR-.
ranee. Pronounce rah'nl.
range, n. For synonyms in the
sense scope, see field.
range, vb. 1. It. makes -ging,
-geable ; see Mute e. 2. Gratuities
ranging from 10 lire for each of the
singers in the Sixtine Chapel choir
up to much larger sums for higher
officials. If one has not provided
oneself with figures for both ex¬
tremes, one should not raise expecta¬
tions by using r. from . . . to. It is
as bad as saying ‘ Among those
present were A, B, & others ’.
3. Range oneself (He had no inten¬
tion of marrying & ranging himself
just yet) is a bad Gallicism 2-
ranunculus
483
RATIOCINATE
ranunculus. Pi. - luses or - li (-1) ;
see Latin plurals 1.
ranz -des-vaches. French words.
rape, vb, makes -pable ; see Mute e.
Raphaelesque, Raffael(l)esque. For
the change from the established
English Raphael &c. to unfamiliar
forms with -/- or -ff-, see Didactic¬
ism, Mahomet.
rapid makes -est ; see -er & -est 4.
rapport, formerly common enough
to be regarded & pronounced as
English (rapor't), may now perhaps
be called again a French word, &
will not be missed in English.
rapprochement. See French words.
rapt, meaning originally carried off,
raped, snatched away, but now
usually absorbed or intensely con¬
centrated, has perhaps been affected
by the identical sound of wrapped
or wrapt, though ravish is enough to
show that such an explanation is
not necessary. The best known
passage ( Thy rapt soul sitting in
thine eyes) has doubtless helped.
A concordance to Milton supplies
also :— Wrapped in a pleasing fit of
melancholy/Thus wrapped in mist of
midnight/Rapt in a balmy cloud.
rapture. For pronunciation see
picture.
rara avis is seldom an improvement
on rarity ; Irrelevant allusion.
rarebit. See True & false etymol.
rarefaction, not - fication , is the
correct as well as the usual form,
the Latin verb being rarefacere (not
-ficare)
rarefaction, rarefy. So spelt (in con¬
trast with rarity), but pronounced
rail- (in contrast with rarely ).
rase. See raze.
raspbeiry. Pron. with -z- for -sp-.
rate, n. For some synonyms in the
sense impost, see tax.
rate, vb, makes ratable ; see Mute e.
rather* 1. R. is it &c. 2. R. superb
&c. 3. 1 had r. 4. Dying r. than
surrender.
1. R. is it &c. Towards the end of
the long article Inversion will be
found a section headed Yet. e. an err.
ally, rather . The following examples
should be rid of inversion as in¬
dicated :— Mr Dooley seldom makes
you laugh aloud; rather does he
keep his readers continually in a state
of the ‘ dry grins ’ (r. he keeps, or he
keeps his readers, r.,)./I do not feel¬
like one who after a day of storm &
rain is glad to creep indoors, db crouch
hopelessly over the fast-dying embers
on the hearth ; rather do I feel like
one who . . . (r. I feel). /The respon¬
sible leaders of the Opposition have
abandoned the view that another
General Election would ‘ probably but
stereotype the last verdict ’ ; rather
is it felt that . . . (r. it is felt, or it is
felt, r.,). It should be remembered,
however, with r., that care is needed,
in mending or avoiding the inver¬
sion, not to put r. where it might be
interpreted as somewhat; to write
1 r.feel or it is r.felt in the second &
third examples would be worse than
the inversion itself.
2. R. superb &c. There is something
rather delicious in the way in which,
some of these inventors ignore previous
achievements./This was rather a
revelation./While exercising gener¬
osity db kindliness more than most the
doctor rather loved a quarrel. What
is the use of fine warm words like
delicious & revelation & love if the
cold water of r. is to be thrown over
them ? * R. agreeable * if you will ;
* r. surprising ’ by all means ; * r.
enjoyed ’ certainly ; but away with
r. delicious, r. a revelation, & r. loved I
Cf. somewhat.
3. 1 had r. is as idiomatic as 1 would
r. ; had is the old subjunctive, =
I should hold or find, & is used with
r. on the analogy of 1 had liefer =
I should hold it dearer ; see had 1.
4. Dying r. than surrender. He re¬
signed r. than stifle his conscience,
&c. The use of the infinitive after
r. than in such contexts is discussed
in -ing 5.
ratify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
ratio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
ratiocinate & its derivatives, as-
RATION
484
exclusively learned words, may
iairly be pronounced rati- rather
^ shi ' 5 cf. Greek g ; the
U&D, however, gives only rash!-.
ration. Pronounce ra- or ra-. But
tlie army says ra-, & the military
use is the prevalent one.
rationale is the neuter of the Latin
adjective rationalis, & should there¬
fore be pronounced r&shona/li; but
confusion with such French words
as morale & locale (there is no French
rationale) naturally leads to its being
sometimes mispronounced.
rationalize makes -zablc ; Mute e.
ratlin, ratline, ratling. The deriva¬
tion is uncertain ; but the last
syllable probably contains neither
the word line nor the participle
termination -ing. The spelling ratlin
is perhaps, therefore, the best.
rat(t)an. The double t is usual,
ravage makes -geable ; see -able 1.
ravel makes -lied, -lling, &c. ; see
-LL-, -L-. The verb is curiously
applied both to the tangling & the
disentangling process. The verbs
that can mean either to deprive of
or to provide with what is expressed
by the noun of the same spelling
(compare will but skin & film the
ulcerous place with skin 'em alive)
are not parallel, because with them
the noun is the starting-point.
ray, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 1.
Rayah. Pronounce ri'a.
raze, rase. Rase is the older spell¬
ing, but raze now prevails. There
is some tendency to use rase still
for senses, such as erase or scrape
off, that are now archaic ; but the
distinction corresponds to no differ¬
ence of etymology, & raze should be
the only form.
razzia. See French words.
re. For the use of this telltale
little word see Illiteracies, &
Popularized technicalities. A
quotation or two follow :— Dear
Sir,—I am glad to see that you have
taken a strong line re the Irish railway
situation ./ Why not agree to submit
reaction
the decision of the Conference the
proposed readjustment to the peopk
so that they alone can decide ?/Sir —
I have had sent me a cutting from
your issue of the 14th inst , from
which I gather that reference had been
made in a former issue to some alleged
statements of mine re the use of the
military during the recent railway
dispute./Sir,—There is another fact
re above. Twice with, & twice with¬
out, italics.
re (“)* . In re(-) compounds, the
hyphen is usual before e ( re-entrant,
re-examine, &c.); not uncommon
before other vowels ( re-armament or
rearmament, reiterate or re-iterate,
reorganize or re-organize , re-urge or
reurge), especially when the look of
the word, as in the first & fourth
examples, is deceptive or puzzling
without it ; common when the
compound is used after the simple
word (make & re-make, discussion &
re-discussion) ; & necessary when a
modern compound such as re-cover -
put a new cover upon, re-pair =
pair afresh, or re-count = count again,
is to be distinguished from a better
known & differently pronounced old
word ( recover get back, repair mend,
recount narrate).
reaction. Mr Darwin's observations
upon the breeds of pigeons have had
a reaction on the structure of Euro¬
pean Society./Any apparent divisions
in this country, even the threat of a
vote of censure, might have had its
reaction on public opinion in Italy.
R., owing to its use in Chemistry,
has become a Popularized tech¬
nicality liable like other such terms
to be used by Slipshod extension
where it is not wanted, e.g. where
nothing more is meant than effect or
influence or the simple action. This
misuse is betrayed in the quotations
by the word on, which suits action
&c., but docs not suit r. except in
senses in which it means more than
any of those three. The senses of
r. may be distinguished thus : 1-
The process of reversing what has
been done or going back to tne
READ
485
REASON
status quo ante: progress 6c r. ;
the forces of r. 2. The recoil from
unusual activity or inactivity, pro¬
ducing an equally unusual degree of
the reverse : extremes & r. ; the r.
from passion, despair, a cold bath.
3. The second half of interaction,
B’s retaliation upon the first agent
A, making up with action the
vicissitudes of a struggle &c. : after
all this action & r. 4. The reflex
effect upon A of his own actions :
the r. of cruelty upon the cruel.
5. The action called forth from B by
A’s treatment: stimulus & r. ; the
r. of copper to sulphuric acid. N° 5
is the sense that covers the chemical
use, & the one also that is often
interchangeable with effect &c.; but
on or upon is out of place with it ;
not the r. of sulphuric acid on copper,
but either the r. of copper to sulphuric
acid or the action of sulphuric acid
on copper. Similarly, not the r., but
the action or effect or influence, of
Darwinism on Europe & of English
votes of censure on Italian public
opinion.
read. For a well read man, deeply
read in the ancients, &c., see Intran¬
sitive p.p.
readable)(legible. See illegible.
readily has readier, -est, as well as
more & most readily, at least in talk ;
those who promise readiest ; see -er
& -est 3.
real. The so-called decadence db the
symbolist movement—strange dream¬
ing & the search for consolation in
irreality. The negatives from r. are
unreal & unreality, though it is true
that there are analogies for nouns
using in- or ir- when the adjectives
have un- ; see in- & un-.
realize. 1. R. makes -zable ; see
Mute e. 2. What was realized might
happen has happened. The insertion
of it between what & was is, however
ugly, indispensable unless the sen¬
tence is to be recast. For discussion
& parallels see it 1.
realm. For synonymy see field.
-RE & -ER. Many words usually
spelt -re are pronounced as if the
spelling were -er ; so centre, fibre, acre ,
manoeuvre. In American usage the
spelling of these is now -er, except
when, as in acre & lucre, a preceding
c would have its sound changed
from k to s. In English usage the
-re is preferred in the words in which
it has not (as in diameter, number,
& many others) completely disap¬
peared. The American usage is, as
the above statements are enough to
show, more consistent ; but it does
not follow (cf. -our & -or) that we
should do well to adopt it. The
prophecy may be hazarded that we
shall conform in time, one word in
-re after another changing to -er ;
but we prefer in England to break
with our illogicalities slowly ; &,
after all, wlule acre & lucre &
involucre & other -ere words remain,
with the words in -chre & -gre
(sepulchre, ochre, euchre, ogre, meagre,
&c.) halfway between them & those
in which a consonant sound is not
imperilled (as accoutre, antre, bistre,
calibre, centre, fibre, litre, lustre,
manoeuvre, metre, mitre, nitre, ren¬
contre, sabre, sceptre, sombre, spectre,
theatre), logic & consistency are not
all on one side.
rearmost. Pron. rer'most ; -most.
reason. 1. Have r. = be in the right,
& give one r. = admit that he is in
the right, are Gallicisms.
2. It stands to r. is a formula that
gives its user the unfair advantage
of at once invoking r. & refusing to
listen to it ; or rather, he expects
it to do that for him, but is dis¬
appointed, few of us being ignorant
nowadays that it is the prelude to
an arbitrary judgement that we are
not permitted to question.
3. The r. is because &c. The only
reason his wages have not been higher
is because the profits of the industry
have been miserably low. ‘ The r. is
that . . .’ is the English for this ; for
further examples see because, &
for analogous mistakes Haziness.
Wrong forms nearly as common as
REAUMUR
486
this are the r. is due to, & the t. is on
account of, as in :—The r. of our
success is largely due to unselfishness,
power to combine, power to weather
adversity & superhuman bravery. I
i Iy only r. for asking your permission
to comment upon his remarks is due
t° , f 042 * many of your readers
will not have seen my previous replies. I
1 he reasons of his success were due
not only to wide political knowledge
& sincere conviction, but to a speed of
work which . . ./The r. why 1 put
such a poem as ‘ Marooned ’ so very
high is on account of its tremendous
imaginative power./The r. for the
past neglect has been not on account
of fish being any less interesting than
birds or mammals, but merely because
of the difficulty of observing & photo¬
graphing them.
Reaumur. For pronunciation sec
French words.
reave(r), reive(r). The normal
English spelling is 'with rca- ; but,
the words, especially -r, being com¬
moner in Scotch use, the Scotch
rei- has become familiar.
rebate (carpentry) is pronounced
rS bit & often spelt rabbet.
rebeck. Accent the first (re'b£k).
rebel. Noun re'bl, verb rlbe'l ; see
Noun & verb accent. The verb
makes -lied, -lling ; see -re-, -l-.
rebuke makes -/cable ; see Mute e.
rebus. PI. -uses ; see -s-, -ss-.
rebut makes -tied &c., see -t-, -tt-.
recal(l). Write -ll ; sec -re-, -r-, 3.
recapitulate makes -lable, -tor ; sec
-abre 1, -OR.
receipt, recipe. In the sense 4 for¬
mula for the making of a food or
medicine ’, with its transferred ap¬
plications * remedy ’, ‘ cure 4 ex¬
pedient ’, ‘ device ’, &c., either word
is as good sis the other, except that,
while prescription lias almost dis¬
placed both as a name for a doctor’s
formula, receipt is in that special
sense still more nearly disused than
recipe. These facts are worth men¬
tion because it is sometimes debated,
idly for the most part, which of the
two is the right word. Recipe is
recessive accent
pronounced rt'slpl, being a Latin
imperative - take, originally the fin*
word of prescriptions written in Latin,
receive makes -vable ; see Mtrr* z.
Recessive accent. The aooea.
tuation of English words is finally
settled by the action of three fore*
on the material presented to them
in each word. First, the habit of
concentrating on one syllable, or in
long words sometimes on two, &
letting the others take care of them*
selves j this habit is in marked
contrast to the French equality of
syllables, is especially strong in
Scotch as compared with southern
English, & is responsible for that
obscuring of the English vowel
sounds which unnecessarily saddeoa
some of our purists ; English words
of three & four syllables are commoo
in which there is only one clear vowel
( corruption, enlightenment, &c.); it is
a main characteristic of the language,
to be recognized & not fought against
or lamented over.
Secondly, recessive accent, or the
drift of this usually single stress
towards the beginning of the word.
The most obvious illustration is
what happens to the French words
we borrow ; chdteau, plateau, tableau,
garage, menu, charlatan, souvenir,
nonchalant, & hundreds of others,
come to us with their last syllable*
at least as clear & fully stressed as
any, but we soon turn them into
sha'to & shar'latnn & the like.
Again, other words that were long
pronounced in English with stress on
the middle syllable have it shifted
to the first : aggra'ndize, reco'n-
dite, obdur'ate, contrar'y, eque'rry,
demonstrate, become A'grandlz,
fi'kwcrf, &c.
These first & second forces work
well enough together, &, as they ure
always extending their influence A
gradually assuming control of new
words, account for a large propor¬
tion of the variant pronunciation*
M ^ ^ * i •
so much more numerous in Lnglisn
than in most languages. In deciding
which of two renderings should be
RECHABITE
487
RECIPROCAL
preferred, it may be remembered
that when reeessive accent has once
opened an attack it will probably
effect the capture, & that it is well
to be on the winning side.
But, thirdly, there comes into con¬
flict with both these tendencies a
repugnance to strings of obscure
syllables ; with the uneducated this
is rather inability than mere dislike ;
their tongues cannot frame a rapid
succession of light syllables hardly
differing from each other ; & the
educated, who can manage it if they
will, have the English objection to
fussy precision & often do not choose
to, except where academic sur¬
roundings constrain them to aca¬
demic elocution. Hence reactions
with many words whose surrender
to recessive accent is on record in
the dictionaries. Deuteronomy &
laboratory & disciplinary are not
easy to say with a single first-
syllable accent each, & the attempt
is apt to result in omission of syl¬
lables—du'tronm! & l&'bratrl &
dl'spllnrl; such dangers are shirked
by the use of two stresses (du'ter-
o noml, dl'slpll'nari) or by shifting
the stress forward again (labo'ratori);
& ho'spilable, de'spicable, a'pplicable,
ca'pitalist, gla'diolus, su'lphurelted,
co'ntumacy, are a few examples of
the many quadrisyllables from whose
orthodox accent many speakers seek
relief (dlspi'kabl &c., gladi'olws or
even gl&'did'lus, sii'lfurd'tid, kontu'-
masl). In a large class, of which re¬
criminator y (OKI) rlkri'minatorijmay
be taken as the type, there are regu¬
larly two pronunciations, one aca¬
demic as above, & the other with
a secondary accent or clearly pro¬
nounced a (rikri'mlnatorl) used by
ordinary people. The unsatisfactory
clipping of words like voluntaryism
& accompan(y}ist (see -ist) is perhaps
due to this dislike of many syllables
unrelieved by an accent. The word
contumely, with its five pronuncia¬
tions, is an interesting case, discussed
separately.
Rechabite. Pronounce rg'k-.
rechauffe, recherche. See French
words.
recidivist. Pronounce risi'divlst.
recipe. See receipt.
recipient. The Serjeant-at-Arms dk
Lady Horatia Erskine were yester¬
day the recipients of presentations
from members of the Press Gallery./
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who was seventy
years of age yesterday, was the r. of
congratulations from Mr Asquith./Mr
Albert Visetti, who has just been the
r. of a pleasant presentation from his
pupils./Mr John D. Clancy , K.C.,
M.P., who enjoys the unique distinc¬
tion of having represented continuously
an Irish constituency for a quarter of
a century, has just been made the r.
of a presentation to mark the event.
Can any man say that sort of thing
& retain a shred of self-respect ?
reciprocal (in grammar). See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
reeiprocal)(mutual. To the diffi¬
culties presented by m. itself must
be added that of the difference be¬
tween it & r. M. regards the
relation from both sides at once :
the m. hatred of A dk B ; never from
one side only : not B J s m. hatred of
A. Where m. is correct, r. would
be so too : the r. hatred of A dk B ;
but m. is usually preferred when it
is possible. R. can also be applied
to the second party’s share alone s
B's r. hatred of A ; r. is therefore
often useful to supply the deficiencies
of m. ; A, having served B, can say
4 Now may I ask for a r. [but not
for a m.] service ? ’. Two parties
can take m. or r. action, & the
meaning is the same ; one party
can take r., but not m., action. In
the following passage, m. could not
be substituted for the correct r.;
if the words had been not 4 of the
British people but 4 of the two
peoples m. would have been as
good as 7., or indeed better ; it must
be added, however, that since it
takes two to make a friendship,
which is essentially a m. or r. rela¬
tion, to use either adjective is
waste :— Mr Wilson said : 4 1 trust
RECIPROCATE
488
your Government saw in the warmth
of the greetings accorded to his Roijal
Highness the manifestation of friendly
goodwill which the people of the
United States hold for those of Britain.
Believing in the reciprocal friendship
of the British people it will be my
aim in the future to . .
reciprocate has -cable ; -able 1.
recitative. Pronounce rdsltate'v.
recite makes -table ; see Mute e.
reckon makes -oncd &c.; -n-, -nn-.
reclaim. Noun spelt reclamation.
reclame. See French words.
recline makes -liable ; see Mute e.
recognizance. Pronounce rlko'n-.
recognize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
re-collect, recollect, remember. To
re-collect is to collect or rally what
has been dissipated (but he soon
re-collected his courage or himself) ;
the distinction between this & the
ordinary sense of recollect is usually
though not always kept up in pro¬
nunciation, & should be marked by
the hyphen ; see re(-). Between
recollect & remember there is a dis¬
tinction often obscured by the use
of recollect as a Formal word for
the ‘ dominant term ’ remember.
Recollect follows 1 can’t as naturally
as remember follows 1 don't ; i.e.,
recollect means not remember, but
succeed in remembering, & implies
a search in the memory. Peter
remembered (not recollected) the word
of Jesus, which said unto him,
Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny
me thrice.
recompense has -sable; Mute e.
reconcile makes -lable ; see Mute e.
Of the nouns reconcilement & recon¬
ciliation, the first is comparatively
little used, but has the special func¬
tion (perhaps as being more closely
dependent on the verb ; but see
-ion & -ment) of representing the
act of reconciling rather than the
act or state of being reconciled,
which means in practice that it is
more fitly followed than reconcilia¬
tion by an objective genitive, as in
The reconcilement of duty with plea¬
sure is no easy problem.
recrudescence
^ e ^ 0n S te *- The . old pronunciation
nkb ndit is maintained by some
scholarly persons, but rg'kondit is
now usual; see Recessive accent.
reconnaissance. Pronouns ..
English word ___
reconnoitre makes -iring'.
record. Verb rikor'd, noun rg'kord*
see Noun & verb accent. For noun
synonyms in the sense relevant
facts, see field.
recount. For re-count see re(-).
For the noun recountal (When the
very interesting stories of crime have
been unfolded, we can follow the
recountal of detection without any
bewilderment), see -al nouns; ‘Fre¬
quent in recent journalistic use’
says the OED, perhaps not designing
to commend it.
recourse. There is much confusion,
writer’s or printer’s (see Misprints),
between this, resort, & resource.
recover, re-cover, recreation, re¬
creation, &c. See re(-).
recriminate. Idle people who pass
their time in recriminating France.
For this transitive use, ‘ now rare
the OED has only a single quotation
later than the 18th c.
recriminatory. For the rival pro¬
nunciations (-atori, -atori) see Re¬
cessive accent.
recrudescence. Hong Kong, Fri¬
day.—There is an alarming r. of
piracy in the West River./A literary
tour de force, a r., two or three genera¬
tions later, of the very respectable
William Lamb (afterwards Lord Mel¬
bourne), his unhappy wife, Lady
Caroline Lamb, & Lord Byron./
First, we have the unfortunate cir¬
cumstances which caused England to
be weakly represented in the second
test match ; secondly, we have the r.
of Mr Laver. To recrudesce is to
become raw again or renew morbid
activity, as a wound or ulcer may,
or metaphorically a pestilence or
vice or other noxious manifestation.
That being so, the first example
above is proper enough ; but wbat
have Mr Laver & Lord Melbourne
RECRUITAL
489
REFLECTION
done that their reappearance should
be a r. ? Nothing, except fall into the
hands of journalists who like Popu¬
larized TECHNICALITIES & SLIPSHOD
extension. This disgusting use is
apparently of the twentieth century
only; the recrudescences in the OED
quotations are of ‘ abuses \ ‘ calumny
& malignity ‘ Paganism 4 the epi¬
demic 4 the wound ’, 4 a varicose
ulcer & that is all.
recruital. See -al nouns.
rectify. For inflexions see Veres
in -ie «fec., 6.
rectilinear, -neal. There is no
objection to either in itself ; but -ar
is so much commoner that, as there
is no difference of meaning, -al
should be abandoned as a Needless
variant.
recto. PI. - os ; see -o(e)s 3.
rector. See vicar.
recuperate makes -table ; -able 1.
recur. Pronounce the participle
rlker'Ing ; see Pronunciation, s.f.
recurve makes -vable ; see Mute e.
recusancy, -ce. The second is
much less common, & should be
dropped as a Needless variant.
red. Red heat & red tape ; Hyphens
3 B. Red-hot ; Hyphens 3 D.
redact, -or, -ion. See Gallicisms.
reddle. See ruddle.
reddy is often preferred to reddish
in compound colour words ( reddy-
brown &c.), but is now rare as a
separate word.
rede. See Wardour street, &
Revivals .
redingote. See French words.
redintegrate makes -rable ; -able 1 .
reduce makes -cible ; see -able 2.
After r. to & be reduced to the gerund,
not the infinitive, is idiomatic : He
was reduced to retracting (not to re¬
tract) his statement ; see Gerund 3.
reductio ad absurdum. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
reduit. See French words.
redundancy, -ce. As recusancy ;
& see -ce, -cy.
reduplicate makes - cable ; -able 1.
reduplication. Technical terms .
re-enforce. See reinforce.
reeve makes rove or reeved both in
past & in p.p.
refection (meal). A Formal word,
refectory. The pronunciation r£'-
fiktori is less common now than
formerly, & Recessive accent is
not likely to prevail.
refer makes -rred, -rring ; -R-, -rr-.
referable. Pronounce rS'ferabl. For
the irregular form (cf. -R-, -RR-), see
confer(r)able.
reference. For synonyms in the
sense scope or purview, see field.
By Slipshod extension, the word
is often now made to mean a person
to whom r. is permitted as a witness
to character, & even a written
testimonial.
referendum, properly meaning a
question to be referred (to the
people), has been appropriated as
a name for the system of so referring
questions & for any particular occa¬
sion of its exercise ; the normal
form would have been reference, but
referendum has the advantage over
that of not bearing several other
senses. The plural -da is better
avoided as too suggestive (cf. memo¬
randa, agenda, &c.) of the correct
sense—questions to be referred—;
use -ms.
refill. Verb refi'l, noun re'fil; see
Noun & verb accent.
refine makes -noble ; see Mute e.
Refinedly is a bad form ; see -edly.
reflect makes -tor.
reflectable, -exible. The first, from
reflect, is preferable to the second,
from the obs. verb to reflex ; -able 2.
reflection, reflexion. Though the
second is 4 the etymological spelling *
(OED), the first is in general senses
(thought, remark, censure, &c.)
almost invariable, & even in the
physical senses (casting back of light
&c.) at least as common as -xion.
A clear differentiation being out of
the question, & the variation of form
being without essential significance,
the best thing to do is to use the
commoner spelling, reflection, in all
senses. For the change from older
reflexion see -xion.
refleetfve)(reflexive. The ease is
simpler with these than with reflec¬
tion & reflexion. Reflexive has now
lost all its senses except the gram¬
matical one (see Technical teems),
& reflective has resigned that & kept
the rest ; the differentiation wanting
with the nouns has been accom¬
plished for the adjectives. But
reflective , though it can at need have
any of the adjective senses corre¬
sponding to reflection , is current
chiefly as synonymous with medi¬
tative ., & reflecting or reflected is sub¬
stituted for it as often as possible in
referring to the reflection of light &c.
—reflecting surface , reflected colour ,
rather than reflective.
reflet. See French words.
reflexion, reflexive. See reflec¬
tion, REFLECTIVE.
reform, re-form. See re(-).
refract makes -tor. For refractable
& refrangible , of which the first is
recommended, see -able 2.
refrigerate makes - rable , -tor ; see
-able 1, -or. Refrigeratory is pro¬
nounced by the OED rifri jeratorl,
not -atori—a hard nut for some
jaws ; see Recessive accent.
refuse. Verb rifu'z, noun rS'fus ;
see Noun & verb accent. The
verb makes -sable ; see Mute e.
re-fuse. See re(-).
refutable, irrefutable. The OED
prefers the accent on -fu- in both,
but allows the other also. The
Recessive-accent force, & the
analogy of words so familiar as
(disreputable & (indisputable, seem
likely to result in the pronunciation
here advised—(i)re'futabl.
refutal. For this Superfluous
word, see -al nouns.
regalia. The word meaning royal
emblems &c. is a plural ; that mean¬
ing a kind of cigar is a singular, with
plural -as.
regard. 1. R- in periphrasis. 2.
Taker. 3. R.)(consider.
i. R. in periphrasis. The noun is
much used in Compound preposi¬
tions ; see that article for excesses
of the kind. The two examples that,
follow, in which about would have
served for with r. to , So in tot in r.
to , are mere everyday specimens of
a practice that is not strikingly had
on each occasion, but cumulatively
spoils a writer’s style So injures the
language :— It is well said , in every
sense , that a man's religion is the
chief fact with r. to liim./In r. to
three other seats there will be a divided
Unionist vote.
The verb is also much over-used
periphrastieally in as regards : Turk¬
ish rule cannot be tolerated in future
over any country the population of
which is Christian as regards the
majority of its inhabitants. This
should run—any country (a) whose
population is chiefly Christian,. or
(b) with a predominantly Christian
population, or (c) in ^ which the
majority of the population is Chris¬
tian, or (d) in which the majority are
Christians, or (e) where Christians
are in a majority. See as 3 for the
disfigurements to which the very
similar as to leads those who indulge
in such phrases.
2. Take r. The vast majority , it
would be safe to say T have patients
over a field which takes no regard to
borough or other boundaries. A mix¬
ture of the two phrases take account
of & have regard to ; see Cast-iron
idiom. . .
3. R.)(consider. I consider it mon¬
strous or a shame is English; I regard
it monstrous or a shame is not, but
requires as i I r. it as monstrous , as
a shame. This statement is offered,
though as an opinion only, yefcwitn
confidence ; hut since the OED, al¬
ways chary of condemnatio n, d oes
not expressly condemn, an opinion
must not be passed off as authorita¬
tive. The OED’s definition of the
use in question runs : ‘ To consider*
l UaI nrr cnmpf.hinfT. A1SO
s \ Its quotations consist of fo» r
l the normal as (Shakspere, Addi-
Cowper, Froude), one of the type
it a shame (J. Gilbert), one of
type I r. it to be (or do so-A-so),
REGARD
491
REGIMENT
& one that is here irrelevant (to r.
his position under another aspect ).
A strong preponderance, at any rate,
against the modern journalist’s trick
of treating regard as the exact
equivalent of consider —a trick that
the OED, if the regard articles had
been dated 1920 instead of 1905,
would have had either to recognize
more fully or to condemn.
A large number of examples will be
given, in the hope that when they
are seen in the mass their badness
will be glaring enough to repel.
R. to be (or do) is as unidiomatic as
r. it monstrous &c., but far less
common & therefore less in need of
attention. First will come examples
of it, secondly ordinary ones in
which as should have been inserted,
& thirdly some in which, since an
as serving another purpose makes
r. as undesirable, consider should be
substituted.
A. R. to be (or do), & r. that. In all
consider , or think, & in the second
& third r. as, would do.
Dr Leonard Schmitz regards it to
indicate the looseness of popular
opinion./Some County Associations
r. it to be their first duty to accumu¬
late large invested funds./Montenegro
regards this treaty to be worthless
because she was not previously in¬
formed of its existence./He regards
Spiritism as practised today to be
full of the gravest dangers./But for
a long time it seemed to be regarded
that the heads of important trade
departments could be relegated to any
gentleman of influence who happened
to want a billet.
B. Unprovoked omission of as.
Insert as, or use consider or think.
Nations who may r. the ex-Kaiser's
nearness to his former dominions
a menace to them./The present rulers
of Germany will r. themselves free
to pile up armaments./He regards it
beyond question that Moses wrote
practically the whole of the Renta -
touch./But the Generals present re¬
garded the remedy worse than the
evil,
C. Omission of as not excused, but
perhaps caused, by proximity of
another as, or by abnormal order of
words. Consider is the remedy in
all.
It had regarded itself as certainly out
of the war as a great city could be./
We in Ireland regard no insult so
supreme as the insult that we are
intolerant./Mr Maxse, so far from
regarding the Hedging & Ditching
controversy as remote as the author¬
ship of the Letters of Junius, put
down a motion saying . . ./The man
who regards the postal system as
stable as the solar system./We r. this
attempt to create enthusiasm for the
Union Jack by statutory enactment
as ill-advised as the policy of ‘ Say
Suzerain './Most people would r.
Butler's ingenious theories about the
connexion between memory & heredity
quite as much contribution to litera¬
ture as to science./Pufendorf went so
far as to r. ratification superfluous./
Showing how fundamental they re¬
garded the need of establishing the
independence of the judiciary./So
serious is the position regarded in
some parts of Natal that . . ./Both
these mansions were designed by the
same architect, the late Louis Vulliamy,
whose masterpieces they are generally
regarded. To block a side-issue, let
it be said that two or three of the
pieces might be technically defended
on the ground that sound as a bell
means the same as as sound as a bell,
& that the as before remote, stable,
& ill-advised, may therefore be the
one that belongs to the phrase
regard as, & not correlative to the
later as. It is obviously not so, &
anyone who takes that line & omits
those examples has still the others
on his hands.
regardless. See Quasi-adverbs.
regenerate. Verb -at, adjective -at
or -it ; see Participles 5 B. The
verb makes - rable, -tor ; -able 1, -or.
R®ggy> -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
r6gie, regime. See French words.
regiment. Pronounce the noun in
the current sense re'jment; but in
derivatives ( regimental &c.), & per-
REGION
492
RELATIONSHIP,
haps in the verb & archaic uses of
the noun, the -i- is sounded.
region. For some synonyms in the
sense sphere &c., see field. In the
r. of for about or nearly is a bad
Compound preposition.
register, vb, makes -trable ; the
agent-noun is -trar, & in Camb.
Univ. -trary.
regnal, regnant. The - gn- as in
magnify &c., not as French, nor as
in poignant.
regorge makes -geable ; see Mute e.
regress. The verb rlgrS's, the noun
re'grSs ; see Noun & verb accent.
regret makes -tted, -liable , &c. ;
see -T-, -TT-.
regretful means feeling or mani¬
festing regret, not causing it ; the
latter sense belongs to regrettable.
In the extracts below the wrong
word has been chosen ; see Pairs &
snares. The possession of those
churches was unfortunately the reason
of the regretful racial struggles in
Macedonia./Sir Newton Moore's re¬
signation of the Premiership of
Western Australia was a regretful
surprise to Australians in London./
It was not surprising, however regret¬
ful, that Scotland had lagged behind.
regular. The r. clergy (opp. secular,
i.e. of the world) means those who
are subject to one of the religious or
monastic 4 rules ’ (Latin regula a rule)
or special codes of discipline monks
as distinguished from parish priests
& the like.
regularize makes -zable ; Mute e.
regulate makes -table ; see -able 1.
regulus. PL -H (-!)♦. .
regurgitate, rehabilitate,
-itable ; see -able 1.
rehearse, reimburse, make -sable ;
make
see Mute e.
reindeer. For pi. see Collectives,!.
reinforce, re-enforce. The ordinary
form (rein-) has been so far divorced
from the simple verb (formerly
inforce or enforce, now always the
latter) that it seldom or never means
to enforce again, as when a lapsed
regulation is revived. For that
o
sense re-enforce should be used ; see
re(-). Both make -ceable ; -able 1.
reiterant. But the booing & reiterant
cries of ‘ No ’ grew louder, dk at length
he sat down. This Avoidance of
the obvious, as often, has resulted
in a blunder ; r. means repeating,
not repeated ; but, at any rate,
what are booing & r. doing in one
sentence ?
reiterate makes -rable ; see -able 1.
reive(r). See reave(r).
reject makes - tor ; see -or.
rejoin, re-join. See re(-). The
hyphened form should be restricted
to actual reuniting (The parts will
re-join if laid close end to end , or
should be re-joined with care).
rejuvenate, -nize, make -nable,
-nizable ; see -able 1, Mute e.
relation, relationship, relative, as
terms of kindred, have seen some
changes. Relative started as an
adjective meaning what we call
related, but, being used as short for
related person, became a noun de¬
noting a person. Relation started
as an abstract noun meaning our
relationship (in its only right sense ;
see next article) ; but, being trans¬
ferred from the abstract to the con¬
crete, came also to denote a person.
Wc have had to take to related &
relationship because the others in
their original senses have failed us,
& now find ourselves with relation
& relative as two names for the same
thing, only so far different as -ive
is something of a Formal word, &
- ion the dominant term.
relation (ship). The word relation
has many senses, most of which are
abstract. It approaches the con¬
crete in the rather rare sense a story
or narrative, & it is fully concrete
in the very common sense a related
person, i.e. a son or mother or cousin
or aunt or the like. Now, sonship,
cousinship, &c., being words tor
which there is a use, it is entirely
natural that -ship should be affixed
also to the word that summarizes
them; sonship the being a son.
RELATION (SHIP)
493
RELICT
relationship the being a relation—
with the extension (due to the
generalizing sense of relation) into
‘ the being this, that, or the other
relation,’ or 4 degree of relatedness
To that use of relationship, then,
there is no objection. But to affix
-ship to relation in any of its other,
or abstract, senses is against all
analogy; the use of -ship is to
provide concretes {friend, horseman,
clerk, lord) with corresponding ab¬
stracts ; but relation, except when
it means related person, is already
abstract, & one might as well make
conne xionship, correspondenceship, or
associationship, as relationship from
relation in abstract senses. Of the
following extracts the first shows
how relationship, when it is justi¬
fiable, may lend precision to the
meaning ; the second suggests, by
the writer’s shifting from one to the
other, that relationship in the im¬
proper sense has no superiority
whatever to relation or relations ;
& the rest show how needlessly the
Long variant is often resorted to:—
The king was therefore not necessarily
of royal blood, though usually he was
the son of the previous Pharaoh;
the relation of Tut-ankh- Amen to his
predecessor is not known./Why not
leave the relations of landlord &
farmers, as well as those of farmers &
labourers, to the beneficial effects of
the policy f Why is a tribunal neces¬
sary in the one case <fc not in the other
if mutual frankness will adjust all
relationships *l/A state of things may
be created ! which is altogether incon¬
sistent with the relationship which
should properly exist between police
® public./A step which must have
great effect on the commercial relation¬
ship between America & Europe./
By creating , if such be possible, a
relationship of mutual amity between
Britain & Russia./The most probable
result of persistence in the present
ambiguous relationship with Russia
• • ./She declared that she & hei
Husband had no business relation-
pftonic trc
ffte. i ■
we are not aware that his relationship
to it has ever been so carefully traced./
Already a wholesome change has
begun to operate in the relationship
between this country & France.
relatival(ly). Grammar words only ;
See ADJECTIVALLY.
relative. For the use in 1 wrote to
him r. to renewing the lease, see
Quasi-adverbs.
Relative pronouns. See the
separate words— who, which, what,
that, such as, as.
release makes -sable ; see Mute e.
relegate makes -gable ; see -able 1.
The large terrace, usually a dining¬
room, has also been relegated to the
King’s use, & will be adorned with
groups of Alpine plants. Devoted ?
relegated is not very polite to His
Majesty ; has the writer looked up
assign in a synonym dictionary &
decided that r. is the least familiar
of the list ? familiar to him it does
not seem to be ; see Novelty¬
hunting.
relevance, -cy. The OED treats
-cy as the standard form; -ce, -cy.
relev6. See French words.
reliable, -bility. Another essential
of successful aerial transport Mr
Thomas describes by the term 4 relia¬
bility ’, or the not less doubtful word
4 dependability ’. As this extract is
from The Times in 1920, it is clear
that the purists have not yet recon¬
ciled themselves to the inevitable.
The OED quotes 16th, 17th, 18th,
& 19th century passages for reliable,
but states that it first became
common 70 years ago. The objec¬
tion common to it & several other
words is obvious, & the kind of
understanding that finds different to
indefensible will listen to nothing in
favour of reliable. Those who have
an open mind on the point will find
a full discussion in -able 4.
relict. The OED pronounces rfi'-
likt. Now that the word is hardly
used except as a semi-legal term, or
a Formal word, for widow, & is
more often seen than heard, it may
be questioned whether most people
RELIEVE
494
REMUNERATE
do not think of it as rili'kt, &
whether the avoidance of confusion
between it & relic is not worth
securing by that pronunciation.
relieve makes -vable ; see Mute e.
Ilclicvedly is a bad form ; see -edly.
relievo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6. But
the form might well be dropped as
a needless mixture between the
Italian rilievo (relya'vo) & the
English relief ; cf. alto-relievo,
BAS-RELIEF, MEZZO-RILIEVO.
religious. For dim r. light, see
Irrelevant allusion.
relume. For pronunciation, see lu.
rely. For inllexions see Verbs in
-IE &c., 6.
remain. 1. There remain(s). 2.
Continue to r. 3. I r.
1. There remains to be said a few
words on the excellence of M. Vallery
RadoVs book. The use of a singular
verb before a plural subject is dis¬
cussed in Number, 7. The present
example is perhaps due to confusion
between It remains to say & There
remain to be said.
2. Continue to r. R. (in the sense
that concerns us) means in itself
4 continue to be ’ ; to continue to
continue to be is, except in some
hardly imaginable context, a ridicu¬
lous tautology, & would not call for
mention if it were not surprisingly
common ; see Haziness, Pleonasm.
The counsellors of the Sultan continue
to remain sceptical./And yet through
it all I c. t. r. cheerful./It is expected
that very soon order will be restored ,
although the people c. t. r. restive.
3. 1 r. For this see Letter forms.
remark, vb, has as one of its senses
‘ to say by way of comment ’ or
4 say incidentally ’. It would be
absurd pedantry to insist that it
should never be used for say except
when 4 by way of comment ’ is
clearly justified, & often very diffi¬
cult to decide whether it is justified
or not. Nevertheless, it is well to
remember the qualification, & be
thereby saved from two bad uses of
r., (1) as a mere Formal word, &
(2) as a word relied on to give by its
incongruity a mildly facetious touch
—one of the forms of Worn-out
: You may drive out Nature
with a pitchfork but she will always
return, as Horace remarked in a
language no longer quoted in the
House of Commons.
remarkable. See Positive words.
remedy. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6. Remediable & remedial
are pronounced rime'-, but remedi¬
less either rimS'dills (‘ the original
stressing ’—OED) or rS'midllis.
remember. See recollect for the
distinction. R. makes -berable or
(now rarely) -brable.
remise (stabling, fencing). Pro¬
nounce rime'z.
remise (law vb). Pronounce rimi'z.
R. makes -sable ; see Mute e.
remit makes -tied, -iiing, &c. ; see
-T-, -tt- ; but remissible ; see -able
2. Of the nouns remission & remittal,
the first is better in all senses but
one, viz 4 the act of referring a case
from one court to another ’; see -al
nouns.
remonetize. For -on- or -iin-, see
Pronunciation.
remonstrate is pronounced (in con¬
trast with demonstrate) rimo'nstrat,
perhaps because the current noun is
remonstrance. The other noun,
-ation, is now rare, & should not be
used : Although every attempt is
made at this office to save people from
being misled, our remonstrations have
not hitherto met with success.
remote makes -er, -est; see -er &
-est 1. R. is not one of the adjec¬
tives that can be used as Quasi¬
adverbs ; it must have a noun
with which it can be more reasonably
conceived to agree than it can with
knowledge in the following extract ;
read Even some distance from . . •
Even somewhat remote from the main
tourist routes the knowledge of Eng¬
lish in shops is remarkable.
remove makes -vable ; see Mute e.
For r. one’s hat, the cloth, &c., see
Formal words.
remunerate makes -ruble ; see
renaissance
495
REPETITION OF WORDS
.able 1 . R-, - ation, & -ative, are,
as compared with pay(ing), Formal
words, & should not be preferred,
as often, without good reason.
renaissance. See French words.
R. was so far established as the
English word for the thing before
it was latinized or anglicized into
renascence that it is still the more
intelligible of the two, & may well
be left in possession. Pronounce as
English—rina'sns.
rencontre, rencounter. The verb
is now rare, & for the noun, also
much less used than formerly, the
first or French spelling is more
usual, pronounced rSngko'nter.
rendezvous. Pronounce ro'ndivoS,
but in the plural of the noun -ooz.
The verb makes -vouses (pron.
-vooz), ooused (pron. -vood), -vousing
(pron. -vooing).
renegade, -ado. The latter, of
which the plural when it was current
was - oes, is archaic,
renounce makes -ceable ; see -able
1. Between renouncement & renun¬
ciation there is no such differentia¬
tion as that which preserves the two
nouns of pronounce, & renouncement
is accordingly passing out of use.
renovate makes -vable ; see -able 1.
rente, rentier. See French words.
renunciation. For pronunciation
see -ci ation. Renunciative, renun¬
ciatory, pron. -shativ, -shatori.
rep. The OED treats this, not
repp or reps, as the right form of the
textile name.
repa(i)rable. Reparable (rS'pa-) is
used almost only of abstracts such
as loss, injury, mistake, which are
to be ma( le up for or to have their
effects neutralized ; repairable some¬
times in that way also, but chiefly
of material things that need mend-
mg. The negatives are irreparable,
out unrepairable ; see -able 3.
repatriate makes -viable ; -able 1.
repel makes -lied &c.; see -ll-, -l-.
repellent, repulsive. That is repel-
one at arm’s length;
that is repulsive from which one re¬
coils ; that is, the second is a much
stronger word.
repertoire. See French words.
Repetition of words or sounds.
The first thing to be said is that
a dozen sentences are spoilt by
ill-advised avoidance of repetition
for every one that is spoilt by ill-
advised repetition. Faulty repeti¬
tion results from want of care ;
faulty avoidance results from in¬
capacity to tell good from bad, or
servile submission to a rule of
thumb—far graver defects than
carelessness. This article is accord¬
ingly of slight importance compared
with that in which the other side
of the matter is presented ; see
Elegant variation, where the rule
of thumb against repetition is shown
to have the most disastrous con¬
sequences.
The fact remains, however, that
repetition of certain kinds is bad ;
&, though the bad repetitions are
almost always unintentional, & due
to nothing worse than carelessness,
& such as their authors would not
for a moment defend, yet it is well
that writers should realize how
common this particular form of
carelessness is ; the moral of the
many examples that will be given
is the extremely simple one—read
what you have written before print¬
ing it. The examples are divided
into batches under headings, & little
comment need be added.
dependent sequences, i.e., several
of phrases, or two or more which
clauses or that clauses or -ly words,
each of which is not parallel or
opposed, but has a dependent rela¬
tion, to the one before or after it.
For the point of the distinction
between dependent & parallel se¬
quences, see -ly 3.
The founders of the study of the
origin of human nature./The atmo¬
sphere of mutuality must be created
which will make it possible to discuss
proposals which would have seemed
impracticable./Taken up with war -
REPETITION OF WORDS
490
REPETITION OF WORDS
fare with an enemy./I do not forget
that some writers have held that
a system is to be inferred./He lived
practically exclusively on milk.
TWO ACCIDENTALLY SIMILAR BUT
NOT PARALLEL USES OF A WORD.
Some other examples may be found
in Jingles.
Space forbids us to give a translation
of the entire article, which would run
to several columns ; but there are
several points which, if quoted from
the rest of the article, would give the
impression that . . ./In these days
American revolutionary upsets appear
small enough beside the other afflic¬
tions of the world; yet the situation is
interesting enough. /It was entitled
' Le Comite de Lecture ', & it resented,
in language which our feminists would
strongly resent, the presence of ladies
on that committee. Doubtful speci¬
mens of this kind sometimes occur in
which the repetition may have been
intended, but the parallel or con¬
trast is so little significant or so un¬
tidily expressed that it was probably
accidental ; so :— The Japanese de¬
mocracy are affronted at what they
regard as an affront to their national
dignity./They can, no doubt, do each
other enormous injury, but the Bul¬
garians could only carry the trenches
at enormous cost, *£ an offensive
movement on the part of the Turks
seems out of the question./The depu¬
tation asked Colonel Seely yesterday to
give substantial encouragement to the
British industry, pointing out the
desirability of having adequate means
of producing aeroplanes in this
country in case of war, but at the
same time pointing out that the
League desired that the Government
should acquire the very best machine
that the world could produce./. . .
spitting out its fangs when anyone
entered the room; this is quite an
abnormal proceeding on the part of
a snake built in the ordinary way,
but possibly it is suffering from the
prevailing epidemic of desiring to
record a protest in some novel way.
Haphazard repetition, in a
different sense, of a word (or
such use of one of its inflexions or
derivatives or other belongings).
The cure for that is clearly the
alternative vote or the second ballot,
the former alternative being the more
preferable./This may have been due
to undue power placed in his hands
by the Constitution./To this last
unsuccessful attempt succeeded the
boredom of the trenches./We cannot
believe that the Bill will be ship¬
wrecked on this point, for that would
be not only disastrous to itself, but
disastrous to the reputation of the
House of Lords itself. /These years
of his zenith were big with a bigger
fate than Scotland's./Such a mis¬
fortune would give the impression that
the English do not treat their reli¬
gion seriously — an impression which
would have a serious effect politically
as well as morally. / The vacancy
should by ordinary calculation occa¬
sion no anxiety to the Liberal Party ;
the seat has consistently returned
representatives of that faith ; on this
occasion, however, it is probable that
there will be a three-sided contest./
They dug their own clay, often in
front of their own front doors./There
is no good putter whose wrists do not
move out after the ball; indeed, the
formation of the putter renders it
necessary that they should do so if he
intends to follow it through naturally./
If we could get the awards announced
in the course of next week, it would
probably help more than anything else
to get to the end of this struggle./Sir
William White has now received the
crowning distinction of the Presidency
of the Royal Association; his asso¬
ciation with the Navy may be said to
date almost from his birth./They are
kept in vigour for a time by the auto¬
matic generation of enthusiasm, but
after a while the ebb begins ; a move¬
ment generally grows & dies with a
generation. Here again it is some¬
times possible to suspect a writer or
what is worse than carelessness,
a pointless but intended repetition
that is to have the effect of a play
on words or the mildest of puns .
The triple bill of Bills which are down
repetitional
497
REPLICA
for the autumn sitting, the Mines
Bill, the Shops Bill, & the Insurance
Bill./Of the octogenarians twenty-
three died in the first, & thirty-three
in the second half of the century;
while if we add the nonagenarians
twenty-five ancients died in the more
ancient, & thirty-eight in the modern
time./Anonymity seems to he a pecu¬
liar delight to writers on naval mat¬
ters, though perhaps necessity has
something to do with the matter./
I agreed with Mr Rawlinson's state¬
ment that the evidence at the inquest
disagreed with the account of the riots
as given by Mr Keir Hardie.
ASSONANCE, RHYME, &C.
4 IVorser & worser ’ grows the plight
of the Globe over the oversea trade
figures./If no such Council existed,
the Secretary of State would have to
form an informal one if not a formal
one./The features which the present
Government in this country presents
in common with representative &
responsible government are few &
formal./. . . by committing embezzle¬
ment— an action too imbecile in the
circumstances to deserve censure.
REPETITION OP A NAME INSTEAD OF
he &c. For this see the Lord Dudley
example near the beginning of Ele¬
gant variation.
repetitional, repetitionary, repeti¬
tious, repetitive. With all these on
record, repetition would seem to have
a good stock of adjectives at need ;
but few writers have the hardihood
to use any of them. Repetitious is
said to be 4 common in recent
American use 5 ; repetitive is perhaps
the least avoided in England.
replace makes -ceable ; see -able 1 .
There is the literal sense of put
(thing or person) back in the same
*>lace as before; & there are,
•roadly different from this, various
JMes in which substitution is the
idea—return an equivalent for, fill
or take the place of, find a substitute
for, supersede, & so forth. All the
dictionaries, or certainly most of
them, give the substitute uses with¬
out comment, & they are estab¬
lished in the language ; but some
wise men of Gotham have lately
discovered that, if one is perversely
ingenious enough, one can so use r.
that it shall not be clear whether
literal putting back or substitution
is meant. This is true ; here is an
example in which a little thought is
required: We do not regard the
situation as a simple one; a large
proportion of the men on strike have
been replaced, & as complete rein¬
statement is one of the demands of
the union, there are obvious difficulties
to be overcome. To use r. there was
foolish ; 4 have had their places
filled ’ was the way to put it. But
the wise men of Gotham are so
proud of a discovery that ordinary
people have made about hundreds
of other words that they have issued
a decree against using r. at all in
the substitute senses. The conse¬
quences, in over-use & misuse of the
verb substitute & the noun sub¬
stitution, have been lamentable, but
need not be set forth here ; it is
enough to state that the objections
to the secondary senses of replace &
replacement are idle, & that only the
same kind of care is required that is
taken not to use trip in the special
sense stumble, or mistress in the
special sense female paramour, where
the context makes confusion likely
with the unspecialized senses.
replenishment)(repletion. The first
is the process of filling something up
or the amount of matter that effects*
the process ; the second is the filled-
up condition. See -ion & -ment.
replete. No teacher's bookcase is
replete without it. Everyone at once
rightly corrects to complete; but
why not r. ? you can say 4 a book¬
case r. with works of genius \ Be¬
cause quite full (r.) is not the same
as adequately filled (complete).
replica. The 4 Devil' over the gate¬
way, a copy of the grotesque on
Lincoln cathedral , which gave rise to
the proverb 4 As sure as the Devil
looks over Lincoln'. The present
REPLY
493
RESIDUE
6 Devil * is a mere modern replica of
the original imp erected by the
founder. 4 Properly one made by
the original artist ’ says the OED,
after defining r. as a copy or dupli¬
cate of a work of art. Properly,
therefore, there is no such thing as
a modern r. of an ancient original ;
& it is this proper sense that alone
makes the foreign word r. worth
maintaining in English by the side
of the abundant English synonyms.
Elegant variation & Novelty¬
hunting account between them for
much destruction of what is valuable
in words.
reply. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
repondez s’il vous plait. See French
WORDS.
repose makes -sable ; see Mute e.
repousse. See French words.
repp. See rep.
reprehend makes -hensible ; -able 2.
repress makes -ssible ; see -able 2.
reprieve makes -vable ; see Mute e.
reprimand. Noun re'prlmahnd,
verb reprlmah'nd; see Noun &
VERB ACCENT.
reprobate. Verb -at, noun -It or
-at ; see Participles 5 B.
reproduce makes -cible ; see -able 2.
reprove makes -vable ; see Mute e.
reps. See rep.
republicanize has -zable ; Mute e.
repudiate makes -diable ; -able 1.
repugn(ant). Pronounce rlpu'n,
but ripu'gnant.
repulse makes -sable ; see Mute e.
Tepulsive. See repellent.
request. The German Commission
.requested the Allied Commission for
information as to whether an extension
of the Armistice could be relied upon.
II. information from the A. C., r. to
be informed by the A. C., r. that
the A. C. would inform; any of
these will do, but the form in the
text is unidiomatic, & due to the
.Analogy of ask.
require makes - rable ; see Mute e.
requirement)(requisite n. The two
iare so far synonyms that in some
.contexts either will do : The require¬
ments, or The requisites, are courage
& callousness . But requirement
means properly a need, & requisite
a needed thing : That sum will meet
my requirements, never my requisites ;
but, just as the abstract need is
often used for the concrete needed
thing, so requirement may perhaps
always be substituted for requisite :
Sponge, toothbrush, & other require¬
ments will pass, though requisites is
better & more usual.
requisite, adj. For essential, neces¬
sary, & r., see essential.
requisition, vb, has -oned &c.; -n-,
-NN-.
requite makes -table ; see Mute e.
reredos. Two syllables (rer'dds).
res judicata. PI. res judicatae.
rescind has rescission, pron. risi'zhn.
rescue makes -uable ; see Mute e.
resentment. May I, as one in com¬
plete sympathy with the general policy
of the Government, give expression to
the strong resentment I feel to the
proposed Bill. R. of, at, against,
never to. Repugnance ? see Ana¬
logy, & Cast-iron idiom.
reserve makes -vable ; see Mute e.
reservedly. Four syllables; -edly.
re-set, reset. The verb meaning
set again is perhaps better with the
hyphen (see re-), though the other
reset (receive stolen goods &c.) is
not now common enough to make
confusion likely.
residence, -cy. See -ce, -cy.
residue, -uum, -ual, -uary. There
are two special uses, to each of
which one noun & one adjective are
appropriated—the legal sense con¬
cerned with what remains of an
estate after payment of charges,
debts, <& bequests ; & the mathe¬
matical, chemical, & physical sense
of what remains after subtraction,
combustion, evaporation, &c. The
legal noun & adjective are residue
& residuary, the chemical &c. are
residuum & residual, though the
differentiation is occasionally in¬
fringed in both directions. In more
general use, residuum implies de¬
preciation, differing from residue as
resignedly
499
RESORT
leavings or sweepings from remainder.
Residuum has plural -dua.
resignedly. Four syllables ; -edly.
resilience, -cy. Pronounce with
-zil-. The very slight difference of
sense—that -ce can & -cy cannot
mean an act of rebounding—does
not, since there is no chance of -ce’s
being confined to that special sense,
make the existence of the two any¬
thing better than an inconvenience ;
it is therefore best to use -ce always ;
see -ce, -cy.
resist makes -tible ; see -able 2.
For resistless see -less.
resistance. You have likened the r.
of Ulster Unionists to be driven out
of the Constitution ... to the opposi¬
tion . . . Read to being driven ; see
Gerund 3.
resoluble, resolvable. Both are in
use without distinction of meaning,
the first being more a literary, & the
other more a colloquial word. The
negatives should be irresoluble f but
unresolvable ; see -able 3 ; in The
number of irresolvable difficulties is
relatively small, correct either the
prefix or the suffix.
resolute, -tion, -ble. For pronun¬
ciation see lu.
resolution (in prosody). See Tech¬
nical terms.
resolution)(motion. As names for
a proposition that is passed or to be
passed by the votes of an assembly,
the two differ in that the passing of
a motion results in action, & a m.
is that something be done ; while
a resolution is not necessarily more
than an expression of the opinion
that something is true or desirable,
mnce, however, opinion often be¬
comes operative, & since also resolu¬
tions as well as motions are moved,
i.e. are at least in one sense motions,
the distinction is elusive ; it is
evertheless, if not too rigidly
applied, of some value.
Wsolvediy. Four syllables, if used;
& use resolutely or other
•ynonym.
resort) (re-sort. See ee(-).
resort, resource, recourse. Confu¬
sion between these three is very
frequent, &, since in some senses
each is really synonymous with each,
the confusion is, if not excusable, at
least natural. The usual mistake
is to say resource when one of the
others is required. Of the following
examples, the first four are unques¬
tionably wrong ; in the other two,
the most idiomatic expression has
not been chosen :— Such ships of the
German Navy as remain in the
Southern Seas must now have resource
to the many sparsely-inhabited islands
(recourse). /She will not be able to
do so, in Dr Dillon's opinion, without
resource to the sword (recourse, re¬
sorting, resort )./Surely he was better
employed in plying the trades of
tinker & smith than in having resource
to vice (recourse)./. . . should an
autonomous regime for Macedonia
have been agreed to by Turkey without
resource to zcar (recourse, resort)./
. . . binding all Powers to apply an
economic boycott, or, in the last
resource, international force, against
any Power which . . . (resort )./The
question of having to send troops to
Teheran is only considered as a last
resort (resource).
The words are chiefly used in cer¬
tain established phrases, given be¬
low ; when alternatives appear in
brackets, they are to be taken as
less idiomatic. To resort to ; to have
recourse ( resort ) to ; without recourse
{resort, resorting) to. Without re¬
sources ; at the end of his resources ;
had no other resource left ; the only
resource ( resort) ; as a last resource ;
in the last resort. His usual resource
was lying ; his usual recourse (resort )
was to lying ; his usual resort was
Brighton. A man of great or no
resource ; a man of many or no
resources. Golf is a great resource ;
Hoylake is a great resort.
Without resource in the sense
‘ irreparably ’, though it has been
used by good writers, is rather
a Gallicism than an English
« ji o
idiom*
RESPECT 500 RESPECTIVE(LY)
respect. The compound preposi¬
tions with r. to, in r. of, should be
used not as often, but as seldom,
as possible ; see regard, & Peri¬
phrasis.
respectfully. See Letter forms.
respective(ly). Delight in these
words is a wide-spread but depraved
taste ; like soldiers & policemen,
they have work to do, but, when
the work is not there, the less we
see of them the better ; of ten
sentences in which they occur, nine
would be improved by their removal.
The evil is considerable enough to
justify an examination at some
length ; examples may be sorted
into six groups : A, in which the
words give information needed by
sensible readers ; B, in which they
give information that may be
needed by fools ; C, in which they
say again what is said elsewhere ;
D, in which they say nothing
intelligible ; E, in which they are
used wrongly for some other word ;
& F, in which they give a positively
wrong sense.
A. right uses
There are two other chapters in
which Strauss <& Debussy take
respectively a higher 6s a lower place
than popular opinion accords them,.
But for r., the reader might suppose
that both composers were rated
higher on some points & lower in
others ; r. shows that higher goes
with Strauss, & lower with Debussy./
That training colleges for men 6s
women respectively be provided on
sites at Hammersmith 6 St Pancras.
But for r. he might take both
colleges to be for both sexes ; r.
shows that one is for men & the
other for women. /This makes it
quite possible for the apparently
contradictory messages received from
Sofia & Constantinople respectively
to be equally true. R. shows that the
contradiction is not, e. g., between
earlier & later news from the Near
East, but between news from one
uews from the other town.
B. FOOLPROOF USES
The particular fool for whose bene¬
fit each r. is inserted will be defined
in brackets. Final statements are
expected to be made today by Mr
Bonar Law 6s M. Millerand in the
House of Commons 6s the Chamber
of Deputies respectively (r. takes care
of the reader who does not know
which gentleman or which Parlia¬
ment is British, or who may imagine
both gentlemen talking in both
Parliaments). /The Socialist aim in
forcing a debate was to compel the
different groups to define their r.
attitudes (the reader who may expect
a group to define another group’s
attitude). /It is very far from certain
that any of the names now canvassed
in Wall Street will secure the nomina¬
tion at the r. Republican & Demo¬
cratic Conventions (the reader who
may think Republicans & Demo¬
crats hold several united conven¬
tions). /We have not the smallest doubt
that this is what will actually happen,
& we may discuss the situation on
the footing that the respective fates of
these two Bills will be as predicted
(the reader who has read the pre¬
diction without sufficient attention
to remember that it is double).
C. TAUTOLOGICAL USES
After each is given in brackets the
expression or the fact that makes /.
superfluous. Having collected the
total amount, the collector disburses to
each proper authority its r. quota (each
. . . its )./He wants the Secretary for
War to tell the House in what coun¬
tries they are at present stationed, &
the numbers in each country respec¬
tively (each )./Madame Sarah Bern¬
hardt & Mrs Bernard Beere respec¬
tively made enormous hits in ‘ As in
a Looking Glass ’ (hits, plural). /The
October number of the Rassegna is
chiefly remarkable for the r. articles
of the Marchese Crispolto Cnspolti
on Pope Benedict V 6s the War 6 by
the Marchese Colonna di Cesaro on
Zionism 6s the Entente (the mention
of each article immediately after
RETROGRAD-
respire
501
resplendence, -cy. The first is re-
its author’s nam e)./ln the Preus-
sische Jahrbiicher for May the most
noteworthy articles are those respec¬
tively by Werner Weisbach, who
writes on Germany in modern Italian
political criticism, & by Professor
Hans Delbriick, who contributes an
extremely interesting comparison be¬
tween ... (as in the last).
D. UNINTELLIGIBLE r.
The writing-room, silence-room, &
recreation-room, have respectively blue
ds red arm-chairs./A certain estate
is for sale; its grounds border three
main roads, namely. Queen's, Bel¬
mont, & King's respectively.
E. r. FOR ANOTHER WORD
The writers of these mean no more
than both (to be placed in the second
after Fellow). The two nurses' asso¬
ciations respectively organized in
Scotland make no secret of their
membership./He was a Fellow of
Balliol College, Oxford, & of the
University of London respectively.
F. REVERSAL OF SENSE
It is recognized that far too little is
known by Englishmen & Americans
about their r. countries; in this
country there is only one lectureship
on American history, & that is at
King's College, Strand. This can
only mean that Englishmen know
too little of England, & Americans
know too little of America—which
is no doubt true, but is not the
truth that the writer wished to
convey ; ‘ about each other’s coun¬
tries * would have served both
writer & reader.
The simple fact is that respectively)
are words seldom needed, but that
pretentious writers drag them in at
every opportunity for the air of
thoroughness & precision they are
supposed to give to a sentence.
nspire makes respirable (rlspir'abl
to the pronunciation preferred by
the OED) • see Mute e.
eee^uTE^ makes ' table ( rg/ spltabl);
commended ; see -ce, -cy.
restaurant, restaurateur. See
French words.
restore makes -rable ; see Mute e.
restrain)(re-strain. See re(-).
restrainedly. Four syllables; -edly.
resume makes -mable ; see Mute e.
resume. See French words.
resurrect. See Back-formation.
resuscitate makes -itable ; -able 1.
retable (eccl. n.). Pronounce rlta'bl,
retail. Verb rlta'l, noun re'tal ;
see Noun & verb accent.
retaliate makes -iable ; see -able 1.
retenue. See French words.
retina. PI. -as or -ae ; see Latin
PLURALS, 1.
retire makes -rable ; see Mute e.
For retired admiral &c., see Intran¬
sitive p.p.
retrace makes -ceable ; see -able 1.
retract makes -tor ; see -or. Of the
two nouns retrac(ta)tion, the shorter
is used in all senses, the longer only
in the secondary or non-literal ones,
i.e., where the meaning is not ‘ pull¬
ing backwards ’, but 4 apologizing
for’ or ‘cancelling’ or ‘revoking’.
Protrusion & retraction of the tongue;
Offer & retrac(ta)tion of terms ; Pub¬
lication db retrac(ta)tion of a libel.
retrieve makes -vable ; see Mute e.
Of the nouns retrieve & retrieval, the
first is used in particular phrases
( beyond, past, retrieve), & the other
elsewhere (for the retrieval of his
fortunes &c.).
retro-. In most words the usual
pronunciation is retro ; but in the
commonest of all, retrospect & retro¬
grade, it is rfitro ; in words derived
from or allied with these two ( retro¬
spective, retrospection, retrogression,
retrogressive, retro gradation) it varies,
the tendency being to say retro if
the stress is shifted, as it is by most
speakers in all these words, & by
all in retrogradation, to the third or
fourth syllable.
retrograd-, retrogress(-). There are
two series : (1) adj. & vb retrograde,
n. retrogradation ; (2) vb retrogress ,
n. retrogression , adj. retrogressive.
RETR0USS6
502
REV1SAL
But, as most of us have a preference
for retrograde as the adj. & retro¬
gression as the noun, & no great
liking for either verb, there is un¬
fortunately little prospect that one
series will oust the other.
retrousse. See French words.
return. For the returned exile &c.
see Intransitive p.p.
rev. See reverend.
reveille. See French words.
revel: -lied, -lling, -ller; see -ll-, -e-.
Revelation(s). Though the Bible
title is The Revelation of St John the
Divine, the plural Revelations is
quite established in ordinary speech,
& to take exception to it is Pedan¬
try ; but The Revelations is a con¬
fusion of the correct The Revelation
with the popular Revelations.
revenant. See French words. The
book is thronged, too, with revenants &
echoes ; old familiar faces reappear,
on whom years ago the reader closed the
cover with a sigh. One of the literary
critics’ needless Gallicisms.
revenge. For r. vb & avenge, r. n.
& vengeance, see avenge. R. makes
-geable ; see -able 1.
revenue. Pronounce rS'vinu. ‘ The
stressing reve'nue, common or usual
during the 17th & 18th centuries &
until recently in legal & parlia¬
mentary usage, is now obsolescent ’
—OED.
reverberate makes -rable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
revere. The adjective, if used,
should be -rable ; see Mute e.
reverend, rev., reverent(ial). Re¬
verend means deserving reverence, &
reverent feeling or showing it.
Reverend is abbreviated Revd or
now usually Rev. For Illiteracies
like Rev. Smith, instead of Rev. J.
Smith or the Rev. Mr or Dr Smith,
see hon. Reporters giving lists of
clergy have difficulties with the
plural of the abbreviation ; but, since
reverend is an adjective (& not, like
parson in the now disused 4 Parsons
Jones & Smith ’, a noun), there is
neither occasion for nor correctness
in such forms as Revs & Revds ; the
Rev. J. Smith, W. H. Jones, P .
Brown, & others is the way to put
it ; if the initials, or some of them,
are not known, it should run The
Rev. J. Smith, Messrs Jones tfc
Brown, Dr Robinson, db other clergy.
Between reverent & reverential the
difference is much the same as that
between prudent & prudential,
reverential being as applicable to
what apes reverence as to what is
truly instinct with it, while reverent
has only the laudatory sense ; but
reverential is often wrongly chosen
merely as a Long variant ; when
reverent would not be out of place,
reverential is a substitute as much
weaker as it is longer.
revers. See French words.
reverse, n. Such phrases as ‘ re¬
marks the r, of complimentary
meaning uncomplimentary remarks,
are cumbrous specimens of Worn-
out humour.
reverse, vb. For the adjective,
-sable is recommended rather than
-sible on general principles ; see
-able 2 ; negative unreversable, or
irreversible ; see -able 3. But -sible
is the prevalent form.
reversion has various senses, chiefly
legal or biological, to be found in any
dictionary, & not needing to be set
forth here. It suffices to say that
they all correspond to the verb
revert, & not to the verb reverse,
whose noun is reversal. In the
following extracts it has been
wrongly given the meaning of re¬
versal :—The reversion of our Free
Trade policy woidd, we are convinced,
be a great reverse for the working
class./But to undertake a complete
reversion of the Bolshevik policy is
beyond their powers.
revert makes -tible ; see -able 2.
revet makes -tting, -tied ; -T-, -tt-.
reviewal. See -al nouns, & use
review n.
revile makes -lable ; see Mute e.
revisal. See -al nouns. The
Union demands a 4 thorough revisal
REVISE
503
RHINO
of the whole tariff ’; why not the
established revision ?
revise makes -sable ; see Mute e
REVIVALS. When some half cen¬
tury ago a method of curtailing
debate in the House of Commons
was found necessary, there was
much talk of the French cldture, &
it seemed for some years as if the
French name would have to be
taken over with the French thing ;
the old English word closure had
become so unfamiliar that it did not
suggest itself readily, & when pro¬
posed was not cordially received.
‘ Moving the closure ’ is now familiar
enough ; but, though the word had
not become strictly obsolete, it was
so rare as to strike most of us as
either a new formation or a revival,
& it is at once a good specimen of
the kind of revival that justifies the
reviver & a good proof of how
effectually a more or less disused
word may come to life again. To
anyone below fifty years of age it
would hardly occur that closure was
on a different footing from budget or
motion or dissolution or division or
any other parliamentary term ; &,
as to ‘ the kind of revival the
occasion may be defined as one on
which a name has to be found for
a new thing, & a question arises
between a foreign word & a disused
English one that might well have
served if the thing & the word had
been alive together.
It is by no means uncommon for
very ordinary words to remain
latent for long periods. To take
wily some notable cases in the letter
B, the OED records such disappear¬
ances of balsam (600 years), bloom
(the iron-foundry word ; 600 years),
hosfc (500 years), braze (to make of
brass» years) ; but the reap-
pearance of these, except perhaps
ot bosk, was not so much a deliberate
revival as a re-emergence out of the
obscurity of talk into the light of
hterature It is only with deliberate
wwtlx’ however > that it is worth
wnne to concern ourselves here—
words like earven (carved), childly,
dispiteous, & dole (grief), or uses of
words in obsolete senses such as
egregious meaning excellent or enor¬
mity meaning hugeness. Careen
seems to have been disused for
300 years, childly for 250 ; dis¬
piteous (formerly despite/ous full of
despite, now dis/piteous unpitying ;
see Mute e) for 200 ; dole for a long
time in England at least. Revivals
like these, & those of obsolete senses,
not to fill gaps in a deficient vocabu¬
lary as closure did, but to impart
the charm of quaintness to matter
that perhaps needs adornment, are
of doubtful benefit either to the
language or to those who experiment
in them. Is it absurdly optimistic
to suppose that what the stream of
language leaves stranded as it flows
along consists mainly of what can
well be done without, & that going
back to rake among the debris,
except for very special needs, is
unprofitable ? At any rate, the
simple referring of any word to this
article is intended to dissuade the
reader from using it.
revive makes -vable ; see Mute e.
revivify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
revoke makes revocable (re'vokabl),
revocation.
revolt. For revolted^ insurgent, see
Intransitive p.p.
revolute. See Back-formation.
revolve makes -vable ; see Mute e.
revue. See Technical terms.
Reynard, Rhadamanthus. See
Sobriquets.
rhapsodic(al). The short form is
now usually limited to the original
sense ‘ of the Greek rhapsodes %
while -ical has usually & might well
have only the secondary sense of
ecstatically expressed or highflown ;
see -ic(al).
Rhenish. Pronounce r£n-.
rhetorical question. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
rhino = rhinoceros. PI. -os, see
-o(e)s 5, or (see Collectives 4) -o.
See also Curtailed words.
RHOMBUS
504
RHYTHM
rhombus. PI. - buses or -bi ; see
Latin plurals.
rhotacism. See Technical terms.
rhyme. 1. For meaning of r., & of
r. royal , feminine r., &c., see under
Technical terms.
2. rhyme, rime. Nothing seems to be
gained, except indeed a poor chance
of the best of three reputes (learning,
pedantry, & error), by changing the
established spelling. The OED states
that rhyme 4 finally established itself
as the standard form & that the
revival of rime 4 was to some extent
due to the belief that the word was of
native origin & represented OE rim’
( = number). Rhyme is in fact the
same word as rhythm , & ultimately
from Greek rhuthmos, though it came
into English from French in the
altered form rime, & was only later
restored, like many other words, to a
spelling more suggestive of its origin.
It is highly convenient to have for the
thing meant a name differently spelt
from rhythm, but that convenience
rhyme gives us as fully as rime , while
it has the other advantage of being
familiar to everyone.
RHYTHM. Rhythmless speech or
writing is like the flow of liquid
from a pipe or tap ; it runs with
smooth monotony from when it is
turned on to when it is turned off,
provided it is clear stuff ; if it is
turbid, the smooth flow is queerly
& abruptly checked from time to
time, & then resumed. Rhythmic
speech or writing is like waves of the
sea, moving onward with alternating
rise & fall, connected yet separate,
like but different, suggestive of some
law, too complex for analysis or
statement, controlling the relations
between wave & wave, waves & sea,
phrase & phrase, phrases & speech.
In other words, live speech, said or
written, is rhythmic, & rhythmless
speech is at the best dead. The
rhythm of verse is outside the scope
of this book, & that of prose cannot
be considered in its endless detail;
but a few words upon it may com¬
mend the subject as worth attention
to some of those who are stirred by
the mere name to ribald laughter at
fads & aesthetes.
A sentence or a passage is rhyth¬
mical if, when said aloud, it falls
naturally into groups of words each
well fitted by its length & intonation
for its place in the whole & its rela¬
tion to its neighbours. Rhythm is
not a matter of counting syllables
& measuring the distance between
accents ; to that misconception is
due the ridicule sometimes cast upon
it by sensible people conscious of
producing satisfactory English but
wrongly thinking they do it without
the aid of rhythm. They will tell
you that they see to it, of course,
that their sentences sound right, &
that is enough for them ; but, if
their seeing to it is successfully done,
it is because they are, though they
do not realize it, masters of rhythm.
For, while rhythm does not mean
counting syllables & measuring
accent-intervals, it does mean so
arranging the parts of your whole
that each shall enhance, or at the
least not detract from, the general
effect upon the ear ; & what is that
but seeing to it that your sentences
sound right ? Metre is measure¬
ment, rhythm is flow, a flow with
pulsations as infinitely various as
the shape & size & speed of the
waves ; & infinite variety is not
amenable to tabulation such as can
be applied to metre ; so it is that
the prose writer’s best guide to
rhythm is not his own experiments
in, or other people’s rules for, par¬
ticular cadences & stress-schemes,
but an instinct for the difference
between what sounds right & what
sounds wrong. It is an instinct
cultivable by those on whom nature
has not bestowed it, but on one
condition only—that they will make
a practice of reading aloud. That
test soon divides matter, even for
a far from sensitive ear, into what
reads well & what reads tamely,
haltingly, jerkily, lopsidedly, top-
heavily, or otherwise badly; the
first is the rhythmical, the other
RHYTHM
RHYTHM
505
the rhythmless. By the time the
reader aloud has discovered that in
a really good writer every sentence
is rhythmical, while bad writers
perpetually offend or puzzle his
ear—a discovery, it is true, not very
quickly made—, he is capable of
passing judgement on each of his
own sentences if he will be at the
pains to read them, too, aloud. In
all this, reading aloud need not be
taken quite literally ; there is an
art of tacit reading aloud (‘ My own
voice pleased me, & still more the
mind’s Internal echo of the imper¬
fect sound ’), reading with the eye
& not the mouth, that is, but being
as fully aware of the unuttered
sound as of the sense.
Here are, to conclude, a few ex¬
amples of unrhythmical prose, fol¬
lowed by a single masterpiece of
rhythm. If these are read through
several times, it will perhaps be
found that the splendour of the last,
& the meanness of the others,
become more conspicuous at each
repetition :— Mr Davies does not let
his learning cause him to treat the
paintings as material only to be
studied by the Egyptologist with a
critical db scientific eye. Never a
chance of pausing, or an upward or
downward slope, in the four lines./
But, so far as I could see , nobody
carried away burning candles to re¬
kindle with holy fire the lamp in front
of the ikon at home, which should burn
throughout the year except for the short
time it is extinguished in order to
receive anew the light that is relit every
year throughout the Christian world
by Christ's victory over death. In¬
ordinate length of the last & sub¬
ordinate member beginning at ex¬
cept, which throws the whole sen¬
tence off its balance./Bu£ some two
or three months ago 1 asked the
hospitality db assistance of your
columns to draw public db civic atten-
to the above position of affairs,
® to the fact that the use of the Em-
o ankment, as a thoroughfare, was
nmtled, &, in fact, almost prohibited,
°y the very bad db deterrent condition
of the roadway at both ends of the
portion from Chelsea to Westminster,
the rest of the road being fairly good,
of fine proportions, & easily capable
of being made into a most splendid
boulevard, for all ordinary traffic,
as a motor road, in which respect it
was dangerously impossible at parts,
db as a typical drive or walk. This
writer has produced a single sentence
seventeen lines long without a single
slip in grammar. That so expert a
syntactician should be rhythm-deaf
is amazing. /Some simple eloquence
distinctly heard, though only uttered
in her eyes, unconscious that he read
them, as, ‘ By the death-beds I have
tended, by the childhood I have suffer¬
ed, by our meeting in this dreary house
at midnight, by the cry wrung from
me in the anguish of my heart, O
father, turn to me & seek a refuge in
my love before it is too late! ’ may
have arrested them. Of what use to
talk of simple eloquence in a sen¬
tence contorted & disproportioned
like that ? /Let anyone ask some
respectable casuist (the Bishop of
London, for instance) whether Laven-
gro was not far better employed, when
in the country, at tinkering dc smithery
than he would have been in running
after all the milkmaids in Cheshire/,
though tinkering is in general con¬
sidered a very ungenteel employment/,
db smithery little better/, notwith¬
standing that an Orcadian poet, who
wrote in Norse about 800 years ago,
reckons the latter among nine noble
arts which he possessed/, naming it
along with playing at chess, on the
harp, db ravelling runes/, or as the
original has it, ‘ treading runes ’/—
that is, compressing them into small
compass by mingling one letter with
another/, even as the Turkish cali-
graphists ravel the Arabic letters/,
more especially those who write talis¬
mans. One of the decapitable sen¬
tences from which if piece after
piece is chopped off at the end the
remainder after each chop is one
degree less ill balanced than before.
And the king was much moved, db
went up to the chamber over the gate
RHYTHMIC(AL)
& wept: <& as he went, thus he said:
O my son Absalom, my son, my son
Absalom! would God 1 had died for
thee, O Absalom , my son , my son !
rhythmic(al). Both forms are too
common to justify any expectation
ot either s disappearance ; yet there
is no marked differentiation ; what
there is perhaps amounts to this,
that - al is the more ordinary
pedestrian term, & therefore better
suited for the merely classifying use
(cfc other rhythmical devices : cf. so
rhythmic a style) See -ic(al).
riant. See French words.
ribbon, riband. The second is ‘ now
archaic ’—OED.
ribes. Pronounce ri'bez.
riches. But the promoters will cer¬
tainly not need to go back to ancient
history for it; they will have an
embarrassment of riches from the
immediate past. See Gallicisms.
rick (twist, sprain). See wrick.
arickety, not -tty ; see -t-, -tt-.
ricochet. The spelling, accent, &
pronunciation recommended are:
ricochet (rl'kosha); ricocheted (ri'ko-
shad) ; ricocheting (rikosha'Ing). Cf.
CROCHET, CROQUET.
rictus. PI. -uses or -us, not -i ; see
Latin plurals.
rid. There is no clear line between
rid & ridded in past inflexions, but
the prevailing usage is : past tense,
ridded (When he ridded, sometimes
rid, the world of his presence) ; p.p.
as active, ridded (We have ridded, or
rid, the land of robbers) ; p.p. as
passive, rid (I thought myself well rid,
rarely ridded, of him).
ride makes -dabie ; see Mute e.
rider (corollary). Technical terms.
ridge makes -gy ; see -ey & -y.
ridicule, vb, has -table ; Mute e.
rifacimento. Pronounce -fahchl-.
PI. -os, see -o(e)s 6, or -ti (-e).
right. 1. R. away in the sense ‘ at
once ’, ‘ without delay ’, comes from
America, & is still far from com¬
fortable in England. 2. Right) (Tight¬
en, w. See -en verbs. 3. Right-
(ly\ advv. The adverb right■ in the
risible
senses * properly ‘ correctly \ i s
being squeezed out by the te£
denevto Unidiomatic -ly. It j«
well, before using rightly in these
senses, to consider whether right is
thou S h us age is much less
deaded than with many alternative
adverbs of the kind. In all the
following types rightly is possible,
but right is better :~He guessed or
answered right (cf. He rightly guessed'
that it was safe or answered twenty-
seven) ; You did right in apologizing
or to apologize (cf. You rightly
apologized) ; If 1 remember right
(cf. I cannot rightly recollect); I hope
we are going right; If it was tied
right, it will hold ; Teach him to hold
his pen right. Correct accordingly:
Mt ' Lloyd George does rightly in
calling them to the aid of a larger
conception.
righteous. Pron. ri'chws (or rl'tyws).
rigid makes -est; see -er & -est 4.
rigour, but rigorous; see -our &
-OR, -OUR- & -OR-.
rile makes -table ; see Mute e.
rilievo. See relievo.
rime. See rhyme.
rinderpest. Pronounce rin-.
ring, vb. Both rang & rung are
still used for the past tense, but
rang is much commoner, & likely to
become universal.
ringlet makes -eted, -ety ; -t-, -tt-.
rinse makes -sable ; see Mute e.
riot makes - oted , -oting ; -T-, -tt-.
riposte. See French words.
ripply, not -ley ; see -ey & -Y.
rise. 1. For the risen sun &c. see
Intransitive p.p. 2. It is hoped
that the Joint Committee will r. equal
to the occasion, & give India a con¬
stitution which . . . Either r. to or be
equal to ; Cast-iron idiom.
risible. 1. Pronounce rlz'Ibl. 2.
R. is very liable to MiSPRiNTing as
visible. 3. Were I to send my library
of sixty specimens to auction 1 really
expect some risible bid of, say, ten or
fifteen pounds would be offered. The
word has nearly perished except in
the special sense ‘ of laughter ’
(r. faculty, nerves , muscles, &c.). To
RISKY
507
ROSICRUCIANS
use it in the sense ‘ ridiculous
correct enough, but now unfamiliar,
is a Revival not to be recommended;
the word that has taken its place is
DERISORY.
risky, for French risqut, is an un¬
desirable Gallicism.
risqu6, rissole. See French words.
ritardando. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
rival, vb, has -lied, -lling ; -ll-, -l-.
rive. Past tense rived ; p.p. riven,
rarely rived.
rivel makes -lied, -lling ; -ll-, -l-.
rivet has -eled, -eting, -eter ; -T-, -tt-.
rividre. See French words.
roast. 1. The use of the p.p. roast
is very narrowly limited : roast beef
or hare, but roasted coffee-berries or
cheeks ; a roast joint, but a well
roasted joint; is better roast(ed) than
boiled, but should certainly be roasted.
2. For rule the r., see rule.
Robby, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
robe, vb, makes -bable ; see Mute e.
robe-de-chambre. French words.
robust makes -er, -est ; -er & -est.
robustious. One of the words
whose continued existence depends
upon a quotation ( Hamlet hi. ii. 10).
rococo. See Technical terms.
rodomontade, not rho-.
role, rdle. Though the word is
etymologically the same as roll,
meaning the roll of MS. that con¬
tained an actor’s part, the differen¬
tiation is too useful to be sacrificed
by spelling always roll. But, there
being no other word role from which
it has to be kept distinct, both the
italics & the accent might well be
abandoned. As to the sanctity of
the French form, see morale.
Roman-Catholic, Roman Catholic
He is a Roman Catholic ; the Roman
Catholic faith ; in Roman-Cath^h‘>
countries. In the noun there is
need of or justification for
hyphen (see Hyphens 3 B) ; in ti
compound adjective it is necessa
or desirable (see Hyphens 3 D).
Romanes, Romany, (gypsy
guage). Pronounce rd'mongz, -nl.
Romansh, Roumansh, Rumans(c)h
The OED treats the first as the
standard form.
Rome makes Romish ; see Mute
rondeau, rondel. See Technical
terms ; &, for pi. of rondeau, -x.
rondo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
Rdntgen. Pronounce rii'nty^n.
roof. PI. -fs ; see -ve(d).
roomful. PI. -Is ; see -ful,
root (philol.). See Technical
TERMS.
root, rout, (poke about). The
second form is called by the OED
an ‘irregular variant of’ the first.
The two, with the other verb root
directly connected with the noun,
naturally cause some difficulty. It
would be a convenient differentia¬
tion if the spelling root could be
confined to contexts in which the
notion of roots is essential, & rout
were adopted where search or
bringing to light is the point. So
we should get rooting up trees,
rooting out weeds or sedition, but
routing about in a lumber-room or
among papers, routing out secrets,
routing a person out of bed, routing
up a recluse or a reference. Pigs,
being equally intent on roots &
search, may root or rout indifferently.
rope makes -pable, -py ; see Mute e.
roquefort. See French words.
For spelling & pronuncia¬
tion of inflexions see crochet.
rosary, -ery, (rose-garden). The
first is the old word (from 15th c. in
GED), direct from Latin rosarium .
The second is a 19th-c. formation
made presumably, from rose & -ery,
by someone not aware that rosary
has this sense. Rose-garden or -bed
is recommended for ordinary use 3 &
rosary for verse.
Rosicrucians, or Brethren of the
Rosy Cross, much talked of in the
17th c., paid homage by their name
not to anything symbolized by cross
or rose, but to an alleged 15th-e.
founder named Rosenkreuz (=cross
of roses). ‘ The writers who posed
as Rosicrucians were moral & re¬
ligious reformers, & utilized the
technicalities of chemistry (alchemy^
ROSIN
508
-R-, -RR
& the sciences generally, to make
known their opinions, there being
a flavour of mysticism or occultism
promotive of inquiry & suggestive
of hidden meanings discernible or
discoverable only by adepts
Enc. Brit.
rosin is by origin merely a form of
resin changed in sound & spelling ;
but the two are now so far differ¬
entiated that resin is usual for the
liquid in or taken from the tree, &
as the general chemical term for
substances having certain qualities,
while rosin denotes the distilled solid.
R. makes rosined, -iny; -n-, -nn-.
roster. Though the dictionaries
are almost unanimous for ro'ster
only, the army, which is the chief
user of the word, says ro'ster ; &
Skeat remarks : ‘ The o is properly
long i pron. roaster ’.
rostrum. PI. : in the original
sense (ship’s beak), usually -ra ; in
the secondary sense (pulpit or plat¬
form), -rums or -ra. See -um, &
Latin plurals.
rotate makes rotatable (see -able 1),
-tor (see -or).
rota(to)ry. Rotary is not, like
authoritive, deteriate, & pacifist, a
shortening of a more correct form,
but is a separate word : rota wheel
gives rotarius (English rotary) wheel¬
like ; roto revolve gives rotatorius
(English rotatory ) revolving &c. On
the other hand there is no important
difference in meaning either essential
or customary, & therefore the short
rotary should be preferred & rotatory
avoided as a Superfluous word.
rdti. See French words.
rotten makes -nness. For some¬
thing r. in the state of Denmark, see
Irrelevant allusion.
rotund makes - er , -est ; -er & -est.
roturier, roue, rouge et noir. See
French words.
rough(en), vv. See -en verbs ; but
the relation between this pair de¬
mands some further treatment,
1. The intransitive verb ( = become
rough) is always roughen, except
that the addition of up occasio nal ly
* . (i . ^ _ serve (the sea, his
bristles, its scales, their tempers, began
to rough up). 2. In the simple
transitive senses also ( = make
rough), roughen is usual, but if up is
added rough is preferred, & rough
by itself is the word for arming
horseshoes against slipping (rough
the shoes or the horse). 3. In the
other transitive senses of to treat
roughly or shape roughly (the latter
usually with adverbs, in, off, out),
the verb is rough : rough a horse,
break it in ; rough a calf, harden it
by exposure ; rough a person, abuse
or maltreat him ; rough in the out¬
lines ; rough off timber ; rough out
a scheme; rough a lens, shape
without polishing it. 4. To take
things in the rough is to rough it.
roulade, rouleau. See French
words. Rouleau has pi. -s (or -x).
roundel, roundelay. Not, like
rondeau & rondel, precise terms.
Roundel is sometimes used loosely
for rondeau-or-rondel, & see Tech¬
nical terms ; roundelay is defined
in the OED as ‘ A short simple song
with a refrain ’.
rouse makes -sable ; see Mute e.
rout (poke about). See root.
route is pronounced, in military
phrases such as route-march, column
of r., rowt. _
routine makes routinism, -ist (roo-
te'n-) ; see Mute e.
rowan. The OED pronunciation is
ro'an, Scotch row'an.
rowel makes -lied, -lling ; -ll-, -l-.
rowlock. Pronounce ru'lok.
-R-, -RR-. Monosyllables ending
in -r double it before suffixes begin¬
ning with vowels if the sound pre¬
ceding it is a single vowel (a, e, i, o,
u, y), but not if it is a diphthong or
a double vowel : barring but near¬
ing, stirred but chaired, currish but
boorish. Words of more than one
syllable follow the rule for mono¬
syllables if their last syllable is
accented (with the exception noted
below), but otherwise do not double
m mr+af 7 Knt nTnfff’fT&d* %TwCT m
RUBEFY
509
ring but entering, abhorrent but
motoring. Exception : confer, infer,
prefer, refer, & transfer, though
accented on the last, give adjectives
in -erable, & shift the accent to the
first syllable : preferable &c.; see
confer(r)able.
rubefy, -bify. The first is better,
on the analogy of liquefy, putrefy,
stupefy, than the second on the
analogy of horrify, terrify, especially
in view of rubefacient & rubefaction
always so spelt.
rubricate makes -cable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
ruche. See French words.
rucksack. Pronounce roo'ks&k.
ruddle (red ochre, &, as verb,
colour with this) has the two vari¬
ants raddle & reddle, of which raddle
is the form usually preferred as a
contemptuous synonym for rouge
& rouging, & reddle is occasional
instead of ruddle. Ruddle itself is
applied chiefly to sheep-marking.
rude makes rudish ; see Mute e.
ruff (bird) has fem. reeve.
ruination is not, like flirtation,
floatation, & botheration, a Hybrid
derivative, being regularly formed
from ruinate ; but it now has the
effect of a slangy emphatic length¬
ening of the noun ruin ; this is only
because the parent verb ruinate,
which was common in serious use
1550-1700, is no longer heard ; but
the result is that ruination is better
avoided except in facetious contexts.
rule. 1. The verb makes -lablc ;
see Mute e. 2. R. of three & r. of
thumb should not be hyphened ex¬
cept when used as compound
adjectives ; see Hyphens (*Rule of
thumb). 3. Rule the roast (roost).
The OED gives no countenance to
roost, & does not even recognize that
the phrase ever takes that form ;
but most unliterary persons say
roost & not roast ; I have just
inquired of three such, & been
informed that they never heard of
rule the roast, & that the reference is
to a cock keeping his hens in order.
Against this tempting piece of
popular etymology the OED offers
us nothing more succulent than
4 None of the early examples throw
any light on the precise origin of the
expression ’. In seven out of the
eight pre-18th-c. examples quoted
the spelling is not roast but rost or
rosle; but the OED philologists
would doubtless tell us that rost(e)
could represent Old-French rost
(roast), & could not represent Old-
English hrdst (roost). Writers should
take warning, at any rate, that rule
the roast is the orthodox spelling, &
that when they have written it the
compositor must be watched.
rumbustious. See Facetious forma¬
tions.
ruminate makes -noble, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
rumour. See -our & -or.
run. For fresh-run salmon &c.,
see Intransitive p.p.
rune. See Technical terms.
rung (past tense). See ring.
rupture makes - rable ; see Mute e.
ruridecanal. Pron. rooridlka'nal.
ruse, rus6. See French words.
rush ring (I'll marry thee with a
&c.). No hyphen ; Hyphens 3 B.
russety, not -tty ; see -T-, -tt-.
rusticate makes -cable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
ruthless. For the war-time use as
translation of German riicksichtslos
(regardless or reckless, not r.), see
frightfulness.
S
’S. 1. For for conscience' sake &c.,
see sake.
2. For Achilles ’, Jones's, &c., see
Possessive puzzles.
3. For England's &c. & of England
&c., see ’s incongruous, & Per¬
sonification 1. In no part of the
world, says Ontario’s Prime Minister,
will the returned soldier find a more
appreciative public than in this pro¬
vince.
4. For such corrections as to use a
word of Coleridge instead of of Cole¬
ridge's, see Out of the frying-pan.
SABBATH DAY
510
Sabbath day.
Hyphens 3B.
SAINT
No hyphen; see
Sabbatic(al). The long form is now
rare ; see -ic(al).
sabot makes - oted , pron. -od.
sabotage. See French words.
sabre, -ber. See -re & -er.
sabretache, sabreur. See French
words.
sac is a medical & biological word,
not a dressmaker’s or tailor’s ; see
sac(que).
saccharin(e). See -in & -ine ;
there is, however, some convenience
in using saccharin for the noun &
saccharine for the adjective.
sacerdotage. See Facetious for¬
mations.
sachem. The OED puts first the
pronunciation sa'chim.
sachet. See French words.
sack, dismiss(al), having been on
record for a hundred years, may
claim promotion from the slang to
the colloquial class.
sac(que). For the garment, sack
is the right form. The other spell¬
ings are pseudo-French, wrong in
different degrees : there is no
French word sacque ; there is a
French word sac , but it is not, as
the English sack is or has been, the
name for a particular garment.
sacrarium. PI. -ia.
sacred makes -cst ; see -er & -est 4.
sacrifice makes -ccable ; see -able
1. For the supreme &c. s., see
Stock pathos.
sacrilegious. So spelt, & pro¬
nounced -e'jws. It is often both
mis-spelt & mispronounced from
confusion with religious.
saga. See Technical terms.
sage. For the s. of Chelsea, see
Sobriquets.
sago. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
Sahib. Pronounce sah'-ib. Fem.
(European lady), Memsahib.
said. 1. S. = aforesaid. 2. S. he &
had s. he. 3. Substitutes for s. he.
lo {The) said. In legal documents,
phrases like ‘ the s. Robinson ’, 4 s.
dwelling-house are traditional.
Jocose imitation of this use ( regalins
themselves on half-pints at the l
village hostelries), still not uncora-
mon, though no longer indulged ia
by writers not desperately anxious
to relieve conscious dullness, is to be
classed with Worn-out humour.
2. S. he , s. N. or M. t placed after
the words spoken, is entirely un¬
objectionable ; the ingenuity dis¬
played by some writers (see 3) in
avoiding what they needlessly fear
will bore their readers is superfluous.
But two points should be noticed:
the sprightliness of Said N. or M.
placed before instead of after the
words said, & the ponderousness of
had said &c. instead of plain said,
are alike intolerable. Said a Minis¬
ter :— 4 American interests are not
large enough in Morocco to induce us
lo . . .’/*/ won't plot anything extra
against Tom ’, had said Isaac. And
see Inversion s.f.
3. Substitutes for s. he. Many
verbs, such as whispered, cried,
shouted, asked, answered, continued,
groaned, imply or suggest the use of
words, & are naturally used after
what is uttered, as equivalents of
said with an adverb. With these
{asked Jones &c.) to relieve the
monotony of said he,, no writer need
be afraid of boring ; he may safely
abstain from the very tiresome
Mannerism initiated perhaps by
Meredith (‘ Ah ’, fluted Fenellan),
& now staled by imitation :—‘ Hand
on heart ? ' she doubted./'Need any
help ? ’ husked A. /‘ They're our best
rei'enue \ defended B./'I know his
kind ’, fondly remembered C./‘ Why
shouldn't he?' scorned D./At's a
lie ', perfunctorily denied E./AIe can
win her love ', she faintly surren¬
dered./ 1 ' Does it never occur to you'
I probed, 4 that all your labour may
be in vain ?
sail. For plain sailing, see plain.
By the side of the usual but abnor¬
mal sailor, the normal agent-noun
sailer exists for use in such contexts
as She (ship) is a slow sailer.
Saint. St or S. is better than St. for
ST STEPHEN’S
I ■■■ - ■■ ■ ■ 1
the abbreviation (see Period in
abbb.) ; PI. Sts or SS.
St Stephen’s. See Sobriquets.
sake. For God's s., for mercy's s.,
for Jones's s., for Phyllis's s. ; but
when the enclosed word is both a
common noun & one whose posses¬
sive is a syllable longer than its
subjective, the s of the possessive is
not used ; an apostrophe is often,
but not always, written ; for con¬
science s., for goodness' s., for their
office s., for peace's.
salable. So spelt; see Mute e.
salad days (one’s raw youth) is one
of the phrases whose existence
depends on single passages (see Ant.
& Cleop. i. v. 73). Whether the
point is that youth, like salad, is
raw, or that salad is highly flavoured
& youth loves high flavours, or that
innocent herbs are youth’s food as
milk is babes’ & meat is men’s, few
of those who use the phrase could
perhaps tell us ; if so, it is fitter
for parrots’ than for human speech.
salamander. This, gnome, sylph, &
nymph , are spirits of fire, earth, air,
& water, in Paracelsus’s system,
salary makes salaried.
Salic, Salique. In the most fre¬
quent use, i.e. in the name of the
law excluding females from dynastic
succession, ‘still often spelt Salique
& pronounced sale'k ’—OED.
salicylic. So spelt.
saline. Pronounce sa'lln, & see
False quantity.
salivary. Pronounce s&'livarf, &
see False quantity (on doctrinal).
salle-4-manger, d’attente. See
French words.
sallow makes -er, -est ; -er & -est 2.
Sally. So spelt; see -ey, -ie, -y.
sally, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
salmi. See French words.
salmon. See Collectives 1 , 4 .
Salomonic has not, like Salomon,
passed out of use ; but Solomonic is
now the usual form.
Salem. See French words.
Salonica. Pronounce s&loni'ka (or
-e'ka), not salfi'nika.
511
SAME
saloon. S. deck, s. pistol, s. rifle.
No hyphen ; see Hyphens 3 B.
salt. A bath of salt water (no
hyphen), but a salt-water bath ; see
Hyphens 3 B, 3 A.
saltus. PI. saltus ; see -us.
salubrious, salutation, salute. For
pronunciation see lu.
salve. The noun & verb meaning
remedy are pronounced sahv. The
verb meaning save or rescue is an
entirely separate one, a Back-
formation from salvage, pronounced
s£lv. Both verbs make -vable ; see
Mute e. The Latin word meaning
Hail 1, & used chiefly as the name
of a R.-C. antiphon, is pronounced
s&'lve.
salvo (both nouns, reservation &
volley). PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
sal volatile. Pronounce sal voia'till.
sambo, (half breed). PI. - os; -o(e)s 6.
same. S. or the s., in the sense the
aforesaid thing(s) or person(s), as
a substitute for a pronoun (it, him,
her, them, they) is one of the usages
whose effect is discussed in Illiter¬
acies. It has the peculiarity that
it occurs chiefly in writing, not often
in speech, & yet is avoided by all
who have any skill in writing. As
the working man puts on his Sunday
clothes to be photographed, so the
unliterary adorns himself with ‘ (the)
same when he is to appear in
print ; each seems bent on giving
the worst possible impression of
himself. In all the extracts below,
the writers would have shown them¬
selves much more at their ease if
they had been content with it, them,
or other pronoun. Shops filled to the
doors with all kinds of merchandise <&
people eager to acquire t. s./Are the
purveyors of ‘ bowlers ’ able to meet
the sudden requirements for s. likely
to arise immediately on the signing of
peace ?/Again, the doctors declaim
against patients by contract, while
they largely themselves set up the
machinery for carrying on t. s. (the
system ?)./// not directly, at least
through the official presence of their
representatives, or by a chosen delega -
SAMIEL
512
SANTA CLAUS
tion of t. s ./The atmospheric engine,
by which work was done by the heating
if' expanding of atmospheric pressure
air by the combustion of hydrocarbons
in s ./Sir,—Having in mind the
approaching General Election, it
appears to me that the result of s. is
likely to be as much a farce as the
last./I again withdraw the statements,
<£• express my regret for having made
t. s./Sir,—Mr Asquith, in his speech
at the West Indian Club dinner, &
you in your comments on s., make
reference to the Parliamentary grants./
Mr Lloyd George has, by this time,
considered almost every valid objection
or grievance, & has promised amend¬
ments or favourable consideration
touching t. s./I consider this question
as already settled, & consequently any
further discussion on s. is pure waste
of time./When is a majority a Coali¬
tion majority ?—When the parties
composing s. refuse to unite with the
Opposition. /1 can only confirm the
statement of the transfer, but t. s. will
be made slowly.
samiel. See wind, n.
samite. Pronounce s&'mit.
Samson. So spelt in Judges, and as
a generic name.
samurai. Pron. sa'moorl. PI. same,
sanat-, sanit-. The chief words, as
they should be spelt, are :— sana¬
torium a healing-place ; sanative &
sanatory curative ; sanitary con¬
ducive to wholesomeness ; sanita¬
tion securing of wholesomeness ;
sanitarian a believer in sanitation.
Sanitarium is a possible but now un¬
desirable equivalent of sanatorium ;
sanitorium, sanatorium, & sanitory,
are wrong.
sanbenito. Pronounce -e'to. PI.
*os ; see -o(e)s 0.
sanctify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
sanction, n. The popular sense
(permission, authorization, coun¬
tenance, consent) has so far pre¬
vailed over the more original senses
still current especially in Law &
Ethics that it is worth while to draw
attention to these. The s. of a rule
or a system is the consideration that
operates to enforce or induce com¬
pliance with it ; the death penalty
is the s. of the law against murder.
The OED quotes from T. Fowler:
* Physical ss. are the pleasures &
pains which follow naturally on the
observance or violation of physical
laws, the ss. employed by society
are praise & blame, the moral ss. ...
are . . . the approval & disapproval
of conscience ; lastly, the religious
ss. are either the fear of future
punishment, & the hope of future
reward, or, to the higher religious
sense, simply the love of God, & the
dread of displeasing Him ’.
sanction, vb, makes -oned &e.;
see -N-, -NN-.
sandal makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
sand-blind is neither (like, say,
purblind) a current word, nor (like,
say, bat-blind) intelligible at sight.
Its modern existence depends on one
passage (M. of V. n. ii. 35-80), & it
can rank only as an Archaism.
Sandy. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
sang-de-bceuf, sang-froid. See
French words.
sanguine is in danger of being super¬
seded by the very inferior optimistic.
Candour, however, compels the ad¬
mission that optimistic, optimism,
& optimist, have the advantage in
mechanical convenience over san¬
guine, sanguineness, & sanguine per¬
son.
Sanhedrim, -in. * The incorrect
form sanhedrin . . . has always been
in England (from the 17th c *) the
only form in popular use ’—OED.
sans. As an English word, pro¬
nounce s&nz ; but it is at oes
Wardour - street English: dne
poet whom he met sans hat & coa
one four-oi’clock-in-ihe-morrang.
s. edrtmonie, sansculotte(rie), s. douie,
fagon, gine, peur &c., phrase, -souc ,
see French words.
Sanskrit. So spelt. .
Santa Claus. Pronounce -awz, not
a feminine name, but from a V
dialect form of Saint (Nicholas.
SAPID
513
SAVANNAH
sapid, unlike its negative insipid, is
a merely Literary word.
sapient. Chiefly a Literary word,
& usually ironical.
saponaceous, apart from its use in
chemistry, is a favourite Poly¬
syllabic humour word.
sapor. A merely Literary word ;
for the spelling -or, see -our & -or.
Sapphic, Sappho. Pronounce s&f-.
Sapphics, bee Technical terms.
sarcasm does not necessarily in¬
volve irony, & irony has often no
touch of sarcasm. But irony, or
the use of expressions conveying
different things according as they
are interpreted, is so often made the
vehicle of sarcasm, or the utterance
of things designed to hurt the feel-
in § s > that in popular use the two
are much confused. The essence of
sarcasm is the intention of giving
pain by (ironical or other) bitter
words. See also irony, & humour.
sarcoma. PI. -ata.
sarcophagus. PI. -i ; for pronun-
ciation see Greek g.
sardine (stone ; Rev. iv. 3). Pro¬
nounce sar'din.
sardonic. See humour for some
rough distinction between this,
cynical, sarcastic, &c. The word is
perhaps over-used in Novelese
rhe hollow laugh or at least the
sardonic grin that is a sine qua non
of every self-respecting poisoner.
sargasso. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
sarissa. PI. -oe.
sartorial. See Pedantic humour.
Sassenach. Pronounce with -eh
as in loch.
Satanic(af). The -al form * now
rare OED ; see -ic(al).
satchel makes -lied ; see -ll- -l-.
sate makes - table ; see Mute e.
*or sateless, see -less.
sati. For this improvement on
suttee, see Pride of knowledge.
satiate. Adj. -at, vb -at; see
Participles 5 B. The verb makes
-ttable ; see -able l.
satiety. Pronounce satl'Itl.
JWOre. For rough distinction from
some synonyms, see humour.
1861
S
satiric(al). The senses addicted to,
intending, good at, marked by,
satire are peculiar to the long form
(a -al rogue ; you are pleased to be
-al; with -al comments; a -al
glance). In the merely classifying
sense of or belonging to satire (the
—— poems of Pope ; the Latin -
writers ), either form may be used,
but -ic is commoner. This differen¬
tiation might well be hastened by
deliberate support ; but the line of
demarcation between the two groups
is not always clear. See -ic(al).
satiric)(satyric. The two spellings
represent two different & uncon¬
nected words ; satyric, which is in
learned or literary use only, means
of satyrs, & especially, in s. drama
(a form of Greek play), having a
satyr chorus.
satirize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
satisfy. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
satrap. Pronounce sa'trSp.
saturate makes -rable ; see -able 1 .
Saturday. For the adverbial use
( shall see you S.), see Friday.
Saturnalia. See Latin plurals 3.
I he word is originally plural, but,
as being the name of a festival,
comes to be construed, both in
literal & metaphorical use, more
often as singular (the S. was, or were,
wu and » now follows a s. of crime).
When a real plural is required (the
sack, of Magdeburg, the French Revo¬
lution, & other such s. of slaughter),
the form is -ia, not -ias. '
SSlP 11 ? 11 Verse * Tech nical terms.
satwin S< c FAUN for distinctions,
satyric. See satiric.
sauce. Combinations such as mint
s. should be two words unhyphened
it, as is usual, the accent remains on
sauce ; see Hyphens 3 B. The verh
makes -ceable ; see -able 1.
sauce piquante. See French words
roU * Accent the roU, Zuse
no hyphen ; see Hyphens 3 B
See l^ca
savannah. So spelt.
SAVANT
514
savant, savate. See French words.
save (except). 1 . For s. & except ,
see Pleonasm 2. 2. Trench (Eng¬
lish Synonyms , 4th ed., 1858),
writing on ‘except, excepting, but,
save , has no more to say of the
ast than that ‘ “ Save ” is almost
exclusively limited to poetry He
would have a surprise if he were to
see a newspaper of 1920; we can
still say that it ought to be, but no
longer that it is, almost limited to
poetry. Though nearly everyone
uses except or but, not s., in speaking
& perhaps everyone in thinking, &
though the natural or ‘ dominant ’
word except is neither undignified
nor inferior in clearness, journalists
have made up their minds that it is
not good enough for print, & very
mistakenly prefer to translate it,
irrespective of context, into s. ; s.
is becoming a Formal word, like
the reporter’s invariable proceed for
go. Does anyone not a writer — &
does any good writer—think that
the substitution of the formal s.
for the natural except or but in the
following sentences has improved
them ?— The handful of ship's officers
could do nothing s. summon the aid of
a detachment of the Civic Guard./
One marked trait of Dr Griffith John
has been displayed in his refusal to
leave China s. at long intervals./The
spur proved to be so admirably
adapted to its purpose that it has
existed unaltered , s. in detail, to the
present day./So completely surround¬
ed by other buildings as to be abso¬
lutely invisible — s. from a balloon or
an aeroplane./There can be no ques¬
tion, s. in the minds possibly of the
Tariff Reform fanatics, that Mr Bal¬
four's retirement is a heavy blow to
the Unionist Party./The baby takes
no special harm, s. that it is allowed
to do as it likes, & begins to walk too
soon./The increased rates will take
effect on the Underground lines, s. on
one stretch between Bow db Barking.
save, vb, makes - vable ; see Mute
e. S. the mark (with variants God s .,
bless, God bless, the mark) is a stylistic
SAXONISM
toy, of which no-one can be said to
know, though different people make
different guesses at, the original
meaning. The OED’s description
or it, as it now survives, is: ‘In
modern literary use (after some of
Shakspere), an
expression of indignant scorn ap¬
pended to a quoted expression or to
a statement of fact
See
savoir faire, savoir vivre.
French words.
savour(y). So spelt; -our & -on.
saw has p.p. sawn, rarely sawed.
Sawney, s-. So spelt; -ey, -ie, -y.
SAXONISM is a name for the at¬
tempt to raise the proportion borne
by the originally & etymologically
English words in our speech to those
that come from alien sources. The
Saxonist forms new derivatives from
English words to displace estab¬
lished words of similar meaning but
Latin descent ; revives obsolete or
archaic English words for the same
purpose ; allows the genealogy of
words to decide for him which is the
better of two synonyms. Examples
of the first kind are foreword
(earliest OED quotation, 1842) for
preface, folklore (184G) & birdlore
(1830) for tradition & ornithology,
bodeful (1813) for ominous; of
the second, betterment for im¬
provement, happenings for events,
cnglish for translate (into English),
folk for people, & forebear for
ancestor ; of the third, belittle &
depreciate, wheelman & cyclist, love &
charity (1 Corinthians xiii, A. V. &
It. V.), burgess or burgher & citizen.
The wisdom of this nationalism in
language—at least in so thoroughly
composite a language as English—
is very questionable ; we may well
doubt whether it benefits the lan¬
guage, & that it does not benefit the
style of the individual, who may or
may not be prepared to sacrifice
himself for the public good, is pretty
clear. Here is the opinion of the
Dictionary of National Biography on
Freeman’s English : ‘ His desire to
use so far as possible only words
SATING
515
SCARCELY
which are purely English limited his
vocabulary & was some drawback
to his sentences The truth is
perhaps that conscious deliberate
Saxonism is folly, that the choice or
rejection of particular words should
depend not on their descent but on
considerations of expressiveness, in¬
telligibility, brevity, euphony, or
ease of handling, & yet that any
writer who becomes aware that the
Saxon or native English element in
what he writes is small will do well
to take the fact as a danger-signal.
But the way to act on that signal is
not to translate his Romance words
into Saxon ones ; it is to avoid
abstract & roundabout & bookish
phrasing whenever the nature of the
thing to be said does not require it.
We can almost see the writer of the
following sentence striking out im¬
provement (which did not clash with
better a few words later) & inserting
his Saxon betterment in its place :
Instead of breaking heads aver a
betterment of Anglo-German rela¬
tions, it would be better to study
British finance. But betterment has
no single advantage over improve¬
ment except its Saxonism. It was
once, indeed, a current English
word, but that was as long ago as
the 17th century. In recent times
it has come back to us from America
as a technicality in the tenant-&-
landlord business, & now the Saxon-
lsts are making their readers uncom¬
fortable by thrusting it into sen¬
tences like the one quoted.
. Sa y^ls« * As the s. is ’, or * goes
is often used by simple people,
speaking or writing, who would fain
assure us that the phrase they have
allowed to proceed from their lips
or pen is by no means typical of
their taste in language ; no ; it only
happens to be so expressive ’ that
one may surely condescend to it for
once. Well, qui s'excuse s'accuse :
if the rest of their behaviour does
not secure them from insulting
suspicions, certainly the apology
will not. See Superiority. *
sbirro. PI. -ri (-e).
scabies. Three syllables (skalriez).
scalawag. See scallywag.
scald (poet). See skald.
scaldino. Pronounce skahlde'no.
PI. -ni (-e).
scale. The verbs make -table ; see
Mute e. The adjective from one of
the nouns is scaly ; see -ey & -y.
scallawag. See scallywag.
scallop, sco-. The spelling is
usually with -a-, but the pronuncia¬
tion with -o-. The verb makes
- oping , -oped ; see -p-, -pp-.
scallywag, -ala-, -alia-. The first
spelling is that preferred by the OED.
scandal. For distinctions between
this, libel, slander, & other synonyms,
see libel.
scandalize makes -zable ; Mute e.
scandalum magnatum. The second
word is the genitive plural of Latin
magnas a magnate, not a p.p. agree¬
ing with scandalum. The phrase
means the offence of uttering a
malicious report against some high
official, & the use of it in such senses
as 4 a crying scandal ’ is a blunder.
scant, adj., is a Literary word,
preferred in ordinary contexts to
scanty, small, few, short, &c. (The
attendance was so scant as to suggest
that many members must have antici¬
pated the holiday) only by those who
have no sense of incongruity. It
survives as a current word, however
in some isolated phrases, as s’
courtesy, s. of breath.
scarce, adv., used instead of
scarcely, is a Literary word. It is
true that the OED says : 4 Before
adverbs in -ly the form scarce is
often adopted instead of scarcely ,
to avoid the iteration of the suffix ’.
On that iteration, see -ly ; but such
avoidance is a case of Out of the
frying-pan.
scarcely. 1. S. . . . than. 2. Not
&C. . . . s.
1. S. ... . than. S. was the nice
new dram finished than several of the
sickened diphtheria.
*or this construction, condemned
SCARE
516
SCHOLAR
in OED s.v. than as erroneous., see
hardly 2. Before or when is what
should be used instead of than.
2. Not &c. . . . s. We most of us
feel safe against even saying ‘ I
don’t s. know with not & s. in
hand-to-hand conflict ; but, if a
little space intervenes, & the nega¬
tive is disguised, the same absurdity
is not very rare in print :— The
services of the men who have worked,
the railway revolution without the
travelling public being scarcely aware
that we are at war should not be
forgotten./It has been impossible to
tell the public s. anything about
American naval co-operation with
the British. The English for without
s. realizing is either s. realizing, or
without quite realizing, or not fully
realizing.
scare makes -ruble ; see Mute e.
Scarcdly is a bad form ; sec -edly.
scarf. PI. -J's or -ves ; see -ve(d).
scarify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., C.
Scarlet Woman. See Sobriquets.
scatteredly. Three syllables; see
-edly (4).
scavenge(r), vbs. Scavenger, n., is
the origin, in English, from which
to scavenge is a Back-formation,
the normal verb being to scavenger ;
cf. to soldier, to filibuster, to buc¬
caneer, to privateer, to mountaineer,
to volunteer, to solder, to bicycle,
& hundreds of other verbs that are
in fact verbal uses of nouns. Sca¬
venge, however, is much commoner
than’the verb scavenger.
scazon. See Technical terms.
scena (mus.). Pronounce sha nah.
scene. For synonyms in the sense
locale, see field.
sceptic &c. The OED gives ske-
only, not sS-, as the pronunciation ,
see also Greek g, & skeptic.
sceptre, -ter. See -re & -er.
schedule. Pronounce she diu.
schema. Pron. ske'ma. PI. -mala.
scherzando, scherzo. Pronounced
skarts&'nd5, skar'tsd (pi. -os ; see
-oes 6); Italian sounds. ,
Schiedam. Pronounce sk!d& m.
schipperke. Pronounce ski'perkl.
schism(atic). Pronounce si-.
schismatic(al). See -ic(al). The
desirable consummation is that the
short form should be the noun, &
the long one the adjective.
schist. Pronounce sh-. The odd¬
ities of English treatment of Greek
words are well illustrated by schism
(si-), schist (shi-), & schizomycetc
(ski-), all three being from the same
Greek word.
schizomycetes (lit. split-funguses;
pronounce skizomlse'tez). Under
this as the most comprehensive
term are here collected for com¬
parison the OED definitions of the
word itself & several others, about
whose inter-relations curiosity is
natural :— s., bacterium, microbe,
bacillus, micro-organism, germ.
Schizomycetes : a group of micro¬
scopic, rodlike, unicellular organ¬
isms, multiplying by fission, vari¬
ously known as Bacteria, Microbes,
Bacterium : A genus of schizo-
mycetae, microscopic unicellular rod¬
shaped vegetable organisms, vari¬
ous species of which are found in
all decomposing animal & vegetable
liquids. .
Microbe : An extremely minute
living being, whether plant or
animal ; chiefly applied to t e
bacteria concerned in causing dis¬
eases & fermentation.
Bacillus: A genus of schizomycetae,
microscopic vegetable organisms o
the lowest grade among what were
once called infusoria. Separated from
bacterium, with which it agrees in ts
rodlike form, & characterized by
larger size & mode of reproduction.
Micro-organism: A microscopic
animal or plant ; a microbe.
Germ: A micro-organisrn or m
crobe ; often one of the
which are believed to cause disease.
schnapps. So spelt,
scholar. Though there a noJ> d
parent reason why s. & ss. ’ ^
not mean pupil(s) at ascho ,
boy, schoolgirl, school-children,
SCHOLIUM
it is not so used by those who are
or have been at the great schools.
A s. at schools is one who holds a
scholarship, & the use of it in the
other sense implies that the user
is unacquainted with school idiom.
While he was a s. at Marlborough
Grammar School he took part in a riot
which broke out in consequence of the
prohibition of a firework display one
4 Guy Fawkes day \/It is the sincere
hope of the council that its endeavour
to promote the ‘ sport ’ in the schools
will be recognized by the masters, &
that they will bring the proposed
championships to the notice of their
scholars. See also Genteelism.
scholium. PI. -ia ; see -um.
schoolhouse, school-house, school
house. The name of the building in
which a school is carried on is one
word, with or without hyphen.
The name of the headmaster’s as
distinguished from the other board¬
ing-houses of a large school should
be two words unhyphened, since
house bears the accent. See Hy¬
phens 3 B.
school (of fish &c.), shoal. The
two words are etymologically one,
& equally unconnected with the
ordinary word school ; both are also
current, & without difference of
sense. The form school has the
disadvantage of being liable to be
taken for a figurative use of the
other school.
sciagraphy &c., ski-. The regular
representative in English of Greek
. (here ski a shadow) is sc- : but
it is legitimate (see Greek g) to
^ _ _ m • m c as k, cf. sceptic. This
particular set of words has been
taken into English twice—in the
16th c. as terms in perspective
JwuaUy With the spelling sc-, & in
the 19th as equivalent to radio-
graphy (production of R6ntgen-ra V
pictures) &c., usually with the
K n & Sk V 7° mainta *n both the
f^rt he ! k ' fo 2“ is ver y u nsatis-
to abandon the Rfintgen-ray seS,
517
SCIOLTO
restrict the words to their older use
in perspective, spell only sc-, &
pronounce sk-.
sciamachy, sciametry. See Greek g.
science & art. S. knows, a. does ;
a s. is a body of connected facts,
an a. is a set of directions ; the facts
of s. (errors not being such) are the
same for all people, circumstances,
& occasions ; the directions of a.
vary with the artist & the task.
But, as there is much traffic between
s. & a., &, especially, a. is often
based on s., the distinction is not
always clear ; the a. of self-defence,
& the boxer’s s.—are thev the same
or different? The OED, on s.
< contradistinguished from art ’, says:
The distinction as commonly appre-
hended is that a s. is concerned
with theoretic truth, & an a. with
methods for effecting certain results.
Sometimes, however, the term s. is
extended to denote a department
or practical work which depends on
the knowledge & conscious applica¬
te™ of , principles ; an a., on the
other hand, being understood to
require merely knowledge of tradi-
habitf’ 111GS ^ acquired by
scilicet, usually shortened to scil.
or sc., is Latin ( scire licet you may
;" “'J } ° r wit ’• 14 is not so
often misused as e.g. & not
having been popularized to the
same extent. Its function is to
introduce : (a) a more intelligible or
Emdi«h S f Ubstltute ’ som etimes the
V v J >hc y °f the I-W.W.
w ji nde £f nden t Workers of the
Sf l<l nJ Th f °\ Ghost as Pa raclete
(scil. advocate) : (b) a word &c. that
was omitted in the original as
unnecessary, but is thought to re¬
quire specifying for the present
. : Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard (sc. the intent of God).
scimitar, -etar. The OED gives
the first a3 the standard form,
scintilla. PI. -lae.
sciolto. Pronounce shd-: Italian
sounds. ’ a1al ian
518
SCOT(T)ICi
SCIROCCO
scirocco. See sirocco.
scission. Pron. si'shn, not si'zhn.
Sclav(onic) &c. See Slav.
scleroma, sclerosis. PI. - o'mata,
-d'ses (-ez) ; see Latin plurals 2.
sconce, vb, makes -ceable ; -able 1.
scon(e). The spelling scone, & the
pronunciation skon, are given pre¬
ference by the OED ; but the sound
skbn is perhaps oftener heard.
scope. For synonyms see field.
score, n. ( = 20). See Collectives 3.
score, vb, makes -ruble ; see Mute e.
scoria is a singular noun, pi. - iae ;
but, as the meaning of the singular
& of the plural is much the same
(cf. ash & ashes, clinker & clinkers),
it is no wonder that the singular
is sometimes wrongly followed by
a plural verb ( The scoria were still
hot &c.), or that a false singular
scorium is on record.
scot. See tax.
scotch. This verb owes its cur¬
rency entirely to the sentence in
Macbeth — 4 We have scotch’d the
snake, not kill’d it ’. The contrast
between scotching (or disabling) &
killing is expressly drawn in five
quotations given in the OED for
the correct use, & is understood to
be implied even when it is not
expressed. S., then, can say in six
letters & in one syllable 4 put tem¬
porarily out of action but not
destroy ’—a treasure, surely, that
will be jealously guarded by the
custodians of the language, viz
those who write. But no ; 4 it is the
nature of extreme self-lovers as
they will set a house on fire and it
were but to roast their eggs ’ ; & the
journalist self-lover is too much
delighted at finding in s. an uncom¬
mon substitute for such poor com¬
mon words as kill or destroy to
remember that, if he & his like have
their way, the value of a precious
word will be not merely scotched,
but killed & destroyed, or, as he
would put it, 4 finally scotched .
Finally or entirely with s. should be,
in view of the history of s., an
impossibility ; but it is now to be
met with daily in the newspapers;
&, after all, a writer who, like the
author of the first extract below,
does not know the difference be¬
tween a rumour & the contradiction
of a rumour, can hardly be expected
to recognize so supersubtie a dis¬
tinction as that between wounding
& killing : — The contradiction of a
rumour affecting any particular com¬
pany, although it may have a certain
effect upon the price of shares at the
time, is seldom entirely scotched by
directorial statements. fit is well that
this legend should be finally scotched./
The idea is so preposterous that by
the time this is in print it may be
definitely scotched. /We hope the
proposal for a Government news
service for the Colonies is finally
scotched by the debate .
Scotch, Scots, Scottish. 1 (as adjj.).
The third represents most closely the
original form, the first and second
being the contractions of it usual in
England & Scotland respectively.
Scottish is still both good English
(especially in formal contexts) &
good Scotch. The English form
Scotch had (OED) 4 before the end
of the 18th c. been adopted into the
northern vernacular; it is used
regularly by Burns, & subsequently
by Scott. . . . Within the last half
century there has been in Scotland
a growing tendency to discard this
form altogether, Scottish, or less
frequently Scots, being substitutedl .
2 (as nn.). For the name of the
Scotch dialect, the noun Scottish is
little used; Scotch is the English
noun, & Scots the usual Scotch
noun.
Scot, Scots(wo)man, Scoteh(wo)-
man. Englishmen use the third
forms by nature, the first sometimes
for brevity or for poetical or rhe or
ical or jocular effect, & the second
occasionally in compliment o
Scotch hearer, Scots- being
4 the prevalent form now used uy
Scotch people
scot(t)ic6, -cism, -eize. The OED
gives preference to -tt- m 3
SCOTTISH
519
SEAR
scottici see latine. Scotticize makes
-i Zable ; see Mute e.
Scottish. See Scotch, Scots.
scoundrel has - elism , -elly ; -ll-, -l-.
SCOUt, gyp, skip. College servants
at Oxford, Cambridge, & T.C.D.,
respectively.
scrannel. One of the words depend¬
ing on a single passage ( Lycidas 124).
scream, screech, shriek. The first
is the * dominant word * for a cry
uttered, under emotion, at a higher
pitch than that which is normal
with the utterer. Those who wish to
intensify the pitch & the emotion
substitute shriek ; those who wish
either to add the notion of uncanny
effect, or to make fun of the matter,
substitute screech.
screw your courage to the sticking-
place (not point) ; Misquotation.
scrimmage, sera-. The form with
-u- is preferred in Rugby football,
that with -i- in more general uses.
scrinium, scriptorium. PI. -ia.
scrummage. See scrimmage.
scrumptious. See Facetious for¬
mations.
scrupulous should have its claims
considered before the gallicism meti¬
culous is substituted for it.
scrutin d’arrondissement, de liste.
See French words.
scrutinize makes -zable ; see Mute e
SCUdo. PI. -di (-6).
scull, skull. The single-handed oar
has sc-, the cranium sk-. The notion
that the words are ultimately the
same is discountenanced by the OED.
sculptress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
scurry. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &C., 6.
scutum. PI. -to.
scyphus. Pi. -phi (.|).
scythe, vb, makes - thable ; Mute e.
sea. 1. S. change. 2. Hyphen in
compounds. 1
1L S. change. Suffer a s. c. is one
°l * he *»ost importunate & intrusive
or Irrelevant allusions, & Hack-
25™“ phr^s. We h4e that
2?* Minister mil on this occasion
ntCte to htS Pnrtst & om the * i.*_
does not for the third or fourth time
suffer a sea change when its execution
falls into the hands of his colleagues.
2. Hyphened compounds. Owing
to the vast number of phrases or
compounds of which sea forms the
first part, the word provides a good
test of the rules laid down in Hy-
p hens 3 B. Whether a phrase be¬
ginning with sea used attributively
should be hyphened or not depends
on whether sea or the second word
bears the accent ; in the latter case
no hyphen should be used. Every¬
one says sea' fight, sea' god, sea' gull,
sea', horse, sea' mark, sea' nymph,
sea' piece, sea' room, sea' serpent ;
& these words should therefore (if
they are not made into single words
seafight &c.) be given the hy¬
phen :~sea-fight, sea-god, sea-gull,
sea-horse, sea-mark, sea-nymph, sea-
piece, sea-room, sea-serpent. On the
other hand, nearly everyone says
sea air', sea ane'mone, sea ba'thing,
sea cha'nge, sea coa'st, sea fro'nt, sea
law'yer, sea le'vel, sea mi'le, sea
mo nster, sea pay', sea ro'ver, sea
shore', sea si'de ; these, then, should
either be made into single words
(as seaside) or kept separate & un¬
hyphened. It is true that not all
compounds of sea are thus provided
for ; there are many in which the
accent is not undisputed, but vari¬
able, as sea breeze, sea captain , sea
kale, sea legs, sea pink, sea salt; &
there are others in which sea is not
used attributively, but is in some
other relation to the second word,
as sea-born, sea-borne, seafaring, sea¬
girt, sea-going, seasick , seaworthy.
But the object of this article is
merely to point out that many sea
phrases are given hyphens to which
they have no right.
seagreen incorruptible. See Sobri¬
quets.
seal. For some synonyms, see sign.
seamstress, semps-. The OED
treats the first as the word, & the
second as the variant,
seance. See French words.
sear, sere. Sear for the nouns (part
SEASONABLE
520
SEEM
of gunlock, mark of burn), & for the
verb (burn) ; sere for the adjective
(withered).
seasonable. See -able 4.
seasonal belongs to the class of
words discussed in Hybrid deriva¬
tives under the name of spurious
hybrids. But it does differ from
some specimens (see coastal) in
being less easily done without.
seclude makes - dable ; see Mute e.
second. 1. S. chamber. 2. S. floor.
3. S. (-)hand. 4. S. intention. 5. S.
sight. 6. S., vb (mil.).
1. S. chamber, in a Parliament, is
the upper house, as concerned
chiefly with rejection, confirmation,
& revision.
2. For s. floor & s. storey, see floor.
3. S. (-)hand. The second-hand of
a watch is so written. The adjective
meaning not new or original, & the
adverb meaning not for or in first
use, are best written as one word
( secondhand clothing or information ;
always buys secondhand) ; & the
phrase ( heard only at second hand)
should be two words unhyphened.
4. For s. intention, see intention.
5. Second sight. Two words un¬
hyphened ; see Hyphens 3 B.
6. The verb s. in its technical
military sense, is pronounced siko'nd
or sigob'nd.
secondary education is that which
comes after the primary or elemen¬
tary but before that of the univer¬
sities (ages 14-19).
secundum quid. See simpliciter.
secrete makes -table ; see Mute e.
secretive (pronunciation). The
OED gives only sikre'tiv ; but
se'kritiv is often heard, & for
expletive, perhaps the closest parallel,
the OED gives 6'ksplltiv before
iksple'tiv. Probably those who con¬
ceive the meaning as fond of secrets
say se'kritiv, & those who conceive
it as given to secreting say sikre'tiv.
sect is a word whose sense is to
some extent affected by its user’s
notion of its etymology. The OED
favours Latin sequor (follow) as the
origin, so that s . would mean a
following, i.e. a company of follow¬
ers ; but the more generally known
derivation is from Latin seco (cut).
& this is naturally interpreted as
giving ‘ a part cut away ’ from a
Church &c., & so a company of
schismatics. According to the first
& probably correct, derivation, the
Church of England, or the Roman-
Catholic Church, may be called a s.
without offence to its members;
according to the second it will not.
secular. For s. clergy, see regular.
secure. The adjective makes -er,
-est ; see -er & -est 1 c. The verb
makes -rable ; see Mute e.
sedate makes -er, -est; see -er &
-est 1 c.
sedge makes sedgy ; see -ey & -y.
sedilia. Pron. sidi'lya. A plural
noun, rarely used in singular ( sedile,
pr. sidi'll).
seduce makes -cible ; see -able 2.
see, bishopric, diocese. A bishopric
is the rank belonging to a bishop ;
a diocese is the district administered
by a bishop ; a see is (the chair that
symbolizes) a bishop’s authority
over a particular diocese. A b. is
conferred on, a d. is committed to,
a s. is filled by, such & such a man.
My predecessors in the see ; All the
clergy of the diocese ; Scheming for
a bishopric.
seek. For two abuses to which the
word is liable, see Formal words,
& Double passives.
seem. 1. Pleonasms with s. 2.
Seem(ed) to ( have) be(en). 3. To my
&c. seeming. 4. As seem(s) to be the
case.
1. Pleonasms. These conclusions,
it seems to me, appear to be reached
naturally. Such absurdities are not
uncommon with s. ; see Pleonasm
4, & Haziness.
2. For confusion between seetn(s)
to have been & seemed to be, very
common, see Perfect infinitive 3.
An example is : Lady > Austen s
fashionable friends occasioned no
embarrassment; they seemed to have
preferred some more fashionable
521
SELF
SEEMLY
place for summering in, for they are
not again spoken of ; here are shows
that seemed is wrong.
3. To my &c. seeming. From wher¬
ever he may start, he is sure to bring
us out very presently into the road,
along which, to his seeming, our
primitive ancestors must have travelled.
To my &c. seeming has been good
English in its time ; its modern
representative is to my &c. thinking,
& to his seeming will pass only in
archaic writing. That the author
of the extract is an archaizer is plain
independently, from the phrase
* very presently * ; but he has no
business to be archaizing in a sen¬
tence made unsuitable for it by the
essentially unarchaic ‘ primitive an¬
cestors ’.
4. As seem(s) to be the case. How
can the Labour Ministry acquire
proper authority ij it has powers so
limited as seem to be the case ? As
seem to be the case is always impossi¬
ble, because the relative pronoun
as, for which see as 5, never repre¬
sents an expressed plural noun (such
as powers here), but always a singular
notion like fact or state of affairs, &
that not expressed, but extracted
out of other words. As seems to be
the case is, then, the only right form
of the phrase ; but even that will
not do here, because it involves the
doubling of two parts by as, that of
relative adverb, indispensable after
the preceding so, & that of the
relative pronoun required by the
otherwise subjectless verb seems.
What has happened is this. The
writer wanted to say if it has powers
so limited as its powers seem to be.
He shied at the repetition of powers,
& felt about for as seems to be the
case as a substitute, though he
forgot to alter seem to seems. But,
since so makes the relative pronoun
as impossible, the true solution was
to let the as be a relative adverb,
writing if its powers are so limited
as they seem to be.
seemly. For the adverb, see -lily.
seer has double pronunciation &
meaning : s e'er beholder, & set
prophet &c.
segregate. Verb -at, adj. -it or -at ;
see Participles 5 €.
Seidlitz. Pronounce s6d-.
seigneur &c. Spellings recognized
in the OED as current : seigneur,
seignior ; seigneuress ; seigneury,
seigneurie, seign(i)orage, seign(i)ory;
seigneurial, seign(i)or(i)aI. The pro¬
nunciation in all begins with san
followed by the y sound. Differ¬
ences in meaning or use between
alternative forms (as seigneur &
seignior, seigneury & seigniorage)
cannot be detailed here, but exist &
are sometimes of importance.
seise, seisin. Pronounce sez, se'zin.
The words are sometimes but less
often spelt -ze, -zin, & belong etymo¬
logically to the ordinary verb seize ;
but in the legal phrases to s. a person
of, i.e. put him in possession of, &
to be -ed of, i.e. to possess, the - s-
spelling is usual.
seize makes -zable ; see Mute e,
For the spelling seise, see above.
seldom can be compared with -er,
-est ; see -er & -est 3.
select, vb, makes -tor ; see -or.
Seleucid. PI. -ids or -idae.
self. As both self & wife were fond
of seeing life, we decided that . . ./
He ruined himself & family by his
continued experiments. Correct the
first to both 1 db my wife, & the
second to himself & his family.
Such uses of s. are said by the OED
to be * jocular or colloquial ’ exten¬
sions of a ‘ commercial ’ idiom ; &,
unless the jocular intent is unmis¬
takable, they are best avoided.
self-. Self- compounds are some¬
times used when the self- adds
nothing to the meaning. Agricul¬
tural depression db the rural exodus
had made village life self-despondent
& anaemic./Hence it is self-evident
that economic changes in the agricul¬
tural system must greatly affect the
general well-being. There is perhaps
never any difference of meaning
between despondent & self-despond¬
ent. Self-evident, on the other hand.
SELF-POSSESSEDLY
522
®°™ f tlmes . ^eans evident without
mrfrJ iH able Se -^ se ’ & som etimes no
that proof is needless or has not
been given (cf. hence in the extract),
& therefore tending to confusion.
Other words resembling self-despond¬
ent in being never preferable to the
simple form without self are self-
collected (calm &c.), self-conceited),
self-consistent, self-diffidence, self-
opinionated. And others resembling
self-evident in having a real sense of
their own but being often used when
that sense is not in place are self-
assurance, self-complacent, self-con¬
fidence, self-consequence. But these
are samples only; there are scores
that a writer should not use with-
ou ,^ . s ^ asking himself whether the
self- is pulling its weight. It is not
to be supposed that the otiose use
of self- is a modern trick ; on the
contrary, the modern tendency is
to abandon many such compounds
formerly prevalent, & the object of
this article is merely to help on that
sensible tendency.
self-possessedly. A bad form; -edly
selvedge, -vage. As the derivation
is (OED) ‘ apparently f. self+cdge ’,
it is a pity that the significant first
form is not universal, & it is here
recommended, though the OED
19th & 20th century examples show
a slight majority for -age.
semaphore. Pronounce se-, regard¬
less of False quantity.
seme(e). See French words.
semi-. Compounds are innumer¬
able, & restrictions little called for :
but the claims of half-, which is
often better, should at least be con¬
sidered : This would be an immense
gain over the existing fashion of a
multitude of churches ill-manned &
semi-filled.
semicolon. See Stops.
Semite. See Hebrew.
semivowel. See Technical terms.
semplice, sempre. Pronounce se'm-
plecha, se'mpra ; Italian sounds.
sempstress. See seamstress.
__SENSE
senate •
- r S U,red ’ -
senhor (Portuguese title). p rn
nounce sanyor'.
So^iQUETf. 01 ike S ' SeWice > see
sennight. So written; but the
word !s now almost out of use. It
might have been, but will now
hardly be, utilized as a substitute
for week in the formula on Monday
&c. week when the reckoning was to
be backwards : We start tomorrow
week, but It happened yesterday
sennight. a '
senor, senora, senorita, Spanish
titles. Pronounce senyor', sSnyor'o
sSnyore'ta. J *
sense, n. S. of humour, properly the
power of finding entertainment in
people s doings, more especially in
such of them as are not designed to
entertain. But the phrase has in
the last half-century received an
extension, or perhaps rather a limi¬
tation, that bids fair to supersede
the original meaning. When we say
nowadays that a person ‘ has no
s. o. h.’, or ‘ lacks humour we
mean less that he is not alive to the
entertainment provided by others’
doings than that he is unaware of
elements in Ins own conduct or
character likely to stir the s. o. h. in
others—has not, in fact, the power
of seeing himself as others see him
even in the degree in which it is
possessed by the average man.
sense, vb. We sense the tragedy of
Anna Wolsky as she steps light-
heartedly into Sylvia Bailey's life./
The water rail ... is somewhat un¬
wieldy in flight, <& senses so much,
for it seems to prefer to run. The
verb has been used for some three
centuries in philosophic writing as
a comprehensive form of * see or/&
hear or/& smell or/& taste or/&
feel by touch ’, i.e. of ‘have sense-
perception of ’. From that the use
illustrated above is distinct, meaning
according to the OED definition
‘ to perceive, become aware of,
SENSIBILITY
523
SENTENCE
“ feel ” (something present, a fact,
state of things, etc.) not by direct
perception but more or less vaguely
or instinctively The OED’s
earliest example is dated 1872, & the
meaning is not yet part of ordinary
English. It has, no doubt, the
advantage of brevity as compared
with become conscious of, get an
inkling of, & other possibilities ; but
whether that brevity is sufficient
compensation for the irritation or
suspicion of preciosity that most
readers feel when confronted with it
is not so certain.
sensibility. Just as ingenuity is not
ingenuousness, but ingeniousness,
so sensibility is not sensibleness, but
sensitiveness ; to the familiar con¬
trasted pair sense 6a sensibility
correspond the adjectives sensible
& sensitive —an absurd arrangement,
& doubtless puzzling to foreigners,
but beyond mending ; -ty & -ness.
sensible, sensitive, susceptible. In
certain uses, in which the point is
the effect produced or producible
on the person &c. qualified, the
three words are near, though not
identical, in meaning. I am sensible
of your kindness, sensitive to ridicule,
susceptible to beauty. Formerly
sensible could be used in all three
types of sentence ; but its popular
meaning as the opposite of foolish
has become so predominant that we
are no longer intelligible if we say
a sensible person as the equivalent of
a sensitive or a susceptible person , &
even sensible of is counted among
Literary words. The difference
between sensible of, sensitive to, &
susceptible to or of, is roughly that
sensible of expresses emotional con¬
sciousness, sensitive to acute feeling,
& susceptible to or of quick reaction
to stimulus : profoundly, gratefully,
painfully, regretfully, sensible of ;
acutely, delicately, excessively, ab¬
surdly, sensitive to ; readily, often,
scarcely, susceptible to or of.
sensitize is a word made for the
needs of photography, & made
badly. It should have been sensi-
tivize ; one might as well omit the
adjective ending of immortal, signal,
fertile, human, 6a liberal, & say im-
mortize, signize, fertize, humize, &
liberize, as leave out the -ive. The
photographers, however, have made
their bed, & must lie in it ; the
longer the rest of us can keep clear,
the better ; & extra-photographic
use has not yet gone very far ; but
the OED quotes : Education, while
it sensitizes a man's fibre, is incapable
of turning weakness into strength.
Just as, failing pacificist, pacist
would have been better than pacifist
(see -ist), so, failing sensitivize,
sensize would have been better than
sensitize.
sensorium. PI. (rare), -ia.
sensuous is thought to have been
expressly formed by Milton to con¬
vey what had originally been con¬
veyed by the older sensual (connex¬
ion with the senses as opposed to the
intellect) but had become associated
in that word with the notion of
undue indulgence in the grosser
pleasures of sense. At any rate
Milton’s own phrase ‘ simple, sen¬
suous, & passionate ’ in describing
great poetry as compared with logic
& rhetoric has had much to do with
ensuring that sensuous shall remain
free from the condemnation now
inseparable from sensual.
sentence, in grammar, means a set
of words complete in itself, having
either expressed or understood in it
a subject & a predicate, & conveying
a statement or question or command
or exclamation. If it contains one
or more clauses, it is a complex s. ;
if its subject consists of more than
one parallel noun &c., or its pre¬
dicate of more than one verb &c.,
it is a compound s. ; if its subject or
predicate or verb (or more) is under*
stood, it is an elliptical sentence.
One sentence does not contain two
or more subjects each with its
separate predicate unless all but one
of such subjects & predicates are
clauses subordinate to the other.
Simple sentences : I went (state-
SENTINEL
524
mdit) ; Where is he ? (question) ;
Hear thou from heaven (command) ;
How they run ! (exclamation).
Complex sentence : Where he bowed
there he fell down dead.
Compound sentences : You & 1
would rather see that angel: Then
hum'd dh ha'd. 11
Elliptical sentences : Listen ; Well
played ; What ?
Two sentences (not one) : You
commanded & 1 obeyed.
sentinel, sentry. The first is the
wider & literary word, & the fitter
for metaphorical use ; the second is
the modern military term. Sentinel
makes - lied &c. ; see -ll-, -l-.
senza. Pronounce sg'ntsa ; Italian
sounds.
separate. Verb -at, adj. -it ;
Participles 5 B. The verb makes
- ruble, -tor ; see -able 1, -or. For
separat(ion)ist, see -ist B.
sepsis. PI. (rare), sepses (-ez) ; see
Latin plurals 2.
septenarius. See Technical terms.
septet(te). Spell -ct ; see duet.
septillion. See billion.
septum. PI. -ta.
sepulchre, -cher. See -re & -er.
sequelae. A plural word with rare
singular sequela.
SEQUENCE OF TENSES. 1. A cer¬
tain assimilation normally takes
place in many forms of sentence,
by which the tense of their verbs is
changed to the past when they are
made into clauses dependent on
another sentence whose verb is past,
even though no notion of past time
needs to be introduced into the
clause. Thus, Two will do is a
sentence ; turn it into a clause
depending on I think, & the tense
remains unaltered : I think that two
will do. Next, into one depending
on / thought or 1 should think ; it
becomes two would do ; after I
thought there is a real change in the
clause to past time, & therefore
would do is not only normal, but
invariable ; after I should think,
would do is also normal, though there
SEQ,
is no change to past time ; but it is
not invariable, sequence of tenses
being often neglected. Two will do •
I think that two will do ; I thought
that two would do; I should think
that two (normal sequence) would do
or (vivid sequence) will do. In these
examples, the usually omitted that
has been inserted merely to make
it clear that a real clause is meant,
& not a quotation such as I thought
two will do ’. The point to be
noticed is that the change to the
past tense is normal sequence, & the
keeping of the present (called vivid
sequence above) is, though common
& often preferable, abnormal. Some
further examples are :— I wish 1
knew what relativity (normal) meant ,
or (vivid) means; 1 should not
wonder if he (normal) came, or
(vivid) comes ; Would God it (nor¬
mal) might, or (vivid) may, be so !
Abnormal sequence was said to be
often preferable ; it is sometimes
so much so as to be practically the
only thing possible. Asking the
time, I do not say Could you tell me
what the time was ? —which never¬
theless is strictly correct—, but
what the time is.
2. S. out of place. One would
imagine that these prices (normal)
were, or (vivid) are, beyond the reach
of the poor ; These prices, one would
imagine, are beyond &c. The base is
These prices are ; if made dependent
on One would imagine, are may be
changed, or may not, to were ; but
if one would imagine is a parenthesis
instead of being the main verb, the
change is impossible ; nevertheless
it happens : The shops have never
had such a display of Christmas
presents, but here again the prices,
one would imagine, were beyond the
reach of any but the richest persons;
one hundred francs is asked for a
common rag doll. The mistake, a
common one, results from not know¬
ing a parenthesis when one sees it;
see Parenthesis 2.
seq., seqq., et seq(q)., are short for
Latin et sequentes ( versus ) & the
SEQUESTRATE
525
SHADE
subsequent lines, or et sequentia &
the words &c. following. Except in
writing directed to scholars, it is
kinder to the reader to use foil., of
which he is sure to know the
meaning.
sequestrate makes - trable , -tor ; see
-able 1, -OR.
s6rac. See French words.
seraglio. Pronounce sirah'lyo. PI.
-os ; see -o(e)s 4.
serai. Pronounce sir!',
seraph. PI. -phim or -phs.
sere. See sear.
serene makes -er, -est ; -er & -est 2.
sergeant, -j-. For the military &
police rank, -g- ; in legal titles ( Com¬
mon S. &c.), -j-. In S. at arms, the
OED gives -g- (or -j-). S. major
(hyphen ?). The Sergeant major,
but Sergeant-major Jones, & the
Sergeant-major's wife ; see Hyphens
(*Court martial group).
seri(ci)culture. The full form is the
right; cf. pacif(ic)ist in -ist.
serif, ceriph, seriph. The first is
now the accepted spelling,
serjeant. See sergeant.
serum. PI. -rums, -ra.
servant. For the use in signatures,
see Letter forms.
serve makes -vable ; see Mute e.
serviceable. See -able 4, I.
serviette, napkin, & Genteelism.
servile. Adv. servilely.
session. ‘ The term autumn session
(instead of ‘ autumn sitting ’) is
sometimes used to designate the
exceptional resumption of the sit¬
tings of the Houses, after an ad¬
journment in what is normally the
autumn recess ; but this use is con¬
demned by parliamentary authori¬
ties as incorrect ’—OED. There is
normally, whether an autumn sitting
takes place or not, only one session
in the year.
sestet(te), sex-. Spell sestet ; duet.
sestina. See Technical terms.
S6t(t). The extra t is an arbitrary
addition in various technical senses,
from a lawn-tennis to a granite set.
Each class of persons has doubtless
added it to distinguish the special
sense that means most to it from
all others ; but so many are the
special senses that the distinction is
now no more distinctive than an
Esq. after a man’s name, & all
would do well to discard it. Cf. the
less futile matt for mat.
seventies, ’seventies. See twenties.
sever makes -ered &c. ; -r-, -rr-.
severe has -er, -est ; -er & -est 1 c.
severely. For leave s. alone, see
Hackneyed phrases, & Irrele¬
vant allusion. There are degrees
of badness ; in the first of the two
following extracts, for instance, s. is
less pointless than in the other :—
That immortal classic which almost
all other pianists are content to l. s. a.
on the topmost shelf./If our imports
& exports balance, exchanges will be
normal, whatever the price, & I am
glad that Mr Mason agrees that
exchanges should be left s. a.
S6vres. See French words.
sew. P.p. sewed or sewn. The first
is, perhaps contrary to general
belief, both the older form & (to
judge by the OED 19th-20th c.
examples) slightly the commoner in
modern English.
sew(er)age. It is best to use
sewage for the refuse, & sewerage for
the sewers or the sewer system.
Sewage is defensible as a derivative
of the formerly recognized but now
dialectal verb sew to ooze out.
sexcentenary. See centenary.
sexillion. See billion.
sextet is (OED) ‘ an alteration of
sestet ’.
sexto, sexto-decimo, (book formats).
See folio. PI. - os ; see -o(e)s 6.
Sforzando. Pronounce sfortsah'ndo.
PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
shade, n. For colour synonymy
see tint.
shade, vb, makes -dablc; see Mute e.
shade, shadow, nn. It seems that
the difference in form is fairly to be
called an accidental one, the first
representing the nominative & the
second the oblique cases of the same
word. The meanings are as closely
SHAKE
parallel or intertwined as might be
expected from this original identity,
wonder being that, with a
differentiation so vague, each form
should have maintained its existence
by the side of the other. The OED’s
main heads of meaning are three for
each, one set hardly distinguishable
from the other. For shade : I. Com¬
parative darkness ; II. A dark
hgure ^ cast ’ upon a surface by a
Tr^n ln ^ erce ^* n ® light, a shadow ;
111. Protection from glare & heat.
lor shadow: I. Comparative dark¬
ness ; II. Image cast by a body
intercepting light ; III. Shelter
from light & heat. The most
significant point is that, in II of
shade, shadow is offered as a defini¬
tion of shade, without reciprocity in
II of shadow, the inference from
which is that in division II shadow
is the normal word, & shade excep¬
tional. This almost identity of
meaning, however, branches out into
a considerable diversity of idiom,
one word or the other being more
appropriate, or sometimes the only
possibility, in certain contexts. The
details of this diversity are too many
to be catalogued here, but it is a sort
of clue to remember that shadow is
a piece of shade, related to it as,
e.g., pool to water. So it is that
shade is a state—viz partial absence
of light—, & not thought of as
having a shape, nor usually as an
appendage of some opaque object,
both which notions do attach them¬
selves to shadow. So too we say
hght cfc shade but lights <£ shadows,
in the shade but under a shadow ;
& so too shady means full of shade,
but shadowy like a shadow.
shake makes -liable ; see Mute e.
shako. Pronounce sh&'ko. PI.
-os ; see -o(e)s 6.
Shakspere, Shakespear(e), -erian,
*earian, -ean, &c. The forms pre¬
ferred by the OED are Shakspere,
Shaksperian. It is a matter on
which unanimity is desirable, & on
which, in view of the conflicting
arguments, it will never be reached
SHALL
unless an authoritative decision is
accepted as such. Shakspere, Shak -
spenan , are therefore recommended.
SJhaky, shaly. So spelt; -ey & . Y
shall & will, should & would, i
Plain future & conditional. 2 /
would like. 3. Indefinite future* &
illative. 4. Elegant variation. 5 .
That-clauses. 6. Decorative & pro¬
phetic shall. *
To use will in these cases is now
a mark of Scottish, Irish, provincial
or extra-British idiom ’—Dr Henry
Bradley in the OED. ‘ These cases ’
are of the type most fully illustrated
below (see 1), & the words of so high
an authority are here quoted be¬
cause there is an inclination, among
those who are not to the manner
born, to question the existence,
besides denying the need, of dis¬
tinctions between sh. & w. The
distinctions are elaborate ; they are
fully set forth in the OED ; & no
formal grammar or dictionary can
be held to have done its duty if it
has not laid down the necessary
rules. It will therefore be assumed
here that the reader is aware of the
normal usage so far as abstract
statement can bring it home to him ;
& the object will be to make the dry
bones live by exhibiting groups of
sentences, all from newspapers of
the better sort, in which one or
other principle of idiom has been
outraged. The ‘ Scotch, Irish, pro¬
vincial, or extra-British ’ writer will
thus have before him a conspectus
of the pitfalls that are most to be
feared.
1. Plain future or conditional state¬
ments & questions in the first person
should have shall, should; the
roman-type wills & woulds in the
following examples are wrong :—
It is impossible to exaggerate the
terrible consequences of this proposed
act; in Egypt, in India, in every
country from the Mediterranean to
the frontiers of China, we will teach
the lesson that no reliance can be
placed on the word of England./This
is pleasant reading; but we won’t
SHALL
527
SHALL, 2
get our £2,000 this year./Perhaps we
will soon be surfeited by the unending
stream of ‘ new * literature, db will
turn with relief to . . ./We might not
be able to get all the oil we wanted
from our coal, but we would always
get enough to prevent . . ./What ex¬
actly was the original total of the
Turkish forces in this area we do not
know — db probably never will. /He
was plain to read from the beginning,
db could hardly, we would have sup¬
posed, have made an appeal to a girl
of this character./But the late King
Edward brushed aside all such non¬
sense ; db where would we be today
without the French ‘ entente ’ ?/If we
traced it back far enough we would
find that the origin was . . ./If we
permit our contribution to be sub¬
stituted for a part of the building pro¬
gramme, we will be casting our vote
with the * little navy * people./If we
compare these two statements, we will
see that so far as this point goes they
agree./I would not be doing right if
I were to anticipate that communica¬
tion./If it were true the Germans
would be right, db we would be wrong./
If British trade interests are to be
revived, we will stand in need of these
men who know Russia./But if the
reshuffling of the world goes on
producing new ‘ issues I will, I fear,
catch the fever again./To the average
citizen it would appear that in fore¬
stalling this plot we would in fact be
rendering the German people no less
service than . . ./I think I would be
a knave if I announced my intention
of handing over my salary to . . ./
It is quite clear that when Home Rule
is being fought in the Commons I will
have to devote all my time to it./
Reports of fighting in China are as
conflicting as we would expect./I am
confident that within three years we
employers will be reaping benefit
from it. /We have collected more in
consequence of that valuation than we
would have done without it./We
never know when we take up the
morning paper, some of us, which
side we will be on next./The whole
story of the rescue of the men from
Kerrig Island is a heroism of the sea
which we will do well to realize./
Mr J. II. Thomas's vision of the
Utopia in which we will live ‘ When
Labour Rules '. In all these the
idea of intention, volition, choice,
&c., which goes with will or would
in the first person, is plainly out of
the question. Two examples follow
in which such an idea is precluded
not by the actual words quoted,
but by the unquoted context ; in
such cases the offence against idiom
is aggravated by the possibility of
misinterpretation :— We would thus
get at once the thing wanted; an
opera open practically all the year
round (idiomatic sense, We aim at
getting thus : intended sense. This,
if it were not unfortunately im¬
possible, would give us)./‘ Who ’s
Who ’ is entirely without a com¬
petitor ; & there is perhaps no book
on our reference shelves that we would
miss sooner (idiomatic sense. There
is no book we should be so glad to
be rid of : intended sense, There is
no book we should so quickly feel
the want of). Two other examples
will provide for a common exception
to the rule as given absolutely above.
In sentences that are, actually or
virtually, reported, a verb that as
reported is in the first person but
was originally in the second or third
often keeps will or would :—People
have underrated us, some even going
so far as to say that zoe would not win
a single test match (the people said
You, or They, will not, which justi¬
fies, though it by no means neces¬
sitates, we would not in the report)./
He need not fear that we will be
‘ sated ’ by narratives like his (his
fear was They, or You, will be sated,
which makes we will not indeed
advisable, but defensible).
2. The verbs like, prefer, care, be
glad, be inclined, &c ., are very
common in first-person conditional
statements (I should like to know
&c.). In these should, not would, is
the right form. ‘ I would like to
say ’ is no more idiomatic English
than ‘ I would find it hard to say ’ ;
SHALL, 3
528
but hundreds of people who would
be horrified by the latter are ready
to write the former. The explana¬
tion is to be found in confusion
between two possible ways of speak¬
ing, the modern ‘ I should like to
say , & the archaic 4 I would say ’ j
in the modern form the desire is
expressed in the verb like & requires
no other expression ; in the archaic
form the desire had to be given in
would because otherwise it was not
expressed at all. The roman-type
woulds & wills, then, are all wrong :_
In regard to the general question,
I would like to speak today with a
certain amount of reserve./The other
argument upon which I would like
to comment is as follows./We must
shut our ears to the tales of some of
the lame dogs we would like to help
over a stile./We cannot go into de¬
tails, & would prefer to postpone
criticism until . . ./Nor has he
furnished me with one thing with
which 1 would care to sit down in
my little room & think./I, as Chief
Liberal Whip, will be very glad to
place them in touch with the local
secretary./If we should take a wider
view, 1 would be inclined to say
that . . ./In this month of 4 grey rain
<& silver mist ’ we will be glad to keep
within our average rainfall of a little
over 2 in. An example less patently
wrong is : We would be the last to
argue that publication in this form
commits our contemporary to agree¬
ment with the views expressed. This
is defensible if the writer will assure
us that his meaning was We should
wish to be the last, instead of, as it
doubtless was. We should be the
last.
3. In clauses of indefinite future
time, & indefinite relative clauses in
future time, will is entirely un-
idiomatic ; either shall is used,
chiefiy in formal contexts, or, much
more often, futurity is allowed to be
inferred from context & a present is
used :— Whatever sum & whatever
goods will be received from Germany
will be shared among the Allies (shall
be received )./Germany will have to
SHALL
give back all kinds of property which
have been taken from the invaded
countries, <& which will be traced in
German territory (shall be traced)./
. . . has now had to go clean out of the
county to find employment, leaving
his wif e with her mother until he will
I ^ i. home for her
(until he can make)./So long as this
will not be made clear, the discussion
will go on bearing lateral issues (is
not made)./When this will be per¬
ceived by public opinion the solution
will immediately become obvious (is
perceived)./WAen the Irish vote has
been reduced by Home Rule, & the
remaining Irish members will no
longer have any reason to oppose a
Suffrage Bill, Votes for Women will
once more have a chance (members
have no longer any reason) . . ./The
farmers were expecting to get in¬
creased prices, & they will naturally
be 4 considerably annoyed ’ if they do
not get them, especially when they
will be called upon to pay increased
prices for all that they have to buy
(when they are called upon). Here
also a less undeniably wrong ex¬
ample may be of service : We have
strong faith that a rally to the defence
of the Act will be a feature of next
year's politics, if the Tory Party will
have the courage to come into the open
(& declare war upon it. An assurance
from the writer that by will have the
courage he meant chooses to have the
courage would be received, indeed,
with incredulity, but would secure
him a grudging acquittal ; has the
courage is what he should have
written.
4. The time-honoured * I will be
drowned, no-one shall save me ’, so
much too good to be true, is less
convincing as a proof that there are
people to whom the English dis¬
tinctions mean nothing than the
discovery that shall & will, should &
would, are sometimes regarded as
good raw material for elegant varia¬
tion ; I said should in the last
clause ; the one now to come is
sadly similar to it ; go to 1 I will
write down would :—If we found the
instances invariably in mutual sup¬
port we would be content with but
a few, but if we found even one in
contradiction we should require a
large body of evidence./We should
have been exposed to the full power of
his guns, db, while adding to our own
losses, would have forgone the ad¬
vantage of inflaming his./The control
of Bessarabia, until such time as
Russia shall be restored db the people
will be free to pronounce for their
return to Russia, by the League of
Nations./You shall not find two
leaves of a tree exactly alike, nor will
you be able to examine two hands that
are exactly similar./Words requiring
the local authority to see that when
vacancies occurred the appointments
should be consistent with the terms of
the trust db the teachers chosen would
be qualified to give the special religious
instruction. But the follies to which
Elegant variation gives rise are
without number.
5. Tftaf-clauses after intend or in¬
tention, desire, demand, be anxious,
&c., have shall & should for all
persons. Among the dbc. are not
included hope, anticipate, & the like ;
but the drawing of the line is not
easy ; roughly, shall & should are
used when the word on which the
that-c\oMse depends expresses an
influence that affects the result, as
a demand does, but a hope or a fear
does not; a serviceable illustration
is expect; mistresses expect (i.e.
demand) that their maids shall wear
caps; but we expect (i.e. are of
opinion) that tomorrow will be fine.
Examples of the wrong will are :—
1 am anxious that, when permanently
erected, the right site will be selected./
And it is intended that this will be
extended to every division & impor¬
tant branch./The strong desire that
the relations of the English-speaking
peoples will be so consolidated that
they may act as one people./One of the
conditions of improvement is that the
help given to the deserving poor will
be removed from the taint of Poor Law
associations.
6. The decorative second or third
person shall as in the quotation
following is an archaism, before
using which, as before using other
archaisms, a writer should be very
sure that his style in general will
stand comparison with that of the
few who have archaized to good
purpose :— You shall have watched,
it may be, the ways of birds db beasts
in a garden or wood for half a life¬
time ; db your friend, the first time
that you show him your preserves,
shall straightway walk up the leverets,
or point out the gold crest's nest which
you have always wanted to find.
No-one will suggest that that is a
maliciously chosen specimen ; it is
better than nine out of ten that one
comes upon in the newspapers ; but
one who has a real right to this shall
would have put otherwise ‘ the first
time that you show him your pre¬
serves ’ & the ‘ nest which you have
always wanted to find ’. Distin¬
guished from this, far less conscious
& artificial, but also better avoided,
is the use of second or third person
shall that may be called the oracular-
prophetic :— It has already found an
honoured place in our national col¬
lections ; there will come a time when
collectors shall fight for it.
shallow has -er, -est; -er & -est 1.
sham. S. fight should not be
hyphened ; see Hyphens 3 B.
shame, vb, makes -mable; Mute
e.
shamefaced, -fast. It is true that
the second is the original form, that
-faced is due to a mistake, & that the
notion attached to the word is
necessarily affected in some slight
degree by the change. But those
who, in the flush of this discovery,
would revert to -fast in ordinary use
are rightly rewarded with the name
of pedants ; see Pride of know¬
ledge. To use shamefast as an
acknowledged archaism in verse is
another matter.
shamefacedly. Four syllables ; see
-EDLY.
shampoo. Past -poo'd or -pooed ;
see -ed & ’d.
SH ALL , 5 529 SHAMPOO
SHANGHAI
530
Shanghai. Pronounce -hi; for past
& p.p. -aied or - ai'd , see -ed & ’d.
shanty, sailors’ song. See chanty.
shape. For in any s. or form see
Pleonasm 2 ; Lord A — states that
‘ he is absolutely unconnected i. a. s.
o. f. with the matter ’. The verb
makes -pable ; see Mute e. The
p. p. is -ed, & -en is archaic.
shapely. For the adv., see -lily.
shard. In the sense fragment of
pottery, the OED treats shard as the
normal form & sherd as the variant;
on the other hand, the greater fami¬
liarity of potsherd tends to keep sherd
in being. In the well-known phrase
‘ the shard-borne beetle ’, the inter¬
pretation ‘ borne through the air on
shards’ (i.e. the wing-cases), which
has so far prevailed as to set up shard
as an entomological term for wing-
case, appears to be an error ; the
real meaning was ‘ born in shard ’,
there being another word shard, now
obsolete except in dialects, meaning
cowdung.
share makes -rable ; see Mute e.
sharp* adv. In such phrases as
pull up s., turn s. round, at eight
o'clock s., sharp is preferable to
sharply ; see Unidiomatic -ly.
shave makes -cable ; see Mute e.
she. 1. For she & her in bad per¬
sonifications (e.g. The world wants
all that America can give her), see
Personification 1, 2.
2. Case. A few violations of ordinary
grammar rules may be given ; cf. he.
1 want no angel, only she (read her). I
When such as her die (read she). / She
found everyone's attention directed to
Mary, & she herself entirely overlooked
(omit she)./But to behold her mother —
she to whom she owed her being (read
her). I saw a young girl whom 1
guessed to be she whom 1 had come to
meet (read her) ./ Nothing must remain
that will remind us of that hated siren,
the visible world, she who by her allure¬
ments is always tempting the artist
away (read her).
sheaf. The noun has pi. -ves. For
the verb, -ve or -/, see -ve(d).
SHEER (LY)
shear, vb, has past sheared in ordi¬
nary current senses ( We sheared our
sheep yesterday, A machine sheared
the bar into foot-lengths, the nap quite
short; This pressure sheared the rivets),
shore in archaic & poetical use ( shore
through the cuirass, his plume away,
&c.). Forthe p.p.,shorn remains com.
moner in most senses than sheared,
but is not used in the technical sense
of distorted by mechanical shear, nor
usually in that of divided with metal¬
cutting shears.
shear-hulk, shearlegs, sheer-. The
spelling sheer is due to & perpetuates
a mistake. Shears or shearlegs are
two (or more) poles with tops joined
& feet straddled (& so resembling
shear-blades), used in hoisting great
weights. A shear-hulk is an old ship
utilized for hoisting & provided with
shearlegs. The spelling sheer hulk
results from confusion with the
adjective sheer (i.e. mere), & the
omission of the hyphen & shifting
of the accent from shear to hulk
naturally follows, assisted by the
rhythm of the line in Tom Bowling.
It would be well to restore shear-hulk
& make shearlegs (already often so
spelt) invariable.
sheath(e). The noun (-th) is pro¬
nounced in sing, -th, but in pi. -dhz ;
see -th & -dh. For noun (-th, so
pronounced) & verb (-the, pron. -dh)
see Noun & verb 2 E.
sheave, vb. See sheaf.
sheep. PI. same; see Collectives.
sheer hulk. See shear-hulk.
sheer(ly). They would say the money
has, to the present, been sheerly
wasted./A collection of brief pieces in
which the sheerly poetical quality is
seldom looked for seldom occurs./
The economic condition of the people
in Germany is sheerly desperate.
Perhaps owing to the adverbial use
of sheer (fell sheer down &c.), the
adverb sheerly is usually avoided,
& always gives the reader a shock ;
though the OED quotes it from
Burns, Scott, & Stevenson, it may
fairly be called unidiomatic ; possi¬
bly it is current in Scotland ; at any
SHEET LIGHTNING
531
SHOULDER
rate the OED quotations include no
well-known English writer.
Sheet lightning. No hyphen ; see
Hyphens 3 B.
Sheikh is the OED’s spelling, & its
preferred pronunciation shak.
shekarry. See shikaree.
shekinah, -chi-. Pronounce shik-
I'na. The OED’s preferred spelling
is the first.
Shelf. There are two separate
nouns, one meaning ledge, board,
&c., & the other sand-bank &e.
Each has pi. -ves, verb -ve, adjec¬
tives -ved, -fy , & -vy ; see -ve(d).
Shelf-ful (of books &c.), n., is best
written with hyphen ; pi. -Is (unless
the two words shelves full are suitable
& preferred).
shell-less. So written,
shellac, vb, makes - eked , -eking.
shelty, -ie. The word meaning
Shetland pony is usually -ie ; see
•ey, -ie, -y. That meaning a hut
(which the OED perhaps makes out
to be rarer than it is, & condemns
as ‘ prob. some error ’) is usually -y.
shereef, sherif, sheriff. The Mo¬
hammedan & the English titles are
not etymologically connected. For
the former the spelling -eef is pre¬
ferable to -if both as indicating the
accent (shere'f) of an unfamiliar
word, & as avoiding assimilation to
the English -iff.
sheriffalty, sheriffdom, shrievalty.
All three are four or more centuries
old, & all are still current. The
-dom termination is declining into
one of contempt as in bumbledom ,
flunkey dom ; shrievalty has the dis¬
advantage of not instantly announc¬
ing its connexion with sheriff ; & it
is therefore likely that sheriffalty
will prevail.
shew, show. ‘ The spelling shew,
prevalent in the 18th c. & not
uncommon in the first half of the
19th c., is now obs. exc. in legal
documents ’—OED. In shewbread
the old spelling naturally persists.
Shibboleth. For synonyms, see sign.
shikaree, -i, shekarry. The first is
the OED’s preferred form. Pro¬
nounce shikah'ri.
shillelagh. So spelt. Pron. -a la.
shilly-shally, vb. For inflexions
see Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
shingly, shiny. Not -ey ; -ey & -y.
shire. The Ss. as the name of a hunt¬
ing country means Leics.,Northants.,
& Rutland ; it is also 4 applied to
other parts of England by the inhabi¬
tants of East Anglia, Kent, Sussex,
Essex, & Surrey ’—OED.
shockedly. A bad form ; see -edly.
Shoe, vb, makes shoeing (excep¬
tionally ; see Mute e).
shogun. See tycoon. Pr. sho'goon.
shoot, chute, shute. The last is
4 app. in part a dial, form of shoot
sb. & partly a variant spelling of
chute ’—OED. Between the Eng¬
lish shoot & the French chute (lit.
fall) there has been much confusion,
& there seems to be no good reason
against making shoot the only spell¬
ing & allowing it to retain such
senses as it has annexed from chute.
shop. For the talk called s., as
compared with cant, slang, &c., see
JARGON.
shore, vb, makes -rable ; see Mute e.
short circuit as a noun should not,
& as a verb should, be hyphened ;
see Hyphens 3 B, C.
shorthand. So written,
short leg (cricket). No hyphen ;
see Hyphens 3 B.
shortlived. Pron. -ivd ; see -lived.
short sight. No hyphen ; but
short-sighted ; see Hyphens 3 B, C.
short slip. No hyphen ; see
Hyphens 3 B.
shot, n. For pi. shot see Collec¬
tives, 2.
should. For s. & would, see shall.
For s. in inverted conditionals
(s. it happen for if it s. happen ), see
Subjunctive.
shoulder. 1. The cold shoulder (no
hyphen, see Hyphens 3 B), but to
cold-shoulder. 2. S. arms. The
military sense is not to put the
rifle across the s. ; that is to slope
arms.
SHOVE
shove makes - vable ; see Mute e.
shovel. 1 . The verb makes -lied,
-lling ; see -ll-, -l-. 2. Shovel hat,
not shovel-hat ; see Hyphens 3 B.
show. For spelling see shew. The
p.p. is usu. shown, rarely showed.
shred, vb. In the p.p. shredded &
shred are both old & both extant;
the longer is recommended,
shriek. See scream.
shrievalty. See sheriffalty.
shrilly. Pronounce the adjective
(poetic by-form of shrill) shri'li, the
adverb shri'l-ll.
shrink has past shrank (arch.
shrunk), p.p. usu. shrunk as verb or
pred. adj., & shrunken as attrib.
adj. : has shrunk, is shrunk or
shrunken, her shrunken or shrunk
cheeks.
shrivel makes -lied &c.; -ll-, -l-.
shy. The adj. makes shyer, shyest,
shyly, shyness, shyish. The vb makes
shier (shying horse). See dry, &
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
532
SIDE-SLIP
for the quoted newspaper to have
used ; the quoting one very super¬
fluously repudiates it with (sic)./
An Irish peer has issued a circular to
members in the House, with an appeal
for funds to carry on the work of
enlightening (sic) the people of this
country as to the condition of Ireland .
What impudence 1 says (sic) ; but,
as no-one would doubt the authen¬
ticity of enlightening, the proper
appeal to attention was not (sic),
but inverted commas./ 4 A junior
subaltern, with pronounced military
<fe political views, with no false
modesty in expressing them, db who
(sic) possesses the ear of the public
. . .’ The quoter means 4 Observe
by the way this fellow’s ignorance of
grammar ; db who without a pre¬
ceding who ! ’ ; as the sentence is
one of those in which the db-who
rule of thumb is a blind guide (see
which), & is in fact blameless, the
(sic) recoils, as often, & convicts its
user of error.
sibilant. See Technical terms.
sibyl(line). The spelling (not sybi-)
should be noted ; see y & i.
(sic), Latin for so, is inserted after
a quoted word or phrase to confirm
its accuracy as a quotation, or occa¬
sionally after the writer’s own word
to emphasize it as giving his deliber¬
ate meaning ; it amounts to Yes,
he did say that, or Yes, I do mean
that, in spite of your natural doubts.
It should be used only when doubt
is natural ; but reviewers & con¬
troversialists are tempted to pretend
that it is, because (sic) provides
them with a neat & compendious
form of sneer. The industrialist
organ is inclined to regret that the
league did not fix some definite date
such as the year 1910 (sic) or the year
1912. (sic), because the reader
might naturally wonder whether
1910 was meant & not rather 1911 ;
a right use./The Boersen Courier
maintains that 4 nothing remains for
M. Delcass6 but to cry Pater peccavi
to Germany cfc to retrieve as quickly
as possible his diplomatic mistake
(sic) \ Mistake is the natural term
sice, size, syce. For the six at dice
&c., sice is better than size ; for the
Indian groom, syce is better than
sice.
sick. The S. Man ; see Sobriquets.
sick, ill. The original & more
general sense of sick, which has now
been transferred for the most part
to ill, was suffering from any bodily
disorder. That sense remains to it
in attributive use (s. people, a s.
child, &c.), but is now uncommon in
predicative use (be, feel, s.), in which
it means vomiting or ready to vomit.
In U.S. & Scotch use the wider
sense is still common, & cf. go sick
as the army phrase for declaring
oneself ill. Instead of either iller or
sicker, more ill or more s., worse is the
comparative wherever it would not
be ambiguous.
sick headache. No hyphen ; see
Hyphens 3 B.
Sickly. For adverb see -lily.
SIDE-SLIP. The grammatical acci¬
dent to which a name is here given
is most often brought about by the
SIDE-SLIP
533
SIDT
word of, & in the article of its
nature has been so fully explained
that nothing more is now required
than some examples of the same
accident not caused by of. In the
first half-dozen quotations, other pre¬
positions play the part of of ; in the
later ones the mistakes, though due
also to the disturbing influence of
what has been said on what is to be
said, are not of quite the same pat¬
tern, & will need slightly more com¬
ment :— . . . possessing full initiative
after its success, <fe able at will to
expend a minimum force in defending
itself against one half of the defeated
body , cfc a maximum effort against
destroying the other half (in, for the
second against)./But there is one that
deserves special mention because it lies
at the root of the nation’s confidence
in the Navy cfc in the Navy’s own
cohesion as a loyal & united service
(read of for the second in)./Their
interest lies in getting through as
quickly as possible in order to put
in an extra journey, & consequently
to avoid waiting for passengers (read
in avoiding for to avoid)./In a plea
for the setting aside of this accord,
or at least for certain parts of the
accord, by the Conference, the * Temps ’
intimates that . . . (read of for the
second for)./The Independents would
then be in the position in which the
pledged Liberals now are of being
unable to appear on a platform or
helping any Liberal movements in
any of the 330 Tory constituencies
(read to help for helping)./When will
Englishmen allow Ireland to govern
herself, rather than to persist in the
hopeless task of perpetually conquering
or trying to conquer her? (omit to
before persist).
Miscellaneous
Today we can but be thankful that
the nerve of Fisher proved cool at the
crtsts, <& that to him we mainly owe
it that we have not to record a disaster
of almost historical importance in the
history of the railway. Who is
Wisher, that we should prefer him as
saviour to other signalmen ? The
second that is there only because
the first has sent the writer off at
a tangent. To mend, a, omit the
second that; or, b, insert feel before
it ; or, c, omit * to him we mainly
owe it that './It would not be sur¬
prising if this limit were reduced to
£125, the German limit, while volun¬
tary insurance were still allowed for
persons with incomes up to £160
a year. The legitimate & normal
(but not necessary) subjunctive were
reduced draws the writer into the
abnormal & almost illegitimate were
(instead of was) allowed ; for the
perils of subjunctive-using, see Sub¬
junctive./// it can be done, <& only
if it can be done, shall we be in the
position to re-establish civilization.
The intervention of the parenthesis
with its only is allowed to upset the
order of w^ords, viz we shall be, re¬
quired by the start of the sentence ;
this variety of side-slip is further
illustrated in Inversion in parallel
clauses./Whether the cessation of
rioting, looting, & burning which has
been secured largely by the declaration
of martial law rigorous shooting of
leaders of the rabble is merely tem¬
porary or has been put an end to for
good remains to be seen. If the
cessation of rioting has been put an
end to for good, a lively time is com-
ing. To mend, read permanent in¬
stead of the words just italicized ;
& for this variety see Haziness./
He therefore came round to the viezv
that simple Bible-teaching were better
abolished altogether & that the open
door for all religions were established
in its place. The deadly subjunctive
again ; if the writer had been con¬
tent with would be in place of the
first were, he would certainly not
have been trapped into thinking
that would be gave the right sense
where the second were stands ; but
venturing on dangerous ground,
which the subjunctive always is
except to skilled perfc *mers, he side¬
slips. See Subjunctive.
sidle makes -dling ; see Mute e.
sidy (swaggering), not -dey\ -ey&-y.
SIEN(N)A _ 534 SILLABUB
sien(n )a, Sien(n)a, Sien(n)ese. The
old-established -nn -is recommended;
see Mahomet.
sieve. Pronounce siv.
sign (indication) & some synonyms.
The synonyms are so many that it
seems worth while to collect some
of them & add sentences showing
each of them in a context to which
it is better suited than any, or than
most, of the others. The selected
words are : badge, cachet, character,
characteristic, cognizance, criterion,
device, differentia, emblem, hall¬
mark, impress, index, indication,
mark, motto, note, omen, prognostic,
seal, shibboleth, sign, slogan, stamp,
symbol, symptom, test, token, touch,
trace, trait, type, watchword.
Sufferance is the badge of all our
tribe. All his works have a grand
cachet. These attributes of structure,
size, shape, & colour, are what are
called its ‘ specific characters Super¬
stition is not the characteristic of this
age. Geoffrey assumed as his cogniz¬
ance the Sprig of Broom. Success is
no criterion of ability. Shields
painted with such devices as they
pleased. To arrive at the true differ¬
entiae of Christian morals. The
spindle was the emblem of woman.
Lacking the hall-mark of a university
degree. Lucerne bears most strongly
the impress of the Middle Ages. The
proverbs of a nation furnish the best
index to its spirit. There is no
i ndication that they had any knowledge
of agriculture. Suspiciousness is a
mark of ignorance. 4 Strike while the
iron ’s hot ’ was his motto. Catho¬
licity is a note of the true Church.
Birds of evil omen fly to <& fro. From
sure prognostics learn to know the
skies. Has the seal of death in his
face. Emancipation from the fetters
of party shibboleths. An outward &
visible sign of an inward & spiritual
grace. Our slogan is Small Profits &
Quick Returns. Bears the stamp of
genius. The Cross is the symbol of
Christianity. Is already showing
symptoms of decay. Calamity is the
true test of friendship. By what
token could it manifest its presence ?
One touch of nature makes the whole
world kin. Traces of Italian influence
may be detected. They have no national
trait about them but their language.
The paschal lamb is a type of Christ.
The old Liberal watchword of Peace
Retrenchment, db Reform. *
signal, vb, makes -lied &c.; -ll-,
-l-.
signal, single, w. But there is
intense resentment that Japan should
be signalled out for special legisla¬
tion./There was one figure more
sinister than the rest, whom Mr
Lloyd George signalled out for his
wrath in true revivalist style./The
German Emperor has been spared an
inglorious end in obscurity ; but why
has he been signalled out for the
dignity of a special trial ? Three
specimens of a very common Mis¬
print or blunder ; singled should
be the word. Unfortunately, there
is just nearness enough in meaning
between the verb single on the one
hand &, on the other, the adjective
signal & the verb signalize to make
it easy for the uncharitable to
suspect writer rather than printer;
& therefore especial care is called
for, as with deprecate & depreciate.
signatary, -ory. The established
adjective is -ory ( the signatory
Powers) ; the OED quotations for
the noun are evenly balanced be¬
tween -ary & -ory; & it therefore
seems wise to distinguish between
noun & adjective by adopting -ary
for the former ( the signatories) ; see
further on Mandatary.
signify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -IE &e., 6.
Signor(a), -rina, Italian titles. Pro¬
nounce senyor'(a), senyore'na.
Sikh. Usu. pronounced sek ; sue,
however, is more, not less, correct,
silex. For pi., see -ex, -ix.
silhouette. Pronounce sflobS't.
siliceous, -cious. The first is better.
silk(en). See -en adjectives.
sillabub, syl-. The OED attributes
the -y- to ‘ the influence of syllable .
See y & i for the intrusions of y.
SILLILY
535
SIMILE & METAPHOR
sillily. One of the few current -lily
adverbs ; see -lily s.f.
Silo. The noun has pi. -os ; see
-o(e)s 6. The verb makes -o’d or
-oed ; see -ed & ’d.
silvan, sylvan. There is no doubt
that si- is the true spelling etymo¬
logically (Latin silva or silua a wood,
changed in MSS. to syl- under the
influence of Greek hule) ; there is
as little doubt that sy- now prepon¬
derates, & the OED does the word
under that spelling, giving silvan
as a variant. Silvan is here recom¬
mended, just as in y & i restoration
of the right letter is recommended
in other words. Though the false
form does prevail nowadays, it is
by no means universal ; & it is
worth notice that, out of seven
Scott quotations in the OED, four
show sy- & three si-. It is often too
late to mend mis-spellings, but
hardly so in this case.
silvern. See -en adjectives.
silver paper. No hyphen ; see
Hyphens 3 B.
silver streak. See Sobriquets.
simian. Pronounce si- ; the Latin
noun is si-, but see False quantity.
similar is apt to bring disaster to
certain writers, those namely to
whom it is a Formal word to be
substituted in writing for the like or
the same with which they have con¬
structed a sentence in thought. In
the first quotation, like would stand,
being both adjective & adverb, but
similar, being adjective only, must
be changed to similarly. In the
second, the same considerations that
would have been English, but
similar considerations that must be
corrected to s. c. to those that. It is
claimed that the machine can be made
to turn on its own centres, similar
to the motor-boats which the inventor
demonstrated at Richmond in 1912./
Nevertheless, although adjoining New
York all along its northern border
ds in its farming, manufacturing, &
general industrial development swayed
by similar business considerations that
govern the Empire State, its people went
as strongly for Roosevelt as their neigh¬
bours in New York went against him.
simile. To let this specialized &
literary word thrust itself, as in the
following quotation, into the place
of the comparison or parallel that we
all expect & understand is to betray
that one has & uses a synonym
dictionary, which is to some journal¬
ists what the rhyming dictionarv
is to some poets : —The advent of
Kossovo Day cannot but suggest a
simile between the conflict then raging
cfc that in which we are engaged today.
A simile is always a comparison ;
but a comparison is by no means
always, & still less often deserves to
be called, a simile.
SIMILE & METAPHOR, allegory &
parable. Allegory (uttering things
otherwise) & parable (putting side
by side) are almost exchangeable
terms. The object of each is, at
least ostensibly, to enlighten the
hearer by submitting to him a case
in which he has apparently no direct
concern, & upon which therefore
a disinterested judgement may be
elicited from him. Such judgement
given, it is to be borne in upon him,
whether or not a Thou art the man
is needed, that the conclusion to
which the dry light of disinterested¬
ness has helped him holds also for
his own concerns. Every parable
is an allegory, & every allegory a
parable. Usage, however, has de¬
cided that parable is the fitter name
for the illustrative story designed to
answer a single question or suggest
a single principle, & offering a de¬
finite moral, while allegory is to be
preferred when the application is
less restricted, the purpose less
exclusively didactic, & the story of
greater length. The object of a
parable is to persuade or convince ;
that of an allegory is often rather to
please. But the difference is not
inherent in the words themselves ;
it is a result of their history, the
most important factor being the use
of parable to denote the allegorical
stories told by Christ.
SIMILE & METAPHOR 536 SINCERELY
It is of allegory that the OED gives
as one of the definitions 4 an ex¬
tended or continued metaphor ’.
But the comment may be hazarded
that there is some analogy between
the relation of allegory to parable &
that of simile to metaphor, & that
the OED definition would, if that
is true, have been still better suited
to parable than to allegory. For
between simile & metaphor the
differences are (1) that a simile is
a comparison proclaimed as such,
whereas a metaphor is a tacit com¬
parison made by the substitution of
the compared notion for the one to
be illustrated ( the ungodly flourishing
4 like ’ a green bay-tree is a confessed
comparison or simile ; if ye had not
plowed with my heifer, meaning dealt
with my wife, is a tacit comparison
or metaphor) ; (2) that the simile is
usually worked out at some length
& often includes many points of
resemblance, whereas a metaphor
is as often as not expressed in a
single word ; & (3) that in nine out
of ten metaphors the purpose is
the practical one of presenting the
notion in the most intelligible or
convincing or arresting way, but
nine out of ten similes are to be
classed not as means of explanation
or persuasion, but as ends in them¬
selves, things of real or supposed
beauty for which a suitable place is
to be found.
It cannot be said (as it was of
allegory & parable) that every simile
is a metaphor, & vice versa ; it is
rather that every metaphor pre¬
supposes a simile, & every simile
is compressible or convertible into
a metaphor ; there is a formal line
of demarcation, implied in 1 above ;
the simile is known by its as or like
or other announcement of conscious
comparison. There is no such line
between allegory & parable, but in
view of distinctions 2 & 3 it may
fairly be said that parable is ex¬
tended metaphor & allegory extend¬
ed simile. To which may be added
this contrast : having read a tale,
& concluded that under its surface
meaning another is discernible as
the true intent, we say This is an
allegory ; having a lesson to teach,
& finding direct exposition ineffec¬
tive, we say Let us try a parable;
to reverse the terms is possible, but
not idiomatic.
simony. Pronounce si'moni.
simoom. See wind, n.
simple. Adv. simply. Fee simple
(not hyphened; see Hyphens,
* Court Martial).
simpleness)(simplicity. -ty & -ness.
simpliciter)(secundum quid. These
convey, the first that the statement
&c. referred to need not, the seoond
that it must, be restricted to certain
cases or conditions.
simplify. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
simulacrum. PI. -era.
simulate makes -lable, -tor; see
-able 1,-OR.
sin. 4 To sin one’s mercies ’, which
puzzles everyone to whom it has not
been familiar from childhood,is para¬
phrased by the OED, but without
explanation, as 4 to be ungrateful
for one’s blessings or good fortune’.
4 More sinned against than sinning ’
{King Lear in. ii. 60) has become a
Hackneyed phrase ; descent from
the height of Lear to the latest tri¬
viality of 4 tempted & fell ’ lands us,
naturally, in bathos, & Stock pathos.
si'napism. So pronounced,
since. For the very common mis¬
take of using s. after ago , see ago.
For 4 P.S. Since writing this your
issue of today has come to hand ’,
see Unattached. The following
example of a mistake as uncommon
as the others are common is offered
merely as a curiosity to anyone who
may wish to show cause why s.
should be after : — A little more than
a century since the death of William
Windham the suggestion made by a
reviewer in 1831 that his Life might
be 4 written by his Letters ’ is made
good.
sincerely. For 4 yours s-’ &c. see
Letter forms.
*S INCONGRUOUS
537
SINISTER
*S INCONGRUOUS ( drink's victims
&c.). It will be a surprise, & to
some an agreeable one, if at this
late stage in our change from an
inflexional to an analytic language
we revert to a free use of the case
that we formerly tended more &
more to restrict. It begins to seem
likely that drink's victims will before
long be the natural & no longer the
affected or rhetorical version of the
victims of drink. The devotees of
inflexion may do well to rejoice ;
the change may improve rather than
injure the language ; & if that is so
let due praise be bestowed on the
newspaper press, which is bringing
it about ; but to the present (or
perhaps already past) generation,
which has been instinctively aware
of differences between drink's victims
& the victims of drink, & now finds
them scornfully disregarded, there
will be an unhappy interim.
It is the headline that is doing it.
The fewer words to the headline, the
larger can the type be, & CHINA’S
INTEGRITY is two words less than
THE INTEGRITY OF CHINA ;
BEATTY & HAIG’S REPLY (i.e.
that of Beatty & Haig), UGAN¬
DA’S POSSIBILITIES, NAVY &
ARMY’S THANKS, are others; but
illustration is superfluous.
We who are old saw no such
possessives when we were young;
but we could be content, if only the
modern possessive kept to its own
territory, the modern headline ; even
ONTARIO’S PRIME MINISTER
(so are we chastened !) we can bow
down before while he is in capitals ;
but when he comes amongst us in
the ordinary garb of lower-case text,
we pluck up heart again & want to
kick him :— 4 In no part of the world'
says Ontario's Prime Minister 4 will
• • • '-/It is barely four years since
Bulgaria's ruler assumed the title of
Czar. / The object is to bring before
the public many ancient & modern
aspects of the Theatre's Art which
have . . ./And the narrative's charm ,
which is that of ... is due to . . ./
Although not returned to Westminster
as Hanley's representative till . . ./
M. de Bille has spent eighteen years
in London as Denmark's Minister.
The time has perhaps not yet come
when it is necessary to explain the
old-fashioned restrictions on the use
of possessives that are here defied ;
those who allow the headline style
to overflow into the text are doubt¬
less aware of what they are doing
& pleased with its effect as a novelty.
sinecure. The OED pronounces
si'nikur, adding that 4 in Scotland
& America the first vowel is freq.
pronounced short ’.
sing. For the past tense 4 recent
usage has mainly been in favour of
sang ' —OED. Sung was formerly
usual, & still lingers.
Singalese.
sing(e)ing.
-e- in the part.
singeress.
NATIONS.
Singhalese.
Mute e, & use the
of singe.
Feminine desig-
See Sinhalese.
SINGULAR -S (or sibilant ending).
The feeling that the z sound at the
end of a noun proves it plural has
played many tricks in the past ;
pea, caper (the herb), & Chinee, have
been docked under its influence of
their endings, riches is usually treat¬
ed as a plural, & many other ex¬
amples might be collected, philo-
logically interesting rather than of
practical importance. On the other
hand it may be worth while to
notice that the glasses of spectacles
are lenses & not lens, that His pulse
are good is a by no means extinct
blunder, & that the plural of a for¬
ceps should certainly be, & probably
will be again, what it unfortunately
is not at present, forcepses. Cf.
GALLOWS.
Sinhalese, Sing(h)alese, Cingalese.
The first, & the last, are recognized
as the standard forms in the OED.
sinister in heraldry means left (&
dexter right), but with the contrary
sense to what would naturally sug¬
gest itself, the left (& right) being
that of the person bearing, not of an
SINK
538
SKEW
observer facing, the shield. For bar,
baton, bend, s., see bar.
sink, vb. 1. Past tense sank or
sunk, the former now prevailing,
especially in intransitive senses.
2. Sunk(en). The longer form is no
longer used as part of a compound
passive verb : the ship would have
been, will be, was, sunk, not sunken.
But sunken has not a corresponding
monopoly of the adjectival uses :
sunken eyes ; a sunken (or sunk) rock;
a sunk or sunken ship ; a sunk (or
sunken) fence ; sunk carving ; a sunk
panel, shelf, storey. Roughly, sunken
is used of what has sunk or is
(without reference to the agency) in
the position that results from sink¬
ing, i.e. it is an Intransitive p.p. ;
& sunk is used of what has been
sunk esp. by human agency.
sinus. PI. - uses, or (see Latin
plurals) sinus (-us).
Sioux. Pronounce soo or su. PI.
spelt Sioux & pronounced like sing.,
or with final z sound.
sipahee, -hi. For the use of these
instead of the established sepoy see
Mahomet, Didacticism.
siphon, not sy-. See y & i.
sir (as prefix). To say Sir Jones is,
more than to say Hon. or Rev. Jones,
a mistake peculiar to foreigners.
But newspaper writers often (1)
forget, as with hon., that a double-
barrelled surname will not do instead
of Christian name & surname, &
(2) play foolish games of elegant
variation when a knight or baronet
has two Christian names, ringing the
changes between Sir William Jones,
Sir Henry Jones, Sir William Henry
Jones, Sir William, & Sir Henry ;
Sir William Jones, Sir W. Jones, &
Sir William, are surely enough to
provide relief.
siren, not sy-. See y & i.
Sirius. The OED pronounces sf-,
not si- ; for neglect of classical
quantities see False quantity.
Sirloin. The knighting of the loin
attributed to various kings seems
to have been suggested by, & not to
have suggested, the compound word •
it has, however, so far affected the
spelling (which should have shown
French sur= upper) that sir- may
now be taken as fixed. J
sirocco, sci-. Both forms exist in
Italian. The OED gives the first for
the standard English spelling,
sirup. See syrup.
sirvente. See Technical terms.
sister, in hospital use, is applied pro¬
perly to one in charge of a ward &c.,
or in authority over other nurses—
matron, sisters, nurses, wardmaids,
being the hierarchy. But s. is often
substituted, especially by soldiers in
hospital, as a courtesy title, for nurse.
sisterly. For the adv., see -lily.
situate(d). The short form is still
common in house-agents’ advertise¬
ments, but elsewhere out of favour.
sixain. For these words see -stich.
sixteenmo. See folio. PI. -os ;
see -o(e)s 6.
sixth. Often mispronounced sikth.
sixties, ’sixties. See twenties.
sixtyfourmo, 64mo. See folio,
PI. -os ; see -o(e)s G.
sizable. So spelt ; see Mute e.
sizy (stiff with size). So spelt; see
Mute e.
sjambok. The OED pronounces
sham-.
Skald, SC-, Scandinavian poet. The
OED preferred form is sk-.
skate makes -table ; see Mute e.
skedaddle. Facetious formations.
skee. See ski.
skene, skean, sklan, skain. The
OED preferred form is skene.
skeptic(al), skepsis, &c. The estab¬
lished pronunciation (see sceptic)
is sk-, whatever the spelling; &,
with the frequent modern use of
septic & sepsis (the latter a 19th-c.
word only), it is well that it should
be so for fear of confusion ; but to
spell sc- & pronounce sk- is to put
a needless difficulty in the way of
the unlearned. America spells sk-‘,
we might pocket our pride & copy.
skew, adj., though still current
technically, e. g. in architecture,
SKEWBALD
539
SLAKE
engineering, & carpentry, has so far
gone out of general use as to seem,
in other applications, either archaic
or provincial.
skewbald.
PIEBALD.
Ski, n. Pron. she ; pi. ski, or skis.
ski, vb. Ski’d (shed) is preferable
to skied ; see -ed & ’d. Agent n.,
skier (she'er).
skiagraphy &c. See sciagraphs.
skier, skyer. The user of ski is a
skier (she'er), obviously. The skied
cricket-ball is spelt sometimes with
y & sometimes with i ; the OED
prefers skyer , which has also the
advantage of saving confusion ; &,
as it is more reasonable to derive it
from sky n. (cf. sixer &c.) than from
sky vb, there is no need to make it
conform to crier & flier & pliers, for
which see dry &c.
skilful. So spelt ; see -ll-, -l-, 4.
For skilfullest, -ll-, -l-, 2.
Skilled. The skilled & the unskilled
are sheep & goats, distinguished by
having or not having had the
requisite training or practice ; the
two words exist chiefly as each
other’s opposites, or terms of a
dichotomy. The point of the limita¬
tion is best seen by comparison with
skilful : skilled classifies, whereas
skilful describes ; you are skilled or
not in virtue of your past history,
but not very or most or fairly skilled
(in idiomatic speech, at least) ; you
are skilful according to your present
capacity, & in various degrees.
skill-less is better than skilless.
Among the OED 19th-c. quotations
are skilless (6), skillless (1), &
skill-less (2) ; but that the help to
pronunciation given by the hyphen
is desirable is plain enough if a few
other words with short vowel to
which - less may naturally be ap¬
pended are thought of :— belless or
bell-less, shelless or shell-less, willess
or tvill-less , hilless or hill-less, dolless
or doll-less, canalless or canal-less ?
The first two of these, the only ones
wven in the OED (1922, with will-
* ess not reached), are allowed the
hyphen. The reason for excluding
from consideration words with long
vowel, which yield keelless, soulless,
&c., is that it is only after short
vowels that -11- is normally equi¬
valent in sound to -1- & therefore
deceptive.
skin. With the s. of my teeth ; see
Misquotation.
skip (servant). See scout.
skull. See SCULL.
Skupshtina. So spelt ; pronounce
skdb'pshtina.
sky blue. The name of the colour
is sky blue ; the adjective blue
qualified by sky becomes sky-blue :
sky blue will be best ; a sky-blue tie ;
her eyes are sky-blue. See Hyphens.
skyer. For spelling see skier.
skyey. For spelling see -ey & -y.
slack(en), w. In the article -en
verbs it is implied that the relation
between the adjective & verb slack
& the verb slacken is not simple
enough to be there treated with the
rest. One’s first impression after
a hasty look through the OED
articles on the two verbs is that
whatever either means the other can
mean too—an experience familiar to
the synonym-fancier. The following
distinctions are therefore offered
with the caution that they represent
idiomatic usage only, & that quota¬
tions contravening them may be
found in the OED & elsewhere.
1. Slacken is the ordinary word for
to become slack, & for to make (or
let become) slacker : the tide, breeze,
pace, demand, rope, one’s energy,
slackens ; we slacken our efforts, grip,
speed, opposition, the girth, the regula¬
tions. 2. To slack, if it is to have
such senses, is reinforced by off, out,
up, &c. : the train slacked up ; had
better slack off; slack out the rope.
3. Slack, not slacken, trespasses on
the territory of slake : slack one’s
thirst, lime, the fire. 4. Slack, not
slacken, means to be slack or idle :
accused me of slacking. 5. Slack, not
slacken, means to come short of or
neglect (one’s duty &c.).
slake, slack, vv. Both are derived
SLAKELESS
540
from, the adjective slack, & slake had
formerly such senses as loosen &
lessen, which have now passed to the
newer verb slack owing to their
more obvious sense-connexion with
it ; slake tends more & more to be
restricted to the senses assuage,
satisfy, moisten, (thirst, desire,
vengeance, lips, lime).
slakeless. See -
slander. For synonymy, see libel.
slang. For comparison with the
many synonyms, see jargon.
slantendicular, -ingdicular. See
Facetious formations.
slate, n., makes slaty ; see Mute e.
slate, vb, makes - table ; see Mute e.
slatternly. For adv. see -lily.
Slave makes slavish ; see Mute e ;
but slavey, see -ey, -ie, -y.
slaver, slobber, slubber, vv. The
three words, as well as slabber, which
is perhaps obsolete, may be assumed
to be of the same ultimate origin, &,
though they may have reached us by
different routes & had more or less
separate histories, they have so far
acted & reacted upon one another
that for people not deep in historical
philology they are now variants of
one word, partly but not completely
differentiated. The base meaning is
to run at the mouth (1), with kissing
(2), licking (3), fulsome flattery (4),
emotional gush (5), & superficial
smoothing over or mere tinkering
(6), as developments. All three
have sometimes any of the first four
senses, though slubber, which is now
chiefly in archaic literary use, tends
to be confined to sense G ; & in that
sense slobber is exceptional & slaver
not used. The difference between
slaver & slobber is partly of status,
the former being the more literary
& dignified & the latter colloquial
& vivid, & partly of extent, slaver
not going beyond sense 4, while
slobber covers sense 5 & even G.
sled(ge), sleigh. Though all three
are interchangeable, they tend to be
distinguished in use as follows :
sled, drag for transporting loads ;
sledge English, sleigh U.S. & Cana-
SLIPSHOD E XTENSION
fo T r T 0 carnage on runners.
Chiefly U.S. & Canada ’ is the OED
label on sleigh ; but the use of
sledges in Great Britain is compara¬
tively so rare that the Canadian
idiom may be expected to prevail
if it has not already done so. *
sleep. For the s. of the just see
Hackneyed phrases.
sleigh. See sledge.
sleight. Pronounce slit; it is
related to sly as height to high. S. of
hand; no hyphens, see Hyphens
(group *rule of thumb).
slew, slue. The first is the now
accepted spelling, though the earlier
examples show slue.
Slice, vb, makes -ceable; see -able 1.
slide, vb, makes - dable ; see Mute e.
sliding door, two words without
hyphen, see Hyphens 3 B ; simi¬
larly sliding keel, sliding rule, sliding
scale, sliding seat.
slime makes slimy ; see Mute e.
sling, slink. Past tenses & p.p.
slung, slunk ; the OED records but
does not countenance the pasts
slang, slank.
Slip. Short s., long s., (cricket); no
hyphen ; see Hyphens 3 B.
Slipshod extension. To this
heading, which hardly requires ex¬
planation, reference has been made
in the articles on many individual
words. Slipshod extension is es¬
pecially likely to occur when some
accident gives currency among the
uneducated to words of learned
origin, & the more if they are iso¬
lated or have few relatives in the ver¬
nacular ; examples are protagonist,
recrudescence, optimism, meticulous,
feasible, dilemma ; the last two of
these offer good typical illustrations.
The original meaning of feasible is
simply doable (L facere do); but to
the unlearned it is a mere token,
of which he has to infer the value
from the contexts in which he hears
it used, because such relatives as
it has in English— feat, feature, fac¬
tion,fashion, malfeasance, beneficence,
&c.—either fail to show the obvious
SLIPSHOD EXTENSION
541
SLOUGH
family likeness to which he is accus¬
tomed among families of indigenous
words, or are (like malfeasance) out¬
side his range. He arrives at its
meaning by observing what is the
word known to him with which it
seems to be exchangeable ; that is
possible ; & his next step is to show
off his new acquisition by using it
instead of possible as often as he can,
without at all suspecting that the
two are very imperfect synonyms ;
for examples see feasible. He per¬
haps notices now & then that people
look at him quizzically as if he were
not quite intelligible, but this hap¬
pens seldom enough to let him put it
comfortably down to their ignorance
of the best modern idiom.
The case of dilemma as a word
liable to slipshod extension differs
in some points from that of feasible,
though a dilemma is confused with
a difficulty just as feasible with
possible. A person who has taken a
taxi & finds on alighting that he has
left his money at home is in a diffi¬
culty ; he is not in a dilemma, but
he will very likely say afterwards
that he found himself in one. The
differences are (1) that the mere
Englishman has still less chance
than with feasible of inferring the
true meaning from related words,
it being an almost isolated impor¬
tation from Greek ; (2) that the
user need hardly be suspected of
pretension, since dilemma is in too
familiar use for him to doubt that he
knows what it means. Neverthe¬
less, he is injuring the language,
however unconsciously, both by
helping to break down a serviceable
distinction, & by giving currency to
a mere token word in the place of
one that is alive.
Sli pshod extensi on, however, though
naturally more common with words
of learned antecedents, is not con¬
fined to them, & in the following
list will be found several that would
seem too thoroughly part of the
vernacular to be in danger of misuse.
In many of the articles referred to,
farther illustration of slipshod ex¬
tension is given :—asset ; balance ;
calculate ; chronic ; commonplace
(on truism) ; conservative ; dead
letter ; decimate ; dilemma ; eke
out; evidence; feasible ; forgather;
idola ; liable ; meticulous ; mutual;
optimism ; possible (3) ; probable ;
precedent ; protagonist ; recrud¬
escence ; reference ; relegate ; tri¬
bute ; verbal.
Of the above words, all or most are
habitually ill treated, & should be
noted as needing care. A stray
example may be added of a word
with which such abuse is exceptional
& apparently unaccountable, that
slipshod extension may not be taken
for the sort of blunder against which
one is safe if one attends to a limited
list of dangerous words ; what is
required is the habit of paying all
words the compliment of respecting
their peculiarities. An excellent
arrangement , for there are thus none
of those smells which so often disfigure
the otherwise sweet atmosphere of an
English home. What has no figure
or shape cannot be disfigured ; not
that the limitation need be closely
pressed ; not only a face or a land¬
scape can be disfigured ; so also can
an action, a person’s diction, or a
man’s career, (to take things of
which the OED quotes instances)
be disfigured, because each of them
can be conceived, with the aid of
metaphor, as a shapely whole ; but
a shapely atmosphere ?
slobber. See slaver.
sloe-worm. See slow-worm.
slogan. Though the great vogue of
the word as a substitute for the
older motto, watchword , rule, &c., is
of the 20th c. only, & we old fogies
regard it with patriotic dislike as
a Scotch interloper, it was occa¬
sionally so used earlier ; the OED
has a quotation from Macaulay.
For some synonyms, see sign.
sloid. See sloyd.
slosh. See ?lush.
slouch hat. Two separate words ;
see Hyphens 3 B.
Slough. The n. & vb meaning bog
SLOVENLY
542
SMALL
are pronounced -ow ; the n. meaning
cast skin &e. & the vb meaning cast
or drop off are pronounced -iif.
slovenly. For the adv., see -lily.
slow(ly), advv. In spite of the
encroachments of - ly (see Unidio-
matic -ly), slow maintains itself as
at least an idiomatic possibility
under some conditions even in the
positive ( how slow he climbs /, please
read very slow, my watch goes slow),
while in the comparative & super¬
lative slower & slowest are usually
preferable to more & most slowly ;
see -er & -est 3. Of the 4 conditions’,
the chief is that the adverb, & not
the verb &c., should contain the real
point ; compare ‘ We forged slowly
ahead ’, where the slowness is an
unessential item, with 4 Sing as slow
as you can ’, where the slowness is
all that matters.
slow-worm, sloe-, is not connected
with either the noun sloe or the adj.
slow ; slow - is now the established
form, & the OED calls sloe- obsolete.
sloyd, sloid. The OED prefers -yd.
slubber. See slaver.
sludge. See slush.
slue. See slew.
sluice, vb, makes -ceable; -able 1.
slumber. Apart from mere sub¬
stitutions of s. for sleep dictated by
desire for poetic diction or dislike of
the words that common mortals use,
slumber is equivalent to the noun
sleep with some adjective or the verb
sleep with some adverb. Slumber is
easy or light or half or broken or
daylight sleep, or again mental or
stolen or virtual or lazy sleep. The
implied epithet or adverb, that is,
may be almost anything ; but the
choice of slumber instead of sleep,
if not due to mere stylishness (see
Working & stylish words), is
meant to prevent the reader from
passing lightly by without remem¬
bering that there is sleep & sleep.
slumb(e)rous. The shorter form is
recommended ; cf. dext(e)rous.
But analogies for either are plenti¬
ful : cumbrous, wondrous, monstrous.
leprous , idolatrous ; but thunderous
slanderous, murderous. *
slur. See Pronunciation, s.f., for
slurring.
slush, sludge, slosh. The differ-
ences are not very clear. There is
the natural one, resulting from the
stickier sound, that sludge is usually
applied to something less liquid than
slush or slosh, e. g. to slimy deposits
or clinging mud, whereas thawing
snow is typical slush ; & of slush &
slosh the latter is perhaps more
often used to describe what is meta¬
phorically watery stuff—twaddle or
sentimentality.
sly makes slyer, slyest, slyly, slyness,
slyish ; for comparison with other
such words, see dry.
small. Relations with little are
complicated, & the task of dis¬
entangling them might excusably
be shirked, if not as difficult, then
as unprofitable ; but examination
of the differences between seeming
equivalents does give an insight into
the nature of idiom. Under bio
some attempt has been made at
delimiting the territories of great,
large, & big ; small & little have to
divide between them the opposition
to those three as well as much, & the
distribution is by no means so simple
& definite as the pedantic analyst
might desire.
Of the possible pairs of opposites
let some be called patent pairs, as
being openly & comfortably used
with both members expressed ; &
the rest latent pairs. The patent
pairs start with three that are
pretty clearly distinguishable in
meaning. Contrasts of size or extent
are given by large & small, those of
quantity or amount by much
little, & those of importance or
quality by great & small : 4 large &
small rooms ’, 4 of large or small
size ’, 4 large or small writing 4 large
& small appetites 4 large & small
dealings, dealers ’ ; 4 much or little
butter, faith, exercise, damage, hesi¬
tation, study ’ ; 4 the Great & the
Small Powers ’, 4 great & small occa-
SMALL
543
SMELL
sions% ‘a great or a small under¬
taking *, ‘ great & small authors \ To
these, the main divisions, are to be
added two minor patent pairs some¬
times substituted for one or other of
them— great db little, big db little. Great
db little as a patent pair is preferred
to large db small in distinctive names
(‘the Great & the Little Bear % ‘ Great
& Little Malvern ‘ the great & the
little toe ’) ; it is also common (see
below) as a latent pair in two senses.
Big & little is a patent pair often
colloquially substituted for either
large db small (‘ big & little farms,
motor-ears ’) or great db small (‘big
& little wars, people’) or great db
little (‘ the big <fc the little toe ’).
The patent pairs are sets of
opposites so far felt to correspond
that one does not hesitate to put
them together as in all the expres¬
sions given above ; or again either
member can be used when the other
is not expressed but only implied ;
e. g., ‘ the Great Powers ’ is more
often used alone, but * the Great
& the Small Powers ’ is also an
ordinary expression ; & ‘ the Little
Entente ’, ‘ the Big Four ’, depend
for their meaning on a ‘ Great
Entente ’ & a ‘ Little Thirty (or so) ’
that are seldom mentioned. By
latent pairs are meant sets of
opposites in which one member has
the meaning opposite to that of
another with which nevertheless it
could not be expressly contrasted
without an evident violation of
idiom. For instance, no-one would
put large & little together ; ‘ large
& little lakes * sounds absurd ; but
one speaks of * a (or the) little lake ’
without hesitation, though ‘ large
lakes ’ (not ‘ great lakes ’, which
ranks with the distinctive names
above referred to) is the implied
opposite. Another latent pair is
much db small ; though ‘ much or
small hope ’ is impossible, & ‘ much
or little hope * felt to be required
instead, yet * small hope ’, ‘ small
thanks \ * small credit f , ‘ small
wonder % are all idiomatic when the
irregular opposite much is not ex¬
pressed. Similarly with big & small ;
we never contrast them openly, but
in ‘ the big battalions ’, ‘ big game
‘ a big investment or undertaking %
‘ a big grocer ’, the opposite in
reserve is small. Great dc little was
said above to rank both as a patent
& as a latent pair. In the latter
capacity it allows us to talk of
‘ great damage ’, ‘ great doubt
‘ great hesitation ’, & again of ‘ little
damage ’ &c., but forbids us to put
the pair together ; it is ‘ much or
little (not ‘ great or little ’) doubt ’.
Again, when great is substituted for
large, or little for small, with a view
to charging either idea of size with
contempt or indignation or affec¬
tion, as in ‘ you great fool ’, ‘ you
little fool ’, ‘ he hit me ■with a great
stick ’, ‘ a sweet little cottage ’, the
opposites naturally do not appear
together, & we have another variety
of latent pair.
Tabulating now, we get :—
Patent pairs
1. Large & small (of size or extent).
2. Much & little (of quantity or
amount).
3. Great & small (of importance or
quality).
4. Great & little (in distinctive
names).
5. Big & little (colloq. for 1, 3, or 4).
Latent pairs
Large, little (for 1).
Much, small (for 2).
Big, small (for 1).
Great, little (for 2 or 1).
small beer, small hours. No hy¬
phens ; see Hyphens (3 B, & grouD
♦blue-stocking). * P
smell, vb. 1. For smelt & smelled
see -t & -ed. 2. The intransitive
sense to emit an odour of a specified
kind is idiomatically completed by
an adjective, not an adverb ; a
thing smells sweet, sour, rank, foul,
good, bad, &c., not sweetly, badly,
&c. But the tendency referred to in
Unidiomatic -ly sometimes mis¬
leads the unwary into using the
adverbs. The mistake is the easier
because (a) when the character of
SMELL-LESS
the smell is given by ‘ of so-&-so ’
instead of by a single word, an
adverb is often added ; compare
smells strong or delicious (i.e. has a
strong or delicious smell) with smells
strongly or suspiciously of whisky or
deliciously of violets ; & (b) when to
smell is used, as it may be, for to
stink, an adverb is the right addi¬
tion— this water smells outrageously );
smells disgusting & smells disgust-
ingly are both idiomatic, but are
arrived at in slightly different ways,
the first meaning ‘ has a disgusting
smell & the second ‘ stinks so as
to disgust one \
smell-less. Write so ; & for dis¬
544
serpent-worship \ We perhaps con
ceive serpents as terrible & nowX
& beautiful things, snakes as iJ.
sidious & cold & contemptible.
snapshot, vb. The OED recognize
no verb to snapshoot , though it give
snapshooter & snapshooting fchipfl*
in the original sense, i.e.5ithS
not camera) ; but the verb to snap]
shot (with camera) is established-
its past & p.p. (see forecast &
hamstring) are properly snap,
shotted, & similarly the nouns of
agent & action should be snap,
shotter & snapshotting , while snap,
shooter & snapshooting should be
retained in the fire-arm sense.
cussion see skill-less.
smite. Smit for smote is obsolete ;
smit for smitten is archaic, but still
in poetic use.
smoke. The verb makes smokable ;
see Mute e. Smoking-room, smoke-
room ; the first is the older & better
form.
smooth(e(n). The adjective is
now always smooth. For the verb,
smooth is recommended in preference
to smoothe, but the latter still exists ;
OED 19th & 20th c. examples that
show the difference give it half as
often as smooth ; for smoothen see
-EN VERBS.
smudge, smutch. The earlier noun
is smutch, the earlier verb smudge ;
but this has no apparent effect on
present usage ; -dge now prevails in
ordinary literal use, -tch being pre¬
ferred in metaphor & (even when
the sense is literal) in poetic or
literary writing.
snail-like. For hyphen, see -like.
snake makes snaky ; see Mute e.
snake, serpent. Snake is the native,
& serpent the alien word ; it is not
a necessary consequence of this, but
it is also true, that snake is the word
ordinarily used, & serpent the ex¬
ceptional one. The OED’s remark
on serpent is ‘ now, in ordinary use,
applied chiefly to the larger & more
venomous species ; otherwise only
rhetorical ... or with reference to
snare makes snarable ; see Mute e.
snipe makes -pable, -py ; see Mutee.
snivel makes snivelling ; -ll-, -l-.
so. 1. Phrases treated elsewhere.
2. So long, t& so to —, do so. 3. Ap-
pealing so. 4. Paterine so. 5. Re¬
peated so (& such). 6. So with p.p.
7. Explanatory so. 8. So with
superlatives & absolutes.
1. For so far from, so far as, so far
that, see far ; for so far forth (as)
see forth 2 ; for & so on, <& so
forth, see forth 1 ; for quite (so) see
quite ; for so to speak see Superior¬
ity ; for ever, never, so see never.
2. So long, & so to — , do so. So
long used colloquially for goodbye or
au ravoir. It perhaps matters little
for practical purposes, but the OED
gives no countenance to the deriva¬
tion from salaam, & treats the
phrase as a mere special combina¬
tion of so & long ; those who are
inclined to avoid it as some sort of
slang may be mollified by its
naturalness as a short equivalent
Good luck till we meet again.
I so to a division, & so to dinner,
This formula for winding up
account of a debate or inciden ,
•owed directly or indirectly fr°®
ys, is apt to take such a hoia
n those who once begin upon
;, like confirmed cigarette-smoK-
they lose all count of tnei
ilgences ; it is wise to a . .
i it altogether. Do so.
545
SO, 5
SO, 3
a study of an elderly widower who,
on approaching sixty, finds that he
knows hardly anything of his three
daughters , db sets out to do so. For
similar absurdities, which are too
common, see do 3 b, c.
3. The appealing so. The type is
Cricket is so uncertain. The speaker
has a conviction borne in upon him,
& in stating it appeals, with his so,
to general experience to confirm
him; it means as you, or as we all,
know. A natural use, but more
suitable for conversation, where the
responsive nod of confirmation can
be awaited, than for most kinds of
writing. In print, outside dialogue,
it has a certain air of silliness, even
when the context is favourable, i.e.
when the sentence is of the shortest
& simplest kind, & the experience
appealed to is really general. Read¬
ers will probably agree that in all
the following extracts the context is
not favourable ; & the only object
of exhibiting so many of them is to
give proof that the danger of yield¬
ing to this weakness (‘ feminine ’ it
would have been called before the
ladies had learnt to write) is a real
one. The principle underlying the
restriction to short simple sentences
is perhaps that this use of so is
exclamatory. The examples are
ranged from bad to worse :— In the
case of Ophthalmology in the tropics
a work of authority is so sadly over¬
due./Mr Stephen Walsh is, like so
many of the miners' leaders, a man
who started life in the pit./Along with
so many other well-wishers for the
prosperity <& independence of the
Ottoman Empire, 1 have been deeply
grieved by . . ./But he does combine
them ingeniously, though in instancing
this very real power we feel that it
might have been so much more satis¬
factorily expended. /May 1 venture to
point out that it would be so much
better to make them freely & willingly
than to have them wrung from her ? /
Beyond what so many people regard
os the consoling fact that it was not
destined for the cabinets or shelves of
an American millionaire, it was not
1351
known until now who was the happy
purchaser./The book is written in
a simple style which is foreign to so
many lawyers./He was always kind,
considerate, <& courteous to his wit¬
nesses, this being so contrary to what
we are led to expect from his suc¬
cessors. / Constant betel-chewing, he
thinks, may be 4 the predisposing
factor producing a condition of ner¬
vous irritability that so easily might
degenerate into latah './The periodical
discussions incidentally serve to show
how in Scotland as in England so
many of those interested in matters of
this kind are town-dwellers.
4. The Paterine so. This is a
special form of the appealing so :
In the midst of that aesthetically so
brilliant world of Greater Greece is an
example. The so is deliberately
inserted before a descriptive adjec¬
tive, & is a way of saying, at once
urbanely & concisely. Has it ever
occurred to you how brilliant &c.
it was ? ; it differs from the sos in 3,
that is, in being not careless &
natural, but didactic & highly arti¬
ficial. Effective enough on occasion,
it is among the idioms that should
never be allowed to remind the
reader, by being repeated, that he
has already met them in the last
hundred pages or so. See Manner¬
isms for more examples from Pater
himself; & here, from imitators,
are others :— Here an Englishman
has set himself to follow in outline
the very distinctive genius of Russia
through the centuries of its difficult
but always so attractive develop¬
ment./And still no one came to open
that huge, contemptuous door with its
so menacing, so hostile air.
5. So (& such ) in repetition. From
the artificial to the entirely artless.
So is a much used word, but not
indispensable enough to justify such
repetitions of it as the following :—
The pity is that for so many men who
can so hardly keep pace with rising
prices it should become so difficult to
follow the sport./It would do away
with any suggestion of State purchase
of which the country is at the present
T
SO, 6
546
time so nervous, as it would necessitate
such large borrowing of money, which ,
in the present financial condition of
the country, is so inadvisable. / The
situation was well in hand, but it had
so far developed so little that nothing
useful can be said about it, save that
so far the Commander-in-Chief was
satisfied.
6. So with p.p. The distinction
usually recognized with very be¬
tween a truly verbal & an adjectival
p.p. is not applicable to so ; but it
is well worth while, before writing
plain so, to decide between it & so
much, so well, &c. The insertion of
much in the first & well in the second
quotation after so is certainly de¬
sirable :— Admiral Faravelli reports
that Tripoli batteries have been so
damaged that Turkish soldiers have
been forced to retire into town. / Ireland
being mainly an agricultural country,
& England industrial, the Bill is not
so suited to Ireland as to this country.
7. The explanatory so. Type : He
could not move, he was so cold. The
second member is equivalent to a
sentence beginning with for, & the
idiom is mainly, but not solely,
colloquial. What requires notice is
that, when it is used in formal
writing, it is spoilt if for, whose work
is being done for it by so, is allowed
to remain as a supernumerary. Two
examples follow, the first right, the
second wrong :— The dangers of the
situation seem to us very real <&
menacing; both sides, in maintaining
a firm attitude, may so easily find
themselves bluffing over the edge into
the precipice./It would seem particu¬
larly fitting that an American pro¬
fessor of literature should discuss the
subject of Convention & Revolt, for
in that country the two tendencies are
at present so curiously & incon¬
gruously mingled.
8. So with superlatives & absolutes.
So, when it qualifies adjectives &
adverbs, means to such a degree or
extent ; it is therefore not to be
applied to a superlative, as in The
difficult & anxious negotiations in
which he has taken so foremost a part
SOBRIQUET
in Paris. Nor to words that'll
felt not to admit of degrees (‘ abso*
lutes , for convenience), including
besides essenti al posit i ves li ke unique
such indefinites as some , sevend
Among the latter is oft-times, though
often is not, & ‘ so oft-times * i s 8 a “
wrong, though not as unlikely, as ‘ so
sometimes ’ i—And now , as it so on.
times happens , the pupil well mati
claim to have out-passed the master.
sober makes soberer , -est ; see -er
& -est 1 b.
sobriquet, sou-. The first is much
longer established in English, be¬
sides being the only modem French
form. Pron. so'brika.
Sobriquets. Under this heading
for want of a better, are here col’
lected a hundred or so out of the
thousands of secondary names that
have become so specially attached to
particular persons, places, or things,
as to be intelligible when used in¬
stead of the primary names, each of
which is thus provided with a deputy
or a private pronoun. The deputy
use is seen in ‘ It was carried to the
ears of that famous hero & warrior,
the Philosopher of' Sans Souci
where ‘ t. P. o. S. S.’ acts for Freder¬
ick the Great; & the private-pro-
noun use in ‘ He employed his
creative faculty for about twenty
years, which is as much, I suppose,
as Shakspere did ; the Bard of Avon
is another example . . where
‘ t. B. o. A.’ means Shakspere or the
latter. Some names have a large
retinue of sobriquets ; Rome, e.g.,
may be the Eternal City, the City
of the Seven Hills, the Papal City,
the Scarlet Woman, the Scarlet
Whore, the Empress of the Ancient
World, the Western Babylon; Mr
Warner may be Plum, or P. F., or
the Middlesex Captain, or the Re-
coverer of the Ashes ; & neither’s
list of sobriquets is half told.
Now the sobriquet habit is not a
thing to be acquired, but a thing to
be avoided ; & the selection that
follows is compiled for the purpose
not of assisting but of discouraging
BOBfUQUETS
547
SOBRIQUETS
it. The writers most of all addicted
to it are the sporting reporters ;
games & contests are exciting to
take part in* interesting or even
exciting also to watch, but essen¬
tially (i.e. as bare facts) dull to read
about, insomuch that most intelli¬
gent people abandon such reading ;
the reporter, conscious that his
matter & his audience are both dull
enough to require enlivening, thinks
that the needful fillip may be given
if he calls fishing the gentle craft,
a ball the pill or the leather, a cap¬
tain the skipper, or a saddle the
pigskia, & so makes his description
a series of momentary puzzles that
shall pleasantly titillate inactive
minds. Here is a Times reviewer,
who sighs over ‘ One sad fault, which
runs through this, &, alas ! a good
many other excellent books—the
habit of seldom calling a spade a
spade. Does it really help, or is it
really humorous, to call the fox
“ Charles James ”, a hare Madam”,
a nose a “ proboscis ”, & Wales
“ Taffyland ” ? Of course, a sport¬
ing book will tend to use sporting
expressions ; but a good deal of this
irritating circumlocution is unneces¬
sary, & might well be left for
colloquial use ’.
It is by no means true, however,
that the use of sobriquets is confined
to this ? or to any, class of writers ;
the Philosopher of Sans Souci & the
Batd of Avon quoted above are
from Thackeray & Conan Doyle,
though they are unfavourable speci¬
mens of those authors’ styles. And,
moreover, the sobriquet deputy has
its true uses ; just as Bacon knows
of 4 things graceful in a friend’s
mouth, which are blushing in a
man’s own ’, so the sobriquet may
often in a particular context be
more efficient than the proper name ;
though ‘ the Papal City ’ means
Rome, its substitution may be a
serviceable reminder, when that is
appropriate, that Rome in one of
its aspects only is intended. Again,
many sobriquets have succeeded,
like mayors of the palace, in usurp¬
ing all or some of their principals’
functions ; the Young Pretender is
actually more intelligible, & there¬
fore rightly more used, than Charles
Edward, & to insist on ‘ came over
with William I * in preference to
4 with the Conqueror ’ would be
absurd.
No universal condemnation of
sobriquets, therefore, is possible ;
but even the better sort of journal¬
ist, seldom guilty of such excesses
as the sporting reporter, is mucn
tempted to use them without con¬
sidering whether they tend to
illuminate or to obscure ; 1 the exile
of Ferney he feels, at once exhibits
his own easy familiarity with Vol¬
taire the man ( Voltaire the word, by
the way, is itself one of the mayor-
of-the-palace sobriquets) & gratifies
such of his readers as know who is
meant ; as for those who may not
know, it will be good for them to
realize that their newspaper is more
cultured than they. The sobriquet
style, developed on these lines,
is very distasteful to all readers
of discretion. Those who may
become aware, in glancing through
the following alphabetical selection,
that these & similar substitutes
are apt to occur frequently in
their own writing should regard
it aS a very serious symptom of
perverted taste for cheap ornament.
In most of the expressions an
initial the is to be supplied:—
Abigail (lady’s-maid) ; Albion (Great
Britain) ; Alma Mater (univer¬
sity) ; Bruin (bear) ; Chanticleer
(cock); Cceur de Lion (Richard
I) ; Conqueror (William I) ; Cousin
Jack (Cornishman) ; dismal science
(Political Economy) ; Emerald IsJe
(Ireland); Empire City (New York);
Erin(Ireland); Eternal City (Rome);
Eton of the North (any northern
public school) ; Father of History
(Herodotus); Father of Lies (Satan);
First Gentleman of Europe (George
IV) ; gamp (umbrella) ; Ganymede
(waiter); Garden of England ( Kent);
Gaul (France) ; Gilded Chamber
(House of Lords) ; G.O.M. (Glad-
SOBRIQUETS
548
SOCIAUS
stone) ; Granite City (Aberdeen) ;
Great Commoner (Pitt) ; great
unwashed (populace) ; handy man
(sailor) ; Hebe (waitress) ; Hermit
Kingdom (Corea) ; honest broker
(Bismarck); Indian weed (tobacco);
Iron Chancellor (Bismarck) ; Iron
Duke (Wellington) ; iron horse
(railway caging; Jeames(footman);
Jehu (cabman) ; jolly Roger (black
*' a g) > Kingmaker (Warwick) ; king
of beasts (lion) ; King of Terrors
(death) ; Knight of the Rueful
Countenance (Don Quixote) ; Land
of Cakes (Scotland) ; laughing
philosopher (Democritus) ; leather
(cricket-ball) ; Lion of the North
(Gustavus); maestro di color che
sanno (Aristotle); Man of Destiny
(Napoleon) ; Merry Monarch (Char¬
les II) ; modern Athens (Edin¬
burgh) ; modern Babylon (London);
Mother of Parliaments (British
Parliament) ; nation of shopkeepers
(the English) ; Neptune (sea) ; N° 1
(oneself) ; ocean greyhound (liner) ;
Old Gentleman (devil) ; Old Lady
of Threadneedle Street (Bank of
England) ; Old Pretender (James,
son of James II) ; olive-branches
(children) ; petit caporal (Napoleon
I) ; Philomel (nightingale) ; pill
(ball) ; Pillars of Hercules (straits of
Gibraltar) ; Queen of the Adriatic
(Venice) ; ramshackle Empire (Aus¬
tria-Hungary) ; redcoats (British
soldiers) ; Reynard (fox) ; Rupert
of debate (Lord Derby, P.M. 1852) ;
Sage of Chelsea (Carlyle) ; Sailor
King (William IV) ; St Stephen’s
(House of Commons) ; seagreen
incorruptible (Robespierre) ; senior
service (navy) ; Seraphic Doctor
(St Bonaventura) ; Sick Man (Tur¬
key) ; silver streak (English Chan¬
nel) ; Sol (sun) ; sport of kings
(hunting) ; staff of life (bread) ;
Stagirite (Aristotle) ; strawberry
leaves (ducal rank) ; Tiger (Clemen-
ceau) ; tommies (British soldiers) ;
Uncle Sam (U.S.A.) ; Ville Lumiere
(Paris) ; Virgin Queen (Elizabeth) ;
Warrior Queen (Boadicea) ; Water
Poet (John Taylor) ; weaker sex
(women) ; well of English undefiled
(Chaucer); weary Titan (British
Empire) ; Wen (London); Vizard
ri h r ^u rth , <£<»«) 5 Young
Chevalier (Charles Edward Stuart).
soc(c)age. The OED spelling is
socage (pron. sSk-).
soccer. See socker.
sociable) (social. For confusion
between pairs of adjectives in - able
& - al , see exceptionable, prac¬
ticable. No such patent misuses
occur with the present pair as with
those ; there is merely a tendency
to use social not where it is inde¬
fensible, but where the other would
be more appropriate. Roughly,
social means of or in or for or used
to or shown in or affording society ;
& sociable seeking, or loving, or
marked by the pleasures of, com-
pany. Social is rather a classifying,
& sociable rather a descriptive
adjective : man is a social being,
Jones is a sociable person ; people
are invited to a social evening, &
say afterwards (or do not say) that
they had a very sociable evening.
Obviously, overl apping is likely.
The OED, under a definition of
social that includes ‘ sociable ’ as
an equivalent, gives two quotations
in which sociable should have been
preferred (His own friendly & social
disposition —Jane Austen / He was
very happy & social —Miss Braddon),
as well as one that is just on the
right side of the border (Charles
came forth from that school with
social habits , with polite & engaging
manners —Macaulay).
socialism, communism, anarchism.
The things are not mutually exclu¬
sive ; the words are not an exhaus¬
tive threefold division of anything ;
each stands for a state of things, or
a striving after it, that differs much
from that which we know; & for
many of us, especially those who are
comfortably at home in the world
as it is, they have consequently
come to be the positive, compara¬
tive, & superlative, distinguished
not in kind but in degree only, of
the terms of abuse applicable to
SOCIALISM 549 SOLDIERLY
those who would disturb our peace.
Little can be done in the short space
available in such a book as this to
clear up vague notions ; but it is
something gained if we realize two
facts, that we are dealing neither
with three degrees of the same
thing, nor with three independent
parallel terms.
Whatever their relations to one
another, all three have in common
a dissatisfaction with society as it
is, & the goal of equal opportunities
for all. The socialist blames our
organization into classes (especially
those of capitalists & wage-earners),
the communist blames private pro¬
perty, the anarchist blames govern¬
ment as such, for what they all alike
find unsatisfactory. The anarchist
remedy is to abolish the State &
leave all relations between persons
& groups to be established & main¬
tained by free contract. The com¬
munist’s, on the contrary, is, by
abolishing all private property, to
make the State absolute master of
the individual. The socialist’s is
less simple ; he may accept either
of the apparently opposite methods
of anarchist & communist as being
the shortest way to his own end ;
that is, anarchism & communism are
sometimes forms of socialism ; or
he may be content with something
short of communism—not abolishing
all property, but transferring the
control of public services & the
means of large industrial production
to the State or the municipality.
And further, it is not a case with
him, as with the others, of all or
nothing ; abolition of the State or
of private property is for them the
condition precedent of improvement,
& is not to be brought about except
by revolution ; but, for the socialist,
every curtailment of privilege, every
nationalization or municipalization
of a particular service, is a step
forward, worth taking for itself as
well as for its contribution to the
gradual progress; that is, the changes
required by communism & anarch¬
ism are more abrupt & violent than
what socialism need, but not than
what it may, be actually striving to
effect.
It should perhaps be added that
not the comparative merit of three
more or less different principles, but
only the meaning of three often
confused terms, is here in question.
sock. For the s. f = the comic stage,
see Battered ornaments.
socker, -ecer. The -k- is recom¬
mended ; accept, success, eccen¬
tricity, accident, flaccid, coccyx, show
the almost invariable sound of -cc-
before e, i, y ; perhaps the sole
exception is baccy, which the -cc-
in tobacco makes more excusable
than soccer.
socketed, not -tted ; see -T-, -tt-.
socle. Pronounce so'kl.
Socrates. Pronounce s6k-, & see
False quantity.
soddenness. So spelt.
Sofi(sm). See Sufi(sm).
soft. 1. For ‘ s. impeachment’ see
Irrelevant illusion. 2. For play,
sleep , fall , &c., s., see Unidio-
MATIC -LY.
soften. Pronounce saw'fn ; see
Pronunciation.
sol-disant. See French words.
English is well provided, with self-
styled, ostensible, would-be, professed ,
professing, supposed, & other words,
for all needs.
soilless. Hyphen unnecessary ; see
SKILL-LESS.
sojourn. Pronounce su'jern ; OED
gives sh-, s5-, so-, in that order.
Sol, = the sun. See Sobriquets.
solatium. PI. -ia.
solder. The only pronunciation
I have ever heard, except from the
half-educated to whom spelling is
a final court of appeal, is sd'der,
which is accordingly here recom¬
mended ; but the OED gives it only
as favoured by American diction¬
aries, & allows sd'lder & so'der only.
soldier. S. ant, s. beetle , s. crab ,
s. orchis ; no hyphens ; see Hy¬
phens 3 B.
soldierly. For adv. see -lily.
SOLEMNNESS
550
SOME
solemnness, not - mness.
solicitor general is better without
hyphen ; see Hyphens, group
♦Court Martial.
solid has solider, - est; -er & -est 2.
solidify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
soliloquy. See Technical terms.
Solo. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 6, or in
technical use soli (-e).
SO long, = goodbye. See so 2.
soluble, solvable, make insoluble ,
unsolvable ; see in- & -un-. Sub¬
stances are soluble (or dissolvable),
not solvable ; problems are soluble
or solvable.
solus, sola. The stage-direction use
is often transferred to descriptions
in novels, where it is a harmless
affectation. Applied to a woman
it is awkward, because solus in stage
directions was of either gender, &
yet now offends the grammar¬
conscious, while sola is unfamiliar &
odd. Affectation apart, what is
wrong with alone ?
solution. For s. of continuity see
Polysyllabic humour.
sombre, -ber. See -re & -er.
some. 1. S. in meiosis. 2. Some
one) (someone . 3. Sometime) (some
time. 4. Somewhat. 5. Somewhen.
1. Meiosis. ‘This is some war’,
with strong emphasis on some, is
modern colloquial for 4 This is a
vast war ’, 4 This is indeed a war,
if ever there was one \ It is still
felt as slang, & it comes to us from
America ; but it results from that
love of meiosis (see Technical
terms) which is shared with the
Americans by us. We say a, place is
some distance off, meaning a long
way ; we say 4 It needs some faith
to believe that ’, meaning a hardly
possible credulity. So far the effect
is exactly parallel to the emphatic
use of rather in answer to a question
— 4 Do you like it ? ’ 4 Rather !
meaning not somewhat, but exceed-
ingly. The irregular development
comes in when some, meiosis & all,
is transferred from its proper region
of quantity or number to that of
quality , some taith is a wonderful
amount of faith ; but some war is
a wonderful kind or specimen of
war, & some pumpkins (at least 70
years old, & said to be the origin^
American phrase) were not a great
number of pumpkins, but very
superior pumpkins. It iB this
irregularity that makes the use both
noticeable & popular; perhaps,
when it has become so trite as no
longer to sound humorous, it may
perish. Compare with it our own
equivalent, which lacks the piquant
irregularity only, 4 something like
a war \
2. For someone) (some one, see
EVERYONE.
3. Some time, sometime, adw. Some
time is often used elliptically for at
some time or other. There is no
essential objection to writing it
some-time or sometime, but it is con¬
venient to keep it in two separate
words for distinction from the some¬
time that appears in such descrip-
tions as 4 sometime Fellow of ...
4 sometime Rector of this Parish
meaning formerly.
4. Somewhat has for the inferior
journalist what he ought not, but
would be likely, to describe as 4 a
somewhat amazing fascination’.
Thus :— The evidence furnished in
the somewhat extraordinary report of
the Federation as to its waste of huge
sums of money on . . ./His election
experiences were somewhat unique./
The flocks of wild geese, to which the
flamingo is somewhat more or less
closely allied. / The Labour motion
introduced the proviso, somewhat for
the first time, that the process should
be gradual. These are examples
selected for their patent absurdity,®
their authors are doubtless so ad¬
dicted to the word that they
longer conscious of using it. What
moves people to experiment flnrt w
the somewhat style is partly timi¬
dity—they are frightened by tne
coming strong word & wovdd a
take precautions against shoe »
& partly the notion that an ai
studious under-statement is superior
551
SOUFFLE
& impressive ; & so in our news¬
papers * the intemperate orgy of
moderation is renewed every morn¬
ing \
5. Somewhen should be regarded as
the progeny of somewhere & somehow,
&> allowed to appear in public under
the wing of either or both of its
parents, but not by itself.
-some. The OED collects a num¬
ber of adjectives in - some , grouping
them according to their age. The
most established words are here
given in three sets for comparison.
A (older) : buxom, cumbersome,
fulsome, gamesome, gladsome, hand¬
some, lightsome, loathsome, noisome,
wholesome, winsome.
B (medium); awesome, bright-
some, darksome, gruesome, health-
some, heartsome, quarrelsome, tire¬
some.
C (younger) : blithesome, bother¬
some. cuddlesome, fearsome, lithe¬
some, lonesome.
Reading through the lists, one can
hardly fail to notice that, while most
words in the first are such as one
feels to be independent wholes & is
not tempted to resolve into root &
suffix, the other lists are made up,
with individual exceptions as for
Quarrelsome & lonesome , of artificial¬
looking & more or less fanciful
formations. The inference is that
- some has lost its efficiency as a
suffix, & that it is wise to avoid such
-some words, even including one or
two of the older ones, as are not of
quite unquestionable standing.
somersault, summersault, somerset,
summerset . The first spelling is
recommended.
somnolence, -cy. See -ce, -cy.
son ant. See Technical terms.
songstress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
Bonnet. See Technical terms
sonorous. So accented.
sd&t, not so5t.
sophistical). Sophistical is now
the usual form. It would be well if,
m accordance with what is said in
the article -ic(al), sophistic could be
confined to the merely defining sense
‘ of the (Greek) Sophists ’.
Sophy, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
soprano. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 6, or
-ni (-e).
sorceress. See Feminine desjg
NATIONS.
sore, adv. For s. afflicted, let cfc
hindered, &c., see Unidiomatic -ly.
sorites (sori'tez). Technical terms.
sorrow. For ‘ more in s. than in
anger ‘ in her &c. great s.’, see
Hackneyed phrases, & Stock
pathos.
sorry, sorrow. The two words do
not, as it is natural to suppose, be-
long to each other, sorry being the
adjective of the noun sore. Sore &
sorrow, however, are so near in sense
(especially in earlier & wider mean¬
ings of sore) that the mistake has
perhaps no ill effects ; still, the
knowledge has its practical value ;
connexion between sore & sorry
helps to account for the use of
sorry, = scurvy, poor, inferior, seen
in sorry rascal, meal, luck, excuse.
sort is, in the irregular but idio¬
matic uses touched upon under kind,
equally common, & subject to the
same limitations : sort of & kind of
preceding a verb (I s. o. expected it)
differ from the others in being more
generally confined in practice to the
colloquial. It is worth mention that
the OED, always chary in condemna¬
tion, records all these idioms without
seriously questioning their legi¬
timacy ; & the same with the now
common depreciatory of sorts ; 6 still
common colloquially, though con¬
sidered grammatically incorrect ’, on
these kind of men, is its severest
censure. For of any sort or kind ,
see Pleonasm 2 ; We can only
repeat that there is no inconsistency of
any sort or kind in our attitude .
sotto voce. Pronounce sS'to vo'cha;
see Italian sounds.
soubrette. See French words.
soubriquet. See Sobriquet.
Sou jJan( ese ). Better than Sud-.
souffle. See French words.
SOUGH
552
sough. The pronunciation alterna¬
tives in the OED are suf, sow, & soo
followed by the breathed guttural
(cf. lough).
SPECIALITY
unnecessary ;
soulless. Hyphen
see SKILL-LESS.
sound, adv. For sleep soundly), see
Unidiomatic -ly.
soupson. See French words.
south-. Compounds ( s.-east &c.)
are pronounced with th. Of the
derivatives, southerly, southern,
southernwood, southron, have siidh- ;
souther & southing have sowth- ;
southward(s) is sowthward(z) or
siidhard(z).
southerly. For the special uses &
meanings of this set of words, see
EASTERLY.
sovereign, sovran. Though the
latter spelling may accord better
with the etymology (It. sovrano , L.
superanus), the occasional attempts
to introduce it come into conflict
with the present pronunciation
(so'vrin or so'verin, not so'vran), &
their success is not to be desired.
sow, vb. The p.p. sown is four
times as frequent, in the OED 19th-
20th-c. quotations, as sowed.
spa. This spelling, & the pro¬
nunciation spah, have now displaced
the older spaw.
space, vb, makes spaceable ; -able 1.
spade, vb, makes spadable ; Mute e.
spadeful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
spare makes sparable ; see Mute e.
spats. For spatterdashes ; see
Curtailed words.
spavined, not -nned ; see -n-, -nn-.
spec,= speculation. Curtailed wds.
special. 1. Special) (especial . 2.
S. pleading.
1. For specially) as distinguished
from especially), see especial. The
two following quotations show the
adverbs used each where the other
would have been better :— Ample
supplies of food & clothing for the
prisoners are now available there,
having been shipped from America
especially for this purpose./The neigh¬
bourhood is not specially well provided
with places where soldiers can ea
amusement db refreshments. 6
2. S. pleading is a Popularized
technicality. When we say that
a person’s argument is s. p., we mean
that he has tried to convince us bv
calling our attention to whatever
makes for, & diverting it from what¬
ever makes against, the conclusion
he desires. But this is, not indeed
the highest, but at any rate the
almost universal, argumentative
procedure. That is, it is advocacy
or (in the untechnical sense) plead-
ing, & the word special adds nothing
to the meaning ; why then call it
special ? Pleadings, in law, are a
series of formal written statements
by the parties to a suit designed to
establish clearly, before the case is
tried, what is the issue or question
to be decided. S. p. is adaptation,
to the particular circumstances, of
the typical formulae or pleadings
that may be applicable to them &
are ready to be used by either
party—the filling in of the details.
As one consequence of modern legal
reforms, pleadings are now very
commonly dispensed with; but
formerly the s. p. had to be done
with extreme accuracy if cases were
not to be lost on points of form that
were of no real importance. S. p.
accordingly became identified with
legal quibbling, & suffered the same
fate as casuistry, passing into a by¬
word for dishonest evasion of real
issues. This vague & inaccurate
sense the name has retained now
that the thing itself is no longer
familiar outside the legal profession.
speciality, -alty. The two words,
like many pairs in -ic(al), while
they seem to cry out for Differ¬
entiation, have made little pro¬
gress in that direction. Anyone who
thinks he knows which of the cluet
senses belong to which, & tests his
notions by looking through the UE
quotations, is likely to have a sur¬
prise ; he will perhaps conclu
that writers use either form * or
of the senses according as they
SPECIE* S)
553
SPELLING POINTS
prefer its sound in general or find
it suit the rhythm of a sentence.
Where usage is so undecided, it
would be presumptuous to offer a
profitable differentiation, or to re¬
commend either of two fully estab¬
lished forms for extinction. The
most that can be ventured is to
state two facts, first that speciality
is in most senses the commoner, &
secondly that specialty prevails in
the legal sense, defined in OED as
* A special contract, obligation, or
bond, expressed in an instrument
under seal ’.
specie(s). ' .The OED gives pre¬
cedence to the disyllabic spe'shi,
spe'shez, over the pronunciations
retaining the -I- as in rabies &
scabies. It is a case to which the
general principle laid down in Pro¬
nunciation should be applied &
those who are familiar with Latin
allowed the three syllables in their
communications with one another.
species. PI. the same ; see Latin
PLURALS.
speciflc(ally). These words, like
respective*ly), though their real
value need not be questioned, are
often resorted to by those who have
no clear idea of their meaning for the
air of educated precision that they
are held to diffuse. A short table
of the senses of specific, showing the
relation of each to the central notion
of species, follows ; it is in the last
rather loose sense that it is wise to
avoid the word & choose one of the
more generally understood svnon-
yms.
1. Characterizing a land or species.
S. gravity is that belonging to gold
&c. as a kind or as such.
2. Constituting kind or species.
S. difference is that which entitles
courage, man, &c., to be called by
those names rather than by more
general ones such as fortitude,
mammal.
3. Indicating species in classifica¬
tion. In Pinus sylvestris maritima
(Scotch Fir), the three words are the
generic, specific, & subspecific names.
4. Applicable to a kind only. S.
remedy is one used for a particular
disease or organ, not for ill health,
or for the body, in general.
5. Not universal but limited, not
general but particular, not vague
but definite. S. directions , accusa¬
tion, cause, &c.
specify. For inflexions, see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
specs, = spectacles. Curtailed wds.
spectre, -ter. See -re & -er.
spectrum. PI. - tra, -ms ; see -um,
& Latin plurals.
Speculum. PI. -la, -turns ; see Latin
plurals.
speechify. For inflexions, see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
speed. Past & p.p. sped; but
s. up, = increase the s. of, makes
speeded ( must be speeded up &c.).
spelicans. See spillikin.
spell, vb. 1. For spelt, spelled, see
-T & -ed. 2. The sense amount to,
mean, involve as inevitable result,
seen in Democracy spells corruption ,
& esp. in So-&-so spells ruin (‘ com¬
mon in recent use ’—OED), had its
merit, no doubt, when new, but now
ranks with Worn-out humour.
SPELLING POINTS. 1. Spelling re¬
form. 2. Double & single con¬
sonants. 3. Cross references. 4.
Miscellaneous.
1. Spelling reform. The notorious
difficulty of English spelling, & the
growing impatience caused by it,
make it almost imperative to de¬
clare one’s general attitude towards
reform before touching any details.
The line here followed is, then :
that the substitution for our present
chaos of a phonetically consistent
method that should not sacrifice the
many merits of the old spelling
would be of incalculable value ; that
a phonetically consistent method is
in English peculiarly hard to recon¬
cile with the keeping together of
word-families, owing to the havoc
played on syllable sounds by varia¬
tions of stress (in fraternity fraternize
three vowel sounds are metamor¬
phosed by the shifting of stress) ;
SPELLING POINTS, 2
that most reformers are so much
more awake to the obvious advan¬
tages of change than to its less
obvious evils that we cannot trust
them with the disposal of so vastly
important a matter ; & finally that
English had better be treated in the
English way, & its spelling not be
revolutionized but amended in de¬
tail, here a little & there a little as
absurdities become intolerable, till
a result is attained that shall neither
overburden schoolboys nor stultify
intelligence nor outrage the scholar.
In this book some modest attempts
are made at cleaning up the more
obtrusive untidinesses ; certain in¬
consistencies have been regarded as,
in the present diffusion of literacy,
no longer required of us. The well-
known type theoretic-radical prac¬
tical-conservative covers perhaps a
majority of our population, & its in¬
fluence is as sound & sane in the
sphere of spelling as elsewhere.
2. Double & single consonants. If
a list were made of the many thou¬
sands of words whose spelling cannot
be safely inferred from their sound,
the doubtful point in perhaps nine
tenths of them would be whether
some single consonantal sound was
given by a single consonant, as m or
t or c, a double consonant, as mm or
tt, or two or more, as sc or cq or sch ;
committee & comity, science & sil¬
ence, tic & tick, harass & embarrass
& Paris, leveled & unparalleled,
personify & personnel, Britain &
Brittany, bivouac & bivouacking,
acguiesce & aqueduct, sckist & skip,
are examples enough. The use of
double consonants (tt &c.) or two
consonants (ck &c.) to give a single
sound is due sometimes to the com¬
position of a word, as when in- not &
nocens harmful are combined to
make innocent , sometimes to the
convention by which the sound of
a preceding vowel tends to be of one
kind (a e I 5 u) before one consonant
& of another (H i o u) before two,
& sometimes to factors in word-
formation plr’Iologically explicable,
or inexplicable, but less obvious
^_ SPELLING POINTS, 2
I than in compounds like innocent
Of these causes the only one thS
a meaning for anyone who knows no
language but English is the
vention of vowel sounds; he is
aware that much more often than
not a distinction analog To that
between holy & holly exists; but the
interference of the other causes is so
incalculable & so frequent that he
soon finds it hopeless to rely upon
the principle in doubtful cases.
Hence a large proportion of the
tears shed over spelling. Little
relief can be given ; the words in
which sound is no guide to whether
there is one consonant or two are
not a score or so of which a list
could be made & learnt, but thou¬
sands ; nothing short of a complete
spelling-book will serve the turn of
a really weak speller, though it is
true that a short list can be made
of words in which mistakes are
especially common, & that some
classes of mistake can be guarded
against by rules. Such a list is best
made by each person who finds
himself in need of it, out of his
own experience & to suit his own
requirements ; a few words that
will usually be included are harass,
embarrass, disappoint, disappear,
unparalleled, accommodate, Britain,
Brittany, Britannia, committee, ab¬
breviate, all right, banister, battalion,
bilious, Boniface, Buddha, bulrush,
bunion, camellia, canonical, chicory,
clef, desiccated, moccasin, exaggerate,
woollen, saddler, skilful; it is worth
remark that words presenting two
opportunities for mistake like disap¬
point (dissap-, disapp-, dissapp-,
disap-), or three like unparalleled ,
are more than two or three times as
dangerous as others, temptations to
assimilate or dissimilate the two or
more treatments being added to the
doubled or trebled opportunity.
The rules referred to above are
those that govern the doubling or
not of a word’s final consonant when
suffixes are added in inflexion or
word-formation. Directions are
given for the various consonants
SPELLING POINTS, 3
555
SPELLING POINTS, 3
under the articles -B-, -bb-, & -ll-,
-l-, &c., to be found in their alpha¬
betical places ; but it may be useful
to state the main principle here :—
Words ending in a single consonant
preceded by a single vowel (which
excludes such combinations as ee,
ai, ea), when they have added to
them a suffix beginning with a vowel
(e. g. -ed, - er of the agent or of com¬
parison, -able, -y of adjectives),
double the final consonant if they
either are monosyllables or bear
their accent on the last syllable ;
they keep it single if they have their
last syllable unaccented ; but a
final 1 is doubled irrespective of
accent, & with a final s usage varies.
Thus the addition of -ed to the verbs
pot, regret, limit, travel, & bias, gives
potted (monosyllable), regretted (ac¬
cented final), limited (unaccented
final), travelled (final 1), & biassed or
biased (final s) ; the verbs tar, demur,
simper , level, focus , give similarly
tarring, demurring, simpering, level¬
ling, & focussing or focusing ; the
adjectives thin, common, cruel , give
thinnest, commonest, & cruellest ; the
nouns gas, japan, syrup, gruel, give
gassy, japanny, syrupy, & gruelly.
Two more questions of single &
double consonants are of importance
to weak spellers. In forming ad¬
verbs in -ly from adjectives in -1 or
-11, neither a single nor a triple 1 is
ever right ; full, purposeful , especial,
& dull , have adverbs fully, purpose -
fully, especially, & dully —no dis¬
tinction being made between fully
& dully though the two Is are
sounded in fully as one letter & in
dully as two. And in forming nouns
in -ness from adjectives in -n both ns
are retained— commonness ,i rottenness,
condignness, &c.; even solemn , with
its mute n, need hardly be excepted,
but the OED gives the orthodox
solemnness only as a variant for
solemness.
3« Cross references. Various points
are discussed in short special articles
throughout the book ; & most words
whose spelling is disputed will be
found spelt with or without discus¬
sion in their alphabetical places.
The following collection of refer¬
ences may serve as a conspectus of
likely mistakes & desirable minor
reforms.
For such words as lik ( e ) able , mil ( e )-
age , gaugeable , mous { e ) y , pal { e ) ish ,
judg ( e ) ment , wholly , see Mute e.
For plural of words in -o see -o(e)s ;
most individual words are also given.
For tire tyre , tiro tyro , silvan sylvan ,
siphon , cipher , siren , sillabub , sibyl ,
gypsy , pygmy , &c., see y & i, & the
words.
For Aeschylus JEschylus, Oedipus
CEdipus, oecumenical cec- ec- diar¬
rhoea -cea, Caesar Cces-, diaeresis
-cer-, &c., see je, as.
For dyeing, flier, triable, paid, tying,
&c., see Verbs in -ie, -y, -ye.
For one-ideaed -ea'd, umbrellaed
-a'd, mustachioed -o'd, shanghaied ,
&c., see -ed & ’d.
For the question between -ize &
-ise as the normal verb ending, see
-ize ; & for a list of verbs in which
-ise only is correct see -ise)(-ize.
For plural of handful, spoonful, &c.,
see -ful. Choice is not between
handfuls & handsful, but between
handfuls & hands full, either of which
is sometimes the right expression.
For manageable, reducible, gullible,
fusible, collapsable, debatable, demon¬
strable, & c., see -ABLE.
For black bird black-bird blackbird,
bona fide bona-fide, court martial
court-martial, up to date up-to-date ,
&c., see Hyphens.
For alternatives like enquiry &
inquiry, undiscriminating & indis -
criminating , see em- & iai-, & in- &
UN-.
For diminutives like slavey, doggie ,
Sally, see -ey, -ie, -y.
For adjectives like gam(e)y,hors(e)u,
clayey, hol(e)y, see -ey & -y.
For for{e)bears, for(e)gather , for(e )-
go, &c., see for-, fore-.
For cooperate co-op- coop-, pre¬
eminent &c., recover & re-cover ,
re-enforce & reinforce, &c., see co-,
& PRE-, & RE-.
For formulae -las, hippopotamuses
-mi, &c., see Latin plurals.
SPELLING POINTS, 4
556
SPENSERIAN
For burnt -ned, leapt -ped , &c., see
-t & -ED.
For by & by, by the bye, by-election ,
&C., see BY, BYE, BY-.
For driest, slyer, shyly, &c., see dry.
For no one no-one, someone, &c.,
see EVERYONE.
For countryfied, Frenchified, &c., see
-FIED.
For glycerin(e), gelatin(e), &c., see
-IN & -INE.
For into in to, onto on to, see into,
& ONTO.
For ex-Lord-Mayor &c., see Hy¬
phens.
For blunders with laid, see lay &
LIE.
For prophecy -sy, device -se, &c., see
LICENCE.
For sipahi sepoy, amok amuck,
flautist flut-, &c., see Mahomet, &
morale, & Pride of knowledge.
For net(t), mat(t), pot(t), &e., see
set(t).
For deserter, corrector, &c., see -or.
For governo(u)r, labo(u)r, &c., see
-our & -or.
For humo(u)rous, colo(u)ration, &c.,
see -our- & -or-.
For cwt. cwt, Mile . Mile, Dr. Dr,
&c ., see Period in abbreviations.
For Jones's Jones', Venus' Venus's,
see Possessive puzzles.
For referable, inferrible, &c., see
confer(r)able.
For the 'seventies &c., see twenties.
4. Miscellaneous. The rule ‘ i before
e except after c ’ is very useful ;
it applies only to syllables with the
vowel sound e ; words in which that
sound is not invariable, as either,
neither, inveigle, do not come under
it ; seize is an important exception ;
& it is useless with proper names
(Leith, Leigh, Menleith, &c.). The c
exception covers the many deriva¬
tives of Latin capio, w'hich are in
such common use ( receive, deceit,
inconceivable ; cf. relieve, belief, irre¬
trievable) that a simple rule of thumb
is necessary.
The plural of all nouns in -ey
should be in -eys, not -ies— donkeys
(but ponies), moneys (but bunnies).
The writing of the very common
anie- before (e. g. antichamber, anti¬
dated) is to be carefully avoided
Verbs in -cede, -ceed, are so many &
so much used, & the causes of the
difference are so far from obvious
that mistakes are frequent & a list
will be helpful: cede, accede, ante -
cede, concede, intercede, precede, re¬
cede, retrocede, secede, to which may
be added supersede ; but exceed,
proceed, succeed. The curious thing
is that a division so little reasonable
should be so religiously observed;
there is no disagreement among
good spellers, & the only mistake
into which they occasionally slip is
preceeding for preceding.
Adjectives & nouns in - ble , - cle, -tie,
&c., make their adverbs & adjec¬
tives not by adding -ly or -y, but by
changing -le to -ly : humbly, subtly,
singly, supply (not supplely), treacly,
tangly.
Adjectives in -ale, -ile, -ole, add -ly
for their adverbs : halely, vilely,
docilely, solely; but whole makes
wholly.
Verbs in -c like picnic & bivouac
add k before -ed, -ing, -er, &c .;
picnicker, bivouacking.
For verbs ending in -bre, -tre, &c.,
the forms sabring, sepulchring, ac¬
coutring, centring, mitring, man¬
oeuvring, are recommended in pre¬
ference to sabreing, maneuvering,
&c. Similarly ochrous & ogrish
seem better than ochreous or ocherous
& ogreish or ogerish ; but impious
hands can hardly be laid upon
acreage.
Of adjectives in -(e)rous some never
use the e, as cumbrous, disastrous,
idolatrous, leprous, lustrous, mon¬
strous, wondrous; some have it
always, as boisterous, murderous,
obstreperous, slanderous, thunderous ;
dextrous & slumbrous are perhaps
better than dexterous & slumberous.
Spencerian, of Herbert Spencer,
philosopher, d. 1903.
Spenserian, of Edmund Spenser,
poet, d. 1599 ; for Spenserian stanza or
Spenserians, see Technical terms.
SPEW
557
SPIRITUEL(LE)
spew, spue. The first spelling is
the more frequent in the OED
quotations.
sphere. For synonyms in the sense
province &c., see field.
spice makes spiceable , see -able 1 ;
& spicy , see -ey & -y.
sptf(f)licate. OED spells -ifl- ; see
Facetious formations.
spike makes spikable, see Mute e ;
& spiky, see -ey & -y.
spill. For spilt -lied, see -t & -ed.
spillikin, spel(l)ican. The OED
takes it as a diminutive from spill,
& spells in the first way.
spilth. See Revivals. There is a
gap of 200 years between Shakspere
(who uses it once only) & the earliest
modern OED quotation.
Spin. For the past tense the OED
19th-c. quotations give span & spun
in exactly equal numbers ; span is
likely to prevail.
spinach, -nage. The first is the
recognized spelling, though the other
is not uncommon,
spindlage is better than spindleage ;
see Mute e.
spindrift, spoon-. The first is the
usual modern word, & is here recom¬
mended for preference, being now
more intelligible. The original
spoondrift is from an obsolete nau¬
tical verb spoon or spoorn meaning
(of ship or foam) to scud ; there is
no profit in trying to restore the
correct but now puzzling form.
Spinel. The OED pronounces
spl'nl only.
spinet. OED prefers spi'nit to
spInS't; among its verse quotations
is one in favour of each.
spinney, -nny. OED prefers the
first form ; pi. -eys.
Spinozism. So spelt; pron. -ino'z-.
spiny, not -ney ; see Mute e.
spiraea rather than -rasa ; see m, ce.
spirant. See Technical terms.
Spire makes spiry, not -rey ; Mute e.
spirit, vb, makes -ited, -iting ; -t-,-tt- .
spiritism & spiritistic mean the
same as spiritualism in its most
frequent & spiritualistic in its only
acceptation; ‘preferred by those
specially interested in the subject,
as being more distinctive than
spiritualism * is the OED comment
on spiritism. To ordinary people
the old noun with a new meaning
comes much more natural than the
recent invention, & it is to be hoped
that they will not let themselves be
dictated to by the specially inter¬
ested with their craving for dis¬
tinctiveness. What first occurs to
the mind of anyone who nowadays
hears the word spiritualism is not
the general sense, i.e. ‘tendency
towards a spiritual view or estimate
of things * ; it is the special sense
of ‘ belief that the spirits of the dead
can hold communication with the
living * ; so true is this that the
addition of * modern ’, at first
thought necessary to distinguish the
special from the general sense, is no
longer made. This being so, the
demand for a separate word seems
to imply the extravagant theory
that no word should have two mean¬
ings—a theory that would require
us no longer to use ‘ vessel ’ in its
special sense of ship, & to manu¬
facture thousands of new words.
spiritual, -ous. The differentiation
(-al of soul, -ous of liquor) is now
complete, & neglect of it more often
due to inadvertence than to ignor¬
ance ; cf. luxurious -ant, master¬
ful -ly.
spirituel(le). Spell always -el. The
word’s meaning is not quite clear to
everyone, & is therefore here given
in the OED terms :—Of a highly
refined character or nature, esp. in
conjunction with liveliness or quick¬
ness of mind. And on the spelling
the OED remarks : The distinction
between the masc. & fern, forms has
not been always observed in English.
That is undoubtedly so, & the
spelling problem presented is an
awkward one. On the one hand,
the notion of m. & f. forms for
adjectives is entirely alien to Eng¬
lish, & if a French adjective is to
make itself at home with us it must
choose first whether it will go in
SPIRT
558
male or female attire & discard its
other garments ; on this point cf.
naif & naive. On the other hand,
the choice is with this particular
word a dilemma ; if we decide for
-el we are sacrificing the much more
iamihar of the two forms—more
familiar because the word has been
chiefly applied to women & in this
application purposely made feminine
by those who recognize both gen¬
ders ; but, if we decide for - elle ,
few of us can rid themselves of the
feeling that the word is feminine &
suitable only to what, for the Eng¬
lish, is alone feminine, viz woman,
so that we find ourselves debarred
from describing qualities, faces, talk,
& above all men, as spirituelle, &
cannot give the word its proper
extension.
The lesser evil is to spell always
spiritual ; the objection to it is not,
like that to -elle, one that will
endure for ever, but one that, when
the form is settled, will no longer be
felt.
Spirt; spurt. The spelling is now
very much a matter of personal
fancy, & whether more than one
word is concerned is doubtful. There
are, however, two distinguishable
main senses—that of gush, jet, or
flow (vb & n.), & that of sprint,
burst, hustle (vb & n.) ; & for the
second sense the form spurt is far
the commoner. It would plainly be
convenient if the Differentiation
thus indicated were made absolute ;
a spirt of blood ; works by spurts ;
oil spirts up ; Jones spurted past.
spite makes spitablc ; see Mute e.
splay. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 1.
splendid makes -idcst ; -er & -est 4.
splendiferous. See Facetious for¬
mations.
splendo(u)r. Keep the u ; but see
-our & -OR.
splice makes -ccable ; see -able 1.
SPLIT INFINITIVE. The English-
speaking world may be divided into
(1) those who neither know nor Care
what a split infinitive is; (2) those
SPLIT INFINITIVE
who do not know, but~^T^
much ; (3) those who know & com
demn ; (4) those who know
S g : „il (6 > those wh0 5
1. Those who neither know nor
care are the vast majority, & are
a happy folk, to be envied by most
of the minority classes ; ‘ to reallv
understand ’ comes readier to their
bps & pens than 4 really to under-
stand , they see no reason why they
should not say it (small blame to
them, seeing that reasons are not
their critics’ strong point), & they
do say it, to the discomfort of some
among us, but not to their own.
2. To the second class, those who
do not know but do care, who would
as soon be caught putting their
knives in their mouths as splitting
an infinitive but have hazy notions
of what constitutes that deplorable
breach of etiquette, this article is
chiefly addressed. These people
betray by their practice that their
aversion to the split infinitive
springs not from instinctive good
taste, but from tame acceptance of
the misinterpreted opinion of others;
for they will subject their sentences
to the queerest distortions, all to
escape imaginary split infinitives.
4 To really understand ’ is a s. i.; * to
really be understood ’ is a s. i.; ‘to
be really understood ’ is not one;
the havoc that is played with much
well-intentioned writing by failure
to grasp that distinction is incredi¬
ble. Those upon whom the fear of
infinitive-splitting sits heavy should
remember that to give conclusive
evidence, by distortions, of miscon¬
ceiving the nature of the s. i. is far
more damaging to their literary pre¬
tensions than an actual lapse could
be ; for it exhibits them as deaf
to the normal rhythm of English
sentences. No sensitive ear can fail
to be shocked, if the following ex¬
amples are read aloud, by the
strangeness of the indicated adverbs.
Why on earth, the reader wonders,
is that word out of its place ? He
will find, on looking through again,
SPLIT INFINITIVE, 3 559
that each has been turned out of
a similar position, viz between the
word be & a passive participle.
Reflection will assure him that the
cause of dislocation is always the
same—all these writers have sacri¬
ficed the run of their sentences to
the delusion that 4 to be really
understood ’ is a split infinitive. It
is not; & the straitest non-splitter
of us all can with a clear conscience
restore each of the adverbs to its
rightful place :—He was proposed
at the last moment as a candidate
likely generally to be accepted./
When the record of this campaign
comes dispassionately to be written,
& in just perspective, it will be found
that . . ./The leaders have given
instructions that the lives & pro¬
perty of foreigners shall scrupulously
be respected./New principles will
have boldly to be adopted if the
Scottish case is to be met./This is
a very serious matter, which clearly
ought further to be inquired into./
There are many points raised in the
report which need carefully to be
explored./Only two ways of escaping
from the conflict without loss, by
this time become too serious squarely
to be faced, have ever offered them¬
selves./The Headmaster of a public
school possesses very great powers,
which ought most carefully <& con¬
siderately to be exercised./The time
to get this revaluation put through
is when the amount paid by the
State to the localities is very largely
to be increased./But the party
whose Leader in the House of Com¬
mons acts in this way cannot fail
deeply to be discredited by the way
in which he flings out & about these
false charges.
3. The above writers are bogy-
haunted creatures who for fear of
splitting an infinitive abstain from
doing something quite different, i.e.
dividing be from its complement by
an adverb ; see further under Posi¬
tion of adverbs. Those who pre¬
sumably do know what split infini¬
tives are, & condemn them, are not
so easily identified, since they in¬
SPLIT INFINITIVE, 4
dude all who neither commit the
sin nor flounder about in saving
themselves from it, all who combine
with acceptance of conventional
rules a reasonable dexterity. But
when the dexterity is lacking,
disaster follows. It does not add to
a writer’s readableness if readers are
pulled up now & again to wonder—
Why this distortion ? Ah, to be
sure, a non-split die-hard ! That is
the mental dialogue occasioned by
each of the adverbs in the examples
below. It is of no avail merely
to fling oneself desperately out of
temptation ; one must so do it that
no traces of the struggle remain ;
that is,sentences must be thoroughly
remodelled instead of having a word
lifted from its original place &
dumped elsewhere:—What alterna¬
tive can be found which the Pope
has not condemned, & which will
make it possible to organize legally
public worship ?/If it is to do justice
between the various parties & not
unduly to burden the State, it will
. . ./It will, when better understood,
tend firmly to establish relations
between Capital & Labour./Both
Germany & England have done ill in
not combining to forbid flatly hostil¬
ities./Nobody expects that the exec¬
utive of the Amalgamated Society
is going to assume publicly sackcloth
& ashes./Every effort must be made
to increase adequately professional
knowledge & attainments./We have
had to shorten somewhat Lord Den¬
bigh’s letter./The kind of sincerity
which enables an author to move
powerfully the heart would .. ./Safe¬
guards should be provided to prevent
effectually cosmopolitan financiers
from manipulating these reserves.
4. Just as those who know & con¬
demn the s. i. include many who are
not recognizable, only the clumsier
performers giving positive proof of
resistance to temptation, so too
those who know & approve are not
distinguishable with certainty ; when
a man splits an infinitive, he may
be doing it unconsciously as a mem¬
ber of our class 1, or he mav be
SPLIT INFINITIVE, 5
560
deliberately rejecting the trammels
ot convention & announcing that he
means to do as he will with his own
infinitives. But, as the following
examples are from newspapers of
high repute, & high newspaper tra¬
dition is strong against splitting, it
is perhaps fair to assume that each
specimen is a manifesto of inde¬
pendence :—It will be found possible
to considerably improve the present
wages of the miners without jeopar¬
dizing the interests of capital./
Always providing that the Im¬
perialists do not feel strong enough
to decisively assert their power in
the revolted provinces./But even so,
he seems to still be allowed to speak
at Unionist demonstrations./It is
the intention of the Minister of
Transport to substantially increase
all present rates by means of a
general percentage. /The men in
many of the largest districts are
declared to strongly f avour a strike if
the minimum wage is not conceded.
It should be noticed that in these
the separating adverb could have
been placed outside the infinitive
with little or in most cases no
damage to the sentence-rhythm
( considerably after miners, decisively
after powers, still with clear gain
after be, substantially after rates, &
strongly at some loss after strike), so
that protest seems a safe diagnosis.
5. The attitude of those who know
& distinguish is something like this :
We admit that separation of to from
its infinitive (viz be, do, have, sit,
doubt, kill, or other verb inflexionally
similar) is not in itself desirable,
& we shall not gratuitously say
either ‘ to mortally wound ’ or 4 to
mortally be wounded 1 ; but wc are
not foolish enough to confuse the
latter with ‘to be mortally wounded’,
which is blameless English, nor 4 to
just have heard ’ with ‘to have just
heard ’, which is also blameless.
We maintain, however, that a real
s. i., though not desirable in itself,
is preferable to either of two things,
to real ambiguity, & to patent
artiliciality. For the first, we will
INFINITIVE, 5
write 4 Our object is to
cement trade relations
rather
further
L h f n Uu y c ° rrectin ginto 4 Omobj^t
is further to cement . . l ea vi it
doubtful whether an additional
object or additional cementing is the
point. And for the second, we take
it that such reminders of a tyrannous
convention as ‘in not combining
to forbid flatly hostilities * are far
more abnormal than the abnor¬
mality they evade. We will split
infinitives sooner than be ambiguous
or artificial; more than that, we
will freely admit that sufficient
recasting will get rid of any s.i.
without involving either of those
faults, & yet reserve to ourselves
the right of deciding in each case
whether recasting is worth while.
Let us take an example : 4 In these
circumstances, the Commission,
judging from the evidence taken in
London, has been feeling its way
to modifications intended to better
equip successful candidates for
careers in India & at the same time
to meet reasonable Indian demands
To better equip ? We refuse 4 better
to equip ’ as a shouted reminder of
the tyranny ; we refuse 4 to equip
better ’ as ambiguous (better an
adjective ?) ; we regard 4 to equip
successful candidates better ’ as
lacking compactness, as possibly
tolerable from an anti-splitter, but
not good enough for us. What then
of recasting ? 4 intended to make
successful candidates fitter for ’ is
the best we can do if the exact sense
is to be kept ; it takes some thought
to arrive at the correction ; was the
game worth the candle ?
After this inconclusive discussion,
in which, however, the author’s
opinion has perhaps been allowed
to appear with indecent plainness,
readers may like to settle for them¬
selves whether, in the following sen¬
tence, 4 either to secure ’ followed
by 4 to resign ’, or 4 to either secure
followed by 4 resign ’, should have
been preferred—an issue in which
the meaning & the convention are
pitted against each other: a he
SPLIT VERBS
561
SPRING
speech has drawn an interesting
letter from Sir Antony MacDonnell,
who states that his agreement with
Mr Wyndham was never cancelled,
& that Mr Long was too weak either
to secure the dismissal of Sir Antony
or himself to resign office.
It is perhaps hardly fair that this
article should have quoted no split
infinitives except such as, being
reasonably supposed (as in 4) to be
deliberate, are likely to be favour¬
able specimens. Let it therefore
conclude with one borrowed from a
reviewer, to whose description of it
no exception need be taken : ‘ A
book ... of which the purpose is
thus—with a deafening split infini¬
tive—stated by its author :—“ Its
main idea is to historically, even
while events are maturing, &
divinely—from the Divine point of
view— impeach the European system
of Church & States
SPLIT VERBS. There can be little
doubt that the position of his troops
all the way from Berat northward will
seriously be imperilled. For ques¬
tions such as that suggested by the
last four words of this, see Position
OF ADVERBS, 4.
splodge, splotch. The second is
two centuries older ; the first per¬
haps now more usual & felt to be
more descriptive; cf. slush, &
smudge.
splutter, sputter. Without any
clear or constant difference of mean¬
ing, it may be said that in sputter the
notion of spitting is more insistent,
& that it tends on that account to
be avoided when that notion is not
essential.
spoil. For spoiled, -It, see -t & -ed.
-Spoken. For the curious use in
fair, free, soft, out, &c., -s (where
soft-speeched &c. might have been
expected), see Intransitive p.p.
It should be remembered that in
these compounds fair - &c. are ad¬
verbial as much as out-, & that what
is remarkable is not the adverbial
use of the adjective, but the active
use of the nartinnlp
spondee. See Technical terms.
sponge makes spongeable, see -able
1 ; but sponging & spongy, see
Mute e.
spontaneity, -ousness. -ty & -ness.
spook. Pronounce -ook.
spoondrift. See spindrift.
spoon(e)y. The adjective should be
-ny, see -ey & -y ; for the noun, in
which either is legitimate, & -ey
probably more frequent, -ey, -ie, -y.
spoonful. PI. spoonfuls ; see -ful.
spouse. For the use in ordinary
writing in preference to wife, see
Formal words ; but s. is service¬
able as short for husband-or-wife in
some styles, e.g. in dictionaries or
legal documents.
sprain)(strain. It is natural to
wish for a clear line of distinction
between two words that, as applied
to bodily injuries, are so near in
sense & both so well established ;
but even in medical books they are
often treated as equivalent. Sprain,
perhaps, describes the result rather
of a momentary wrench or twist, &
strain that of an exertion of muscle
too strong or too long for its capacity.
spray, nn., make sprayey ; see -ey
& -Y, exception 1.
spray, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 1.
Spring. The past sprang is con¬
siderably more frequent than sprung,
both in trans. & in intrans. senses,
spring, n. The compounds, like
those of sea, are of interest to
the hyphen-fancier. For the prin¬
ciple, see Hyphens 3 B ; spring-bed,
spring - mattress, spring - gun , are
usually forbidden by the accent, &
must be changed to two words each;
spring - time & spring - board are
allowed by accent, unless springtime
& springboard are preferred ; spring-
tide or springtide can stand only for
the season, & the tidal term must be
spring tide in two words ; spring(-)
cart will usually be two words, but
may be hyphened when all the stress
is on spring & a spring-cart is to be
distinguished from other carts & not
from vehicles in general.
SPRINGBOK
562
STALK
springbok. So spelt,
springe (snare). Pronounce -j.
springed, sprung. Carriages well
cushioned <& springed./Choice easy
chair, with cane arms, well sprung.
Springed is more reasonable, as
formed from the noun ; cf. stringed.
springhalt. See stringhalt.
sprint, spurt. The words are to a
considerable extent interchangeable;
sprint is, at least apart from dialectal
use, a 19th-c. word only, spurt going
further back, but the newer word
is displacing the older; a short
race, or a run at high speed, is now
a sprint, while for a quickening of
pace, or a spasmodic effort bodily or
mental, spurt is still the more usual
term, but is tending to be displaced
even in these senses ; if that ten¬
dency could be checked, the Differ¬
entiation would be useful.
spry makes spryer, spryest, spryly ,
spryness, spryish ; see dry.
spue. See spew.
spur. See Pronunciation, s.f., for
spurring.
spurt. For s. & spirt, see spirt ;
for s. & sprint, see sprint.
sputter. See splutter.
sputum. PI. -ta.
spy. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
squalid makes -dest; -er & -est, 4.
squalor, not -our ; see -our & -or.
squandermania(c). A Facetious
FORMATION.
square makes squarable & squarish,
see Mute e ; square leg should have
no hyphen, see Hyphens 3 B.
squeeze makes -zable ; see -able 1.
squib. For synonymy see lampoon.
squirearchy. Though ‘ the spel¬
ling with e has been by far the more
usual ’ (OED), the spelling without
it is preferable (see Mute e), &
Sydney Smith & FitzGerald appear
among its patrons in the OED
quotations.
-S-, -SS-. The general rules for the
doubling or not doubling of final
consonants before suffixes can be
seen in the articles -N-, -nn-, & -P-,
-fp- ; so few monosyllables or words
accented on the last syllable end m
a single -s that rules need not be
here stated; it will suffice to sav
that: (1) The plural of bus is
usually buses ; this irregularity is
explained by the fact that buses is
still regarded as an abbreviation of
the regular omnibuses ; when that
is forgotten (& bus is now more
usual than ’bus), doubtless buses will
become, as it should, busses. (2)
Biases & focuses, nn. or w., biased &
focusing, are said by the OED to
be ‘ more regular * than the -ss-
forms that are nevertheless common
in England ; similarly canvas (the
fabric) gives -ases (pi. n.), - ased , & so
too orchises, nimbuses, portcullised,
trellised , boluses , bonuses, incubuses,
atlases , cutlases, &c. (3) Nonplus
makes nonplussed.
St. For the question between Si
Peter & St. Peter &c., see Pebiod
in abbreviations.
stable, adj., makes stably, stability,
stabilize, so spelt.
stadium. PI. -dia.
staff. 1. PI. in music & in archaic
senses staves, see -ve(d) ; in modern
senses staffs. 2. For s. of life sec
Sobriquets.
stag. See hart.
stage makes stageable (see -able 1),
stagy (see -ey & -y) ; of the chief
compounds, stage-craft & stage-struck
should be hyphened or coalesce,
s. coach & s. manager should be
hyphened or separated (usually the
latter) according to the stress re¬
quired, & most others should be
two words each—stage direction,
stage door, stage effect, stage fever,
stage fright, stage whisper ; for the
principle see Hyphens 3 B.
Stagirite. The S.; see Sobriquets.
stake, vb, makes stakable ; Mute e.
stalactite, stalagmite. Stress on the
first, not the second, syllables is
recommended ; Recessive accent..
stale makes stalable, stalish, stalely ;
see Mute e. . ,
stalk, stem, trunk. Stalk :s the
stem of a plant less than tree o.
shrub ; trunk is the stem of a large
563
STATUTABLE
tree; stem Is the general word
applicable irrespective of size.
stamp, n. For synonymy, see sign.
Stampede makes -dable ; see Mute e.
stanch, staunch. The adjective is
usually staunch , the verb stanch.
stand. For stands to reason, see
reason 2. For standpoint, point of
view, & point , see point. For wash-
stand, washing-stand, & wash-hand-
stand, see wash.
standard. S. pound, s. size, s. yard,
s. lamp, &c. ; no hyphens ; see
Hyphens 3 B.
stanza. See Technical teems.
-stanza’d is preferable to -stanzaed ;
see -ed & ’d.
star. Shooting s. should have no
hyphen ; see Hyphens 3 B.
starchedly. Three syllables ; -edly.
staring, not starring ; see Mute e.
starlight, -lit, -litten, adjj. The
first (in adj. use, e.g. a starlight
night) may or may not be historically,
but is certainly now to be regarded
as, the noun used attributivcly.
Attributive uses of nouns, like ad¬
verbial uses of apparent adjectives
(see Unidiomatic -ly), sometimes
strike people whose zeal for gram¬
mar is greater than their knowledge
of it as incorrect; & starlit is per¬
haps often substituted for starlight
owing to this notion ; no harm is
done, starlit being a blameless word,
& indeed better in some contexts ;
if ‘ a starlight night ’ & 4 a starlit
sea ’ have their epithets exchanged,
both suffer to the extent at least of
sounding unnatural. The further
step to starlillen is not so innocent,
litten being not archaic but pseudo-
archaic ; the writer who uses star-
lilten is on a level with the tradesman
who relies on such attractions as
Ye Olde Curyosytie Shoppe.
starve makes starvable, starveling ;
see Mute e.
state, n. It is a convenient dis¬
tinction to write State for the
political unit, at any rate when the
full noun use is required (not the
attributive, as in State, or state,
traaingy, & state in other senses.
The following compound forms are
recommended (see Hyphens) :—
statecraft, state-room, State social¬
ism, State prisoner, State trial.
state, vb. I may state 4 Irish
Nationality ’ was recommended to me
by the Vice-Reine, Lady Aberdeen.
* State ’ is one of the verbs that
insist on proper ceremony & resent
the omission of that, conj. S.
makes statable, see Mute e.
stately. For the adv., see -lily.
statlc(al). See -ic(al) ; there is no
marked differentiation, but the -ic
form seems likely to prevail,
station makes -oned ; see -N-, -nn-.
stationary, -ery. The adj. (not
moving), - ary; the noun (paper
&c.), -ery.
statist, statistician. The pronun¬
ciation of the first (statist) is very
much against it, inevitably sug¬
gesting state, & not statistics ; & in
fact its old sense was statesman,
though now, as if it were a back-
formation from statistics, it means
only statistician. Either it should
be abandoned & statistician always
used, or it should be cut off from
state by being pronounced st&'tlst ;
it is likely that one or other of these
things will come about, but the odds
are unfortunately in favour of the
first, with the cumbersome statis¬
tician left in sole possession.
statistic(al), adjj. See -ic(al); the
short form is almost obsolete,
status. 4 The status quo * is the
position in which things (1) are now
or (2) have been till now or (3) were
then or (4) had been till then j in
senses 2 & 4 ante ( t. s. q. ante) is
sometimes, but need not be, added.
With in the phrase becomes in statu
quo (ante), without the, & with ante
similarly optional.
statutable, -tory. For the first, see
-able ; the two words are hardly
distinguishable in meaning ; -table
is considerably older, & -tory perhaps
now more usual ; a natural Differ¬
entiation would be that -table
should take the sense permitted, &
-tory the sense enjoined, by statute.
STAUNCH
564
STICHOMYTH
staunch. See stanch.
stave, vb. The past & p.p. stove
(instead of staved) is modern &
(OED) ‘ chiefly Naut.\
staves. For s. aspl.ofsfajQf,seesTAFF.
stead, n. The atmosphere of the
home life was favourable to the growth
of qualities which were presently to
stand him in inestimable stead. To
stand one in good or better, much
or more, little or less, s. ; those are
perhaps the limits within which the
phrase can now, without affectation,
be used ; words like inestimable
should not be substituted; see
Cast-iron idiom.
steadfast is now the established
spelling, preferable as exhibiting the
connexion with stead & steady ; sted-
was formerly much the commoner,
& is still seen.
Steam. The chief combinations
beginning with steam are best writ¬
ten as below ; for the principle, see
Hyphens.
1. As one word (or hyphened) :
steamboat, steambox, steampower,
steamship, steamtight,
2. Hyphened : s.-boiler, s.-chest,
s.-engine, s.-gauge, s.-jacket. All
these have the accent on steam,
except perhaps s.-boiler, for which
see below.
3. As two words : s. brake, s. coal,
s. crane, s. hammer, s. navvy, s.
plough, s. roller, s. tug, s. whistle.
All these have the accent on the
second word except in special uses,
as the s.-coal trade, navvies & s.-
nawies.
S.-boiler is not formed in the same
way as s. ploughs the rest, i.e. from
two nouns s. & boiler with the sense
a boiler worked by steam, but from
the phrase to boil steam, or create s.
by boiling ; it is a thing that boils s.,
& does not come under Hyphens
3 B, but under Hyphens 3 C (cf.
weight-carrier & the like).
steepen. See -en verbs.
steer, n. The OED definition is :
A young ox, esp. one which has been
castrated fin the United States &
uie colonies applied to male beef,
cattle of any age).
Stele. Pronounce stele ; pi. -fag,
stem, n. See stalk ; &, for the
sense in grammar, Technical terms
stemma. PI. -mala.
stencil makes -liable, -lied -lli n p •
see -LL-, -L-. 6 ’
step. For s. this way, s. in, &c., see
Formal words.
stereo. A Curtailed word for
stereotype ; pi. -os, see -o(e)s 5.
stereotype has - pable, -pist; Mute e.
sterile. The older spellings (usu.
-il, -ill) suggest that the pronuncia¬
tion -il is modern, & it is still pro¬
bably less common than -A. Superl.
sometimes -ilest, see -er & -est 4;
noun sterility (cf. tranquillity,civility).
sterilize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
stem, adj. For the sterner sex, see
Battered ornaments.
stern, n. S. chase, two words
(Hyphens 3 B) ; s.-wheeler, hyphen¬
ed (3 C); s. sheets or s.-sheets, the
accent being variable.
sternum. PI. -na or -nums; see
Latin plurals.
stethoscope. Pronounce stfi-; see
False quantity.
stevedore. Three syllables (ste'vl-
dor).
(-)stich & equivalents. For names
of verse-groups based on the number
of lines they contain, the -stick
words are the set nearest complete¬
ness, but forms in -ain & -et exist
for the groups more commonly
mentioned, & are often preferred in
limited senses. Half (or part of)
line— hemistich ; one line— {mono)-
stick ; two lines— distich, couplet ;
three— tristich, triplet, tercet, tern ;
four— tetrastich, quatrain, quartet;
five— pentastich, cinquain ; six—
hexastich, sixain, sextain, sestet,
sextet ; seven— heptastich ; eight
octastich, huitain, octet, octave nine
•—wanting ; ten— decastich, dizain ,
fourteen— quatorzain; fifteen— qum-
zain. Pronounce -lk.
stichomyth. See Technical terms.
STICKED 565 STOIC(AL)
sacked, stuck. When the meaning
is provided with sticks (e. g. of pea
plants), the first form is the right;
cf. HAMSTRING, SPRINGED.
stlcking-place, -point. In the Mac¬
beth passage, -place is the word ; see
Misquotation.
stickleback, tittlebat. The first is
the orthodox & etymological form,
the other being (OED) 4 a variant,
of childish origin
stigma. The plural is stigmata in
the eccl., bot., med., &c., senses ;
stigmas only in the fig. sense of
imputation or disgrace, in which a
plural is rare. See Latin plurals.
stigmatize makes -zable ; see Mute
e. The mistake fully dealt with
under regard 3 occurs rarely with
s.i . . . bravely suffering forfeiture &
imprisonment rather than accept what
in this same connexion Lord Morley
stigmatized the 4 bar sinister ’ ; things
are not stigmatized monstrous, but
Btigmatizcd as monstrous.
stile, style. Stile is the spelling for
the means of passage, & for the
carpentry term (stiles <& rails ) ; style
for all other senses. This division
is not historically correct, being due
to the confusing of Latin stilus
(writing-tool) with Greek stulos
(column) ; but it is so generally
accepted, & attempts to improve
upon it so conflicting, that it is
better to refrain, & leave the y in
all the classically derived senses ;
see also y & i.
Stiletto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
Stilly. Pronounce the poetic adi.
strii, the adv. stl'1-ll. J
stimulate makes -table , see -able 1 •
& -ator, see -or. ’
Stimulus. PI. -li ; Latin plurals.
stimy, stymie. The first spelling is
recommended. Although the OED
makes the other the orthodox form
8h- occurs nine times in its quota¬
tions, & sty- not at all. See y & i.
Past stank or stunk, to
which the remarks made under spin
exactly apply.
stipulate makes -table, see -able 1;
& -ator, see -or.
stirring. Pronounce -er'ing rather
than -ti'ring ; Pronunciation s.f.
stl'ver. So pronounced.
STOCK PATHOS. Some words &
phrases have become so associated
with melancholy occasions that it
seems hardly decent to let such an
occasion pass unattended by any of
them. It is true that such trappings
& suits of woe save much trouble ;
it is true that to mock at them lays
one open to suspicion of hard¬
heartedness ; it is also true that the
use of them suggests, if not quite
insincerity, yet a factitious sort of
emotion, & those are well advised
who abstain from them. A small
selection, which might be greatly
enlarged, is :—In her great sorrow ;
The land he loved so well ; The
supreme sacrifice ; The pity of it 1 ;
The mortal remains of; All that
was mortal of ; The departed ; One
more unfortunate ; More sinned
against than sinning ; A lump in
one’s throat ; Tug at one’s heart¬
strings ; Stricken ; Loved & lost;
But it was not to be.
stoep. Pronounce stoop.
stoic(al). See -ic(al). Both forms
are used as adjectives, -ic being
indeed the commoner ; but points
of difference are discernable. In the
predicative use stoic is rare : his
acceptance of the news was stoical,
he was stoical in temper, rather than
stoic. In the attributive use, stoic
naturally preserves the original
sense more definitely, while stoical
forgets it ; when we say stoic indif¬
ference, we mean such indifference
as the Stoics taught or practised;
when we say stoical indifference we
think of it merely as resolute or
composed ; the stoic virtues are
those actually taught by the Stoics,
the stoical virtues simply those of the
sterner kind. Lastly, while either
epjthet is applicable to abstracts,
stoical is the word for persons : with
stoic or stoical composure ; stoic or
stoical life or tone or temper or views :
STOKEHOLD
566
he is a stoical fellow ; these stoical
explorers ; a stoical sufferer ; my
stoical young friend.
stokehold, -hole. The earliest OED
quotation for the first is dated 1887 ;
the - hole form goes back to 1660.’
The natural inference is that - hole
is the true form, but is now thought
undignified & has been altered.
Though the OED defines the two
differently, the impression produced
by its quotations is not that there
are two names for two different
things, but rather that stokehole has
had in its time, & perhaps still has,
more than one meaning. To main¬
tain a distinction between words at
once so similar in form &, to the
general public, so vague in sense, is
clearly impossible. The form stoke¬
hole is recommended.
Stolid makes -er, -est; -er & -est 2.
stomach. For genteel use see belly.
stomacher, article of dress. The
old pronunciation was with -ch er,
which should be kept to as long as
the word is historical only, & not re¬
vived with the thing in modern use.
stone, n. Rolling stone should not
be hyphened ; rocking-stone or rock¬
ing stone according as the accent is
on the first or the second word ; see
Hyphens 3 B.
stone, vb, makes -nable ; Mute e.
stop, n. For the phonetic sense,
see Technical terms.
Stop, vb. Those who use stop when
others would use stay (Where are you
stopping ? &c.) are many, & are
frequently rebuked. The OED
deals very gently with them : ‘ Cf.
stay, which is often preferred as
more correct ’ ; & it is not a case
for denunciation, but rather for
waiting to see which word will win.
Meanwhile, careful speakers do pre¬
fer stay ; & it is in its favour, & a
sign of its being still in possession,
that its noun, & not stop, is certainly
the right one in the corresponding
sense (during our stay, not our stop).
It may also be suggested that, if
stop is a solecism, there are degrees
STOPS
of enormity in the offence
you stop to dinner?, I shall stopil
town Hill hear , We have been stvppZ
at the Deanery, of which the last if
the worst, point to a limitation—
that stop is tolerable only when
postponement of departure rather
than place of sojourn is in question.
Stops &c. (comma, semicolon,
colon, full stop, exclamation, ques.
tion, inverted commas, apostrophe,
hyphen, italics, brackets, dashes)!
There is not room in this book for
a treatise on punctuation, nor for
discussion of principles even where
the question is one between opposed
views of correctness, & not between
acknowledged correctness & careless
or ignorant error. But, if it is
assumed (1) that the reader need
be warned only against mistakes
that experience shows to be pre¬
valent, & (2) that the views here
taken on disputed points are sound,
an article consisting almost entirely
of ill stopped sentences with cor¬
rections may be of use.
COMMA
A. In enumerations. For full dis¬
cussion, see and 3, & or 3. Of the
examples below, the last four show
the ambiguity that makes it neces¬
sary to insist on full stopping in all
enumerations, including the more
usual ones, like the first nine, in
which no doubt of the meaning is
possible.
This new novel describes a low
affair formed, precipitated, ren¬
dered tragic by the events of ’ the
Revolution (for tragic read tragic,)./
The resulting inquiry involves the
consideration of the claims of con¬
sciousness, instinct, memory, habit,
& desire to be regarded as the deter¬
mining factors of psychic life (for
desire read desire,)./Among present-
day authors & poets Messrs Yeats,
Sturge Moore, Binyon, Davies are
most in evidence (for Dames read
Davies,)./The total burden imposed
upon the German consumer by toe
duties on rye, wheat, & oats a f r f",
was £46,731,761 (for oats read oats,)./
STOPS
567
COMMA
A Court vohich is orderly , high-
minded, db decorous may be an im¬
mense influence for good (for decorous
read decorous,)./We shall find it
necessary to deal pretty drastically
with the parental rights of drunken
criminal db wastrel parents (for
drunken criminal read drunken,
criminal,)./. . . db (4) the earlier
publication of the results of the returns
received, which, it may fairly be as¬
sumed, would follow if proposals ( 1 ),
(2) , db (3) were adopted (for (3) read
( 3) ,)./. . . or whether they are an
earlier variety of man from whom the
fierce, strong warrior races have
developed (for strong read strong,)./
lie seeks by tracing the influence
which Christianity has exerted in the
successive emancipation of slave, of
serf, & of servant to convince his
fellow-workers that . . . (for servant
read servant,)./The debate opened
with the consideration of the Report
stage on Ways db Means, db concern¬
ing this many topics arose — tobacco,
land, db liquor in particular (for
liquor perhaps read liquor,)./Nothing
had been allowed to be published
except books, pamphlets, db papers
which had secured the approval of the
Communist party (for papers surely
read papers,)./But the general pur¬
port is the same—the blindness, the
degrading passions, the short-sighted
greed by which the economic unity of
Europe has been broken, db as a result
of which the Continent is drifting into
economic anarchy, with the prospect
of fresh wars (impossible to tell, as
commas now go, whether by which
or of which refers to greed alone, or
also to blindness & passions ; pro¬
bably for greed read greed,)./He
wants to give workmen more interest
in their work db vulgarity, sloth &
luxury less scope (a triumph of per¬
versity, for which the putting right
of the enumeration with commas
after sloth & luxury is no full cure).
B. In the absolute construction.
For the cause, & the effect, of this
common mistake, see Absolute
CONSTRUCTION.
M. Maurice Colin , having called
attention to the conditions of naval
warfare, M. Bichon said . . . (read
Colin having)./In sport man is
matching himself against Nature ; db
Nature, being unlimited, there is no
limit to the skill which man can
employ (read db. Nature being)./But
these objections were overruled, db the
accused, having pleaded not guilty, the
hearing of evidence commenced (read
db, the accused having).
C. Separating inseparables, e. g. a
verb from its subject or object or
complement, a defining relative
from its antecedent, or an essential
modification from what cannot
stand without it.
The charm in Nelson's history, is,
the unselfish greatness (read history
is the). One comma parts verb
from subject, the other complement
from -verb./He has been called the
Portuguese Froissart, but he combines
with Froissart's picturesquencss, moral
philosophy, enthusiasm, db high prin¬
ciples (read picturesqueness moral).
The comma parts the object (moral
• . . principles) from its verb com¬
bines./A literature of Scotch Gaelic
poetry db prose exists, though too
little notice has been taken of it, even
within the Scotch borders, for the
Scot, who ignores such literature, does
not deserve his name, which proves
him to be a Gael (read Scot who
ignores such literature does). The who
starts a defining relative clause ;
see that, relative./TAe right db
wholesome atmosphere in this country,
as in all others, where payment is the
rule, is that it should be taken for
granted as a normal incident of Par¬
liamentary life (read others where).
The where clause is in the same
relation to others as the who clause
in the last example to Scot./. . .
whether some disease other than tuber¬
culosis may not account for the symp¬
toms db signs observed. Only, if we
do not succeed in our investigations,
are we entitled to admit the diagnosis
of tuberculosis (read Only if we do
not succeed in our investigations are).
Without the clause from which the
comma parts it, only is mere non-
STOPS
568
sense./Situated, as we axe, with out
vast <& varied overseas possessions,
our gigantic foreign trade, <& our
unapproachable mercantile marine,
we at any rate can gain nothing by
war (read Situated as). We should
write not ‘ How, are we situated ?
but ‘ How are we situated ? ’ ; the
as clause is exactly parallel to, & as
essential as, how./We are assured
that the Prime Minister will, in no
circumstances & on no consideration
whatever, consent to . . . (read will in
no circumstances . . . whatever con¬
sent). The words that negative will
must not be cut off from it. Simi¬
larly : The principals were, neither
of them, of a class that ordinarily
appears in the dock of the Old Bailey
(read were neither of them of).
D. In confluences, i.e. when alter¬
natives &c. finish their course to¬
gether, the necessary comma after
the second is apt to be forgotten.
As regards the form of the festival,
many, if not most of the customs
popularly associated with it may,
perhaps, be traced to . . . (read most,
of)./His craftsmanship, again, was
superb—more refined, more intel¬
lectual than that of Frith (read intel¬
lectual, than).
E. In compound appendages to
names. Mr F. Haverfleld has col¬
lected & edited a volume of ‘ Essays
by Henry Francis Pelham, Late
President of Trinity College, Oxford
Camden Professor of History ’
(read Oxford, &).
F. In ambiguous appositions. In¬
sertion or omission of commas is
seldom a sufficient remedy, & indeed
is usually impossible. The thing is
to remember that arrangements in
which apposition commas & enu¬
meration commas are mixed up are
dangerous & should be avoided.
To the expanded ‘ Life of Shake¬
speare % first published in 1915, & to
be issued shortly in a third edition
by Mr Murray, the author. Sir
Sidney Lee, besides bringing the text
up to date, has contributed a new
preface. Which is the author?/
Some high officials of the Headquarter
SEMICOLON
Staff, including the officer
primus inter pares, the Director ot
^°? eTaii0n \^ the ***"
of btajj duties • . . . How many were
there going to St Ives l/Lord
Curzon, Sir Edmond Elies, the pre¬
sent Military Member, & the Civilian
Members of Council traverse the most
material of Lord Kitchener's state¬
ments. Was Sir Edmond the Mili¬
tary Member ?
G. Omitted between connected but
independent sentences, or used in¬
stead of semicolon between uncon¬
nected sentences.
When the Motor Cars Act was before
the House it was suggested that these
authorities should be given the right
to make recommendations to the cen¬
tral authorities db that right was con¬
ceded (read authorities, &)./ Will
the mighty Times aid us in this
historic struggle ? ’ Dear to the heart
of an editor must be such an appeal,
we wisk someone would seek for our
aid in so flattering a formula (read
appeal; we).
SEMICOLON
The use of semicolons to separate
parallel expressions that would
normally be separated by commas
is not in itself illegitimate ; but it
must not be done when the expres¬
sions so separated form a group that
is to be separated by nothing more
than a comma, or even not separated
at all, from another part of the
sentence ; to do it is to make the
less include the greater, which is
absurd.
And therein lies a guarantee of peace
& ultimate security, such, perhaps, as
none of the States of South America;
such as not even Mexico herself can
boast (read America, such as not even
Mexico herself , can)./If you say with
the enemy pinned upon the West,
suffering passively blow upon blow,
& never able to restore himself after
each blow, or to recover what he has
• with his territory blockaded;
_ youngest boys drawn into the
struggle, that your victory is tmr
vossible : if you say . . . (read lost,
lost
his
STOPS: COLON,FULL
569
(CLAMATION
EXCLAMATION
with his territory blockaded, his)./
If, as Mr Gibson Bowles contends,
the Law of Nations is all plain sail¬
ing ! if H i s a thing of certainties &
plain definitions, it would be strange
that a conference of jurists should
have . . . (read sailing, if).
COLON
As long as the Prayer-Book version
of the Psalms continues to be read,
the colon is not likely to pass quite
out of use as a stop, chiefly as one
preferred by individuals, or in
impressive contexts, to the semi¬
colon ; but the time when it was
second member of the hierarchy,
full stop, colon, semicolon, comma,
is past; in general usage, it is not
now a stop of a certain power
available in any situation demanding
such a power, but has acquired a
special function, that of delivering
the goods that have been invoiced
in the preceding words ; it is a sub¬
stitute for such verbal harbingers
as viz, scil ., that is to say, i. e., &c.
FULL STOP
In abbreviations. For the use as
a symbol of abbreviation, as in i.e.
for id est, Capt. for Captain, & less
reasonably in Mr. for Mister or
Master, cwt. for hundredweight , see
Period in abbreviations.
In the spot plague. The style that
has been so labelled, the essence of
which is that the matter should be
divided into as short lengths as
possible separated by full stops,
with few commas & no semicolons or
conjunctions, is tiring to the reader,
on whom it imposes the task of
supplying the connexion, & corrupt¬
ing to the writer, whose craving for
brevity persuades him that any¬
thing will pass for a sentence :—
" was now clear. The light was that
of late evening. The air hardly more
than cool./They demand long years of
accurate study—even when the student
has the necessary aptitude for such
things. Which three students out of
every four have not.
Not to use a mark of exclamation
is sometimes wrong: How they
laughed., instead of How they
laughed !, is not English. Excessive
use of exclamation marks is, like
that of Italics, one of the things
that betray the uneducated or
unpractised writer: You surprise
me. How dare you ?, Don't tell such
lies, are mere statement, question,
& command, not converted into
exclamations by the fact that those
who say them arc excited, nor to be
decorated into You surprise me!,
How dare you !, Don't tell such lies !.
It is, indeed, stated in a well-known
grammar that ‘ A note of exclama¬
tion is used after words or sentences
which express emotion ’, with, as
example. How are the mighty fallen
in the midst of the battle ! I am dis¬
tressed for thee, my brother Jonathan !.
The second half of this quotation
clearly violates the rule laid down
above, being, however full of emo¬
tion, a simple statement, & yet
having an exclamation mark. But
anyone who will refer to 2 Sam. i. 26
will find that mark to be not the
Bible’s, but the grammarian’s ; the
earlier one of verse 25 is right.
So far, the inference seems obvious
& simple—to confine the exclama¬
tion to what grammar recognizes as
exclamations, & refuse it to state¬
ments, questions, & commands.
Exclamations in grammar are (1)
interjections, as oh ! ; (2) words or
phrases used as interjections, as
Heavens !, hell!, by Jove !, my God !
great Scott ! ; (3) sentences contain¬
ing the exclamatory what or how , as
What a difference it makes!. What
I suffered!, How I love you!. How
pretty she is ! ; (4) wishes proper, as
Confound you !, May we live to see
it!, God forbid!; (5) Ellipses &
inversions due to emotion, as Not
another word!. If only I could!.
That it should have come to this!.
Much care you!, Pop goes the
weasel! , A fine friend you have been ! ;
(6) apostrophes, as You miserable
STOPS s QUESTION
coward /, You little dear !. It is true
that the exclamation mark should
be given to all expressions answering
to the above types, & also that it
should not be given to ordinary
fully expressed statements, ques¬
tions, or commands ; but the mat¬
ter is not quite so simple as that.
Though a sentence is not to be
exclamation-marked to show that it
has the excited tone that its con¬
tents imply, it may & sometimes
must be so marked to convey that
the tone is not merely what would
be natural to the words themselves,
but is that suitable to scornful
quotation, to the unexpected, the
amusing, the disgusting, or some¬
thing that needs the comment of
special intonation to secure that the
words shall be taken as they are
meant. So : You thought it didn't
matter /, He learnt at last that the
enemy was—himself !, Each is as bad
as the other , only more so /, He puts
his knife in his mouth !. But not :
That is a lie /, My heart was in my
mouth /, Who cares /, I wish you
would be quiet /, Beggars must not be
choosers ! ; in all these the words
themselves suffice to show the tone,
& the exclamation mark shows only
that the writer does not know his
business.
QUESTION MARK
The chief danger is that of forget¬
ting that whether a set of words is
a question or not, & consequently
requires or repudiates the question
mark, is decided not by its practical
effect or sense, but by its gramma¬
tical form & relations. Those who
scorn grammar are apt to take Ask
him who said so for a question, &
Will you please stand back for a
request, & to wrongly give the first
the question mark that they wrongly
fail to give the second. But the
first is in fact a command containing
an Indirect question, & the ques¬
tion mark belongs to direct ques¬
tions only, while the second is in
fact a direct question, though it
happens to be equivalent in sense
570
INVERTED COMMAS
to a request. When the natural
confusion caused by the conveying
for instance, of what is in sense a
statement in the grammatical form
of a question is aggravated by the
sentence’s being of considerable
length—e.g. when Will it be believed
that is followed by several lines
setting forth the incredible fact—,
the question mark at the end is
often, but should never be, omitted.
Still more fatal is a type of sentence
that may be put either as an ex¬
clamation or as a question, but must
have its stop adapted to the ex¬
clamatory or interrogative nature
of the what or how whose double
possibilities cause the difficulty.
How seldom does it happen can only
be an exclamation, & must have
happen! ; but How often does it
happen may be either a question
(answer, Once a month &c.) requir¬
ing happen ?, or an exclamation
(meaning, Its frequency is surpris¬
ing) requiring happen!. In that
interval what had 1 not lost! (either
lost ! should be changed to lost ?, or
not should be omitted).//! streak of
blue below the hanging alders is cer¬
tainly a characteristic introduction to
the kingfisher. How many people
first see him so ? (read either so!
for so ?, or otherwise for so).
The archness of the question mark
interpolated in brackets infallibly
betrays the amateur writer : Sir,—
The following instance of the doubtful
advantages (?) of the Labour Ex¬
changes as media . .. seems to deserve
some recognition.
INVERTED COMMAS
There is no universally accepted
distinction between the single form
(‘ . . . ’) & the double (“. • • )•
The more sensible practice is to
regard the single as the normal, &
to resort to the double onljr when,
as fairly often happens, an i n ^. < \ r V? r
quotation is necessary in the middle
of a passage that is itself quoted.
To reverse this is clearly less reason¬
able ; but, as quotation wit tun
quotation is much less common t
44
44
STOPS: BRACKET, DASH
the simple kind, & conspicuousness
is desired, the heavy double mark
is the favourite. It may be hoped
that The man who says ‘ l shall
write to “ The Times ” tonight ’ will
ultimately prevail over The man
who says “ I shall write to ‘ The
Times ’ tonight ”.
Questions of order between inverted
commas & stops are illustrated by the
following pairs, the first form being
usual, but the second right:—
The first genuine “ Collected Poems
admitted his stately “ Sonnet on the
Nile ” only on the inducement of
a partial friend ,” a few lines from
The Nymphs ,” i/iai /air humanity
of old religion, on that same ground
alone . The first genuine ‘ Collected
Poems ' admitted his stately * Son¬
net on the Nile ’ only on the induce¬
ment of * a partial friend ’, a few
lines from ‘ The Nymphs ’, that fair
humanity of old religion, on that
same ground alon e./Do you say,
“ Am 1 my brother's keeper ” ? Do
you say * Am I my brother’s
keeper ? 5 ? /With him it was always,
“ Damn the consequences ” / With
him it was always ‘ Damn the con¬
sequences 1
APOSTROPHE
For difficulties with this as sign of
the possessive case, see Possessive
puzzles. . For its use in avoiding
certain bizarre word-forms, see -ed
&’d.
HYPHENS, ITALICS
See those articles.
PARENTHESIS BRACKETS &
DOUBLE DASHES
Of these no more need be said than
that after the second bracket or
dash any stop that would have been
used if the brackets or dashes &
their contents had not been there
should still be used. This is some-
times, but not very often, forgotten
after the second bracket; after the
second dash it is seldom remem-
bered, or rather, perhaps, is deliber¬
ately neglected as fussy ; but, if it is
571 STRAIGHT (LY)
fussy to put a stop after a dash,
it is messy to pile two jobs at once
upon the dash, & those to whom
fussiness is repugnant should eschew
the double-dash form of parenthesis
except where no stop can be needed.
So far as it is true—<& how far it is
true does not count for much—it is nn
unexpected bit of truth (read much ,
it)./If he abandons a pursuit it is
not because he is conscious of hosing
shot his last bolt—that is never sht
but because . . . (read never sho
but).
store, vb, makes -rable ; see Mute e.
storey. PI. -eys, adj. -storeyed. For
the curious difference in sense be¬
tween s. & floor, see floor.
storey, story. Whether these names
for the floor & the tale are etymo¬
logically the same word or not—on
which the doctors differ—, there is
an obvious convenience in the two
spellings. It is, for instance, well
to know storied windows (illustrating
biblical or other stories) from
storeyed windows (divided by tran¬
soms into storeys). The Differ¬
entiation, however, is still a pro¬
bationer, & indeed lacks the support
of the OED ; that is sadly against
it, especially when the 19th-c.
quotations are found to show -ry &
-ries four times as often as - rey &
-reys ; but there is yet a chance that
it may win through ; so may it be 1
storm. See wind, n.
story. For but that is another s., see
Hackneyed phrases. It is not
mended by variations, such as :
Presently it returned. He hoped he
was not to be assailed by birds. He
had read a story—but never mind that
now.
stouten. See -en verbs.
Stove, =staved. See stave.
® ee Curtailed words.
stralght(ly). Certain members of the
Labour Party, like Mr Snowden, have
spoken very honestly <tb slraightlv
about the growth of this idea./For
once, he did not mince his words on
a labour question ; would that he had
spoken as straightly on previous occa-
STRAIN
572
sions / These two examples, of
which the first shows a perhaps
defensible straightly, & the second
a certainly indefensible one, throw
some light on the regrettable but
progressive extinction of our old
monosyllabic adverbs ; it is the
company of honestly that partly
excuses the first straightly ; see
Unidiomatic -ly.
strain)(sprain. For the not very
clear distinction, see sprain.
strait(en). The chief phrases in
which these, & not straight(en) , must
be used are : the strait gate, the
straitest sect, strait jacket, strait
waistcoat, strait-laced, straitened cir¬
cumstances, straitened (for).
strappado. PL -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
strategic(al), pronunciation. In the
penult of adjj. & nn. in -ic (& the
antepenult of -ical words), if -ic is
preceded by a single consonant,
there is an overwhelming preponder¬
ance for the short sound of the
previous vowel (except u) ; so
errdtic, barbdric, mechdnic, tragic,
poetic, academic, ethic, angelic, arth¬
ritic, prolific, chronic, exotic, micro¬
scopic, historic, spasmodic, lyric,
paralytic, & hundreds more ; cf.,
with u, scorbutic, music, cubic.
Nevertheless, strategic is at least as
often said as strategic ; the most
notable of other exceptions is scenic ;
the OED recognizes both pronun¬
ciations for scenic & strategic, but
gives the preference to e in the first,
& to 6 in the other.
strategy )(tactics. Etymologically,
strategy is generalship, & tactics is
array, & the modern antithesis re¬
tains as closely as could fairly be
expected the original difference.
The OED definition of strategy &
note on the distinction follow, with
three quotations, of which the first
two are from the OED. Strategy.
The art of a commander-in-chief;
the art of projecting & directing the
larger military movements & opera¬
tions of a campaign. Usually dis¬
tinguished from tactics, which is the
art of handling forces in battle or in
STRICKEN
the immediate presence of the
enemy. (Quotations) Strategy dif?
fers materially from tactic; the
latter belonging only to the mechan-
lcal movement of bodies set in
motion by the former ./Before hostile
armies or fleets are brought into
contact (a word which perhaps bet*
ter. than any other indicates the
dividing line between tactics &
strategy)./The study of strategy,
which is the art of bringing forces
into contact with the enemy, & of
tactics, which is the art of using
those forces when they are in contact
with the enemy.
Readers should perhaps be warned
against supposing that the tact of
contact & of tactics is etymologically
the same, since these writers have
utilized the accidental likeness;
contact (Latin) is touch, tactics
(Greek) is array.
stratify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
stratum. PI. -ta ; see -um.
stratus. PI. -ti.
strawberry. For the s. leaves see
Sobriquets.
strayed, adj. Intransitive p.p.
streak. Thesilvers.; see Sobriquets.
stress)(strain, as technical terms in
Physics. In defining the use of
stress in Physics, the OED remarks
that it is * used variously by different
writers ’, & this statement is borne
out by its quotations. Any close
examination of such matters is out¬
side our scope ; but the layman
may be glad of a rough distinction.
It is perhaps safe to say that strain
is the result of stress ; stress being
mutual action exerted by bodies or
parts, strain is the alteration of form
or dimensions produced by it.
strew. P.p. indifferently -ed & -n.
Stria. PL - iae .
stricken. This archaic p.p. or
strike survives chiefly in particular
phrases, & especially in senses
divorced from those now usual witn
the verb— stricken in years, a stricken
field, the stricken deer, for a stricken
hour, poverty-stricken, panic- stricken .
STRIDE
573
STURDY INDEFENSIBLES
The use of the word by itself as an
adjective = afflicted, in distress, is
sometimes justified, but more often
comes under the description of
Stock pathos.
Stride. Past-ode; p.p. (rare) -idden.
strlnged)(strung. Accurately, a bow
is stringed or unstringed according
as it is provided with a string or
not, & strung or unstrung according
as it is bent to the string or not ;
cf. stringed instruments & strung
nerves; so a high-strung tempera¬
ment but a gut-stringed racket.
Overstrung piano, which suggests a
difficulty, is right because the
notion is not that of providing it
with overstrings as the racket is
provided with gut strings (implying
formation from the noun string), but
that of stringing it transversely
(from the verb string with the ad¬
verb over). See hamstringed for
discussion of that word & of bow¬
string, vb.
strlnghalt, spr-. Both forms are
common, & they denote the same
disease ; str-, which the OED re¬
gards as probably the original, might
well be made the only word.
strive. Past strove, p.p. striven ;
but the OED adds that ‘ many ex¬
amples of strived ’ for both ‘ occur in
writers of every period from the
14th to the 19th c.\
stroke, v., makes -kable ; Mute e
stroma. PI. -ata.
strophe. See Technical terms •
pronounce strd'fi ; pi. or -phae,
see Latin plurals.
Strow, formerly common, is now
only a by-form of strew.
struma. PI. -mac.
strung. See stringed.
strychnia, -nine. See morphia •
but strychnia has not, like that,
maintained itself in popular use
stubbornness. So spelt.
Stucco. The noun makes -os, see
-o(e)s 3 ; the verb - oes, -oed or -o'd.
Studding-sail. Pronounce stQ'nsl.
Studiedly. For the legitimacy of
the form sn> .mrv R ,u /o\
studio. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 4.
study, vb, stultify, stupefy. For
inflexions see Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
stupid makes -er, -est ; -er & -est 2.
stupor, not stupour; -our & -or.
Sturdy indefensibles. Many
idioms are seen, if they are tested by
grammar or logic, to express badly,
even sometimes to express the re¬
verse of, what they are nevertheless
well understood to mean. Good
people point out the sin, & bad
people, who are more numerous,
take little notice & go on committing
it ; then the good people, if they are
foolish, get excited & talk of ignor¬
ance & solecisms, & are laughed at
as purists ; or, if they are wise, say
no more about it & wait. The in¬
defensibles, sturdy as they may be,
prove one after another to be not
immortal. There was a time when
no-one was more ashamed to say
4 You was there ’ than most of us
now are to say ‘ It ’s me ’ ; * you
was * is dead ; ‘ it’s me ’ has a long
life before it yet ; it too will die,
& there are much more profitable
ways of spending time than baiting
it. It is well, however, to realize
that there are such things as foolish
idioms ; that a language should
abound in them can be no credit to
it or its users ; & the drawing of
attention to them is a step towards
making them obsolete ; a few types
follow, with references to articles in
which each question is touched
upon :—
It ’s ME.
Don t be longer than you can help.
So far from hating him, I like him
(far 2).
The man of all others for the iob
(of 7). J
The worst liar of any man I know
(of 7).
A child of ten years old (of 7).
That long nose of his (of 7).
R is no use complaining.
Better known than popular (-er &
-EST 7).
Were ever finer lines perverted to a
meaner use ? (Illogicalities).
SfV
614 ,
SUBJUNCTIVES
It is a day’s work even to open,
much less to acknowledge, all the
letters (much 2).
For two reasons, neither of which
are noticed by Plato (neither 3).
All men do not speak German (not
1).
He only died a week ago.
It should not be taken too literally.
I should not be suRPRiSEd if it
didn’t tain.
sty, nn. PI. sties. The separate
spelling stye (pi. styes), sometimes
used for the pimple on the eyelid,
has not the support of the OED, &
the danger of confusion is too slight
for artificial Differentiation.
sty, vb. For inflexions, see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
style)(stile. See stile.
stylo. See Curtailed words ; pi.
-os, see -o(e)s 5.
stymie. See stimy.
Suabian, Swa-. Swa- (nearer the
original German) is preferred byOED
to Sua - (fr. the intermediate Latin).
sub, n. Used slangily for subaltern,
subscription, & substitute, & also
with help of context for other words ;
see Curtailed words.
subdual. See -al nouns.
subduedly. A bad form ; see -edly.
Both Siegfried Sassoon & W. J.
Turner speak subduedly as if in
recollection of ancient bitterness, but
it is poetry of a distinguished dis¬
illusionment.
subject. For synonyms in sense
theme &c., see field.
subjective genitive. See Technical
TERMS.
subjugate makes -jugable, see -able
1 ; & -ator, see -or.
Subjunctives. The word is very
variously used in grammar. The
subjunctives here to be considered
(1) exclude those, often so called, in
which the modal effect is given by
an auxiliary such as may (that he
may do it ; cf. that he do it), let (let it
be so ; cf. be it so), or shall (until he
shall be dead; cf. until he be dead) ;
& (2) include any verb that is under,
stood to be modally different hum
the indicative but is either indis*
tmguishable from it in form or
distinguished otherwise thatt by an
auxiliary ; in ‘ that he learn ’ it is
clear that learn is subjunctive; in
‘ that we learn ’ it is not $ in ‘ that
we, he, may learn’ there is no
subjunctive that concerns us in this
article ; any verb of the kind that
has now been loosely indicated is for
our present purpose a subjunctive,
whether or not it is more specifically
known as imperative ( sing we mer¬
rily), conditional of the apodosis
(it were more seemly) or of the pro¬
tasis (if it please you), optative (had
I but the power /), indirect question
(When I ask her if she love me),
indefinite future clause (till he die),
or by any other such name.
About the subjunctive, so de¬
limited, the important general facts
are : (1) that it is moribund except
in a few easily specified uses; (2)
that, owing to the capricious in¬
fluence of the much analysed classi¬
cal upon the less studied native
moods, it probably never would have
been possible to draw up a satis¬
factory table of the English sub¬
junctive uses ; (3) that assuredly
no-one will ever find it either possible
or worth while to do so now that the
subjunctive is dying ; & (4) that
subjunctives met with today, out¬
side the few truly living uses, are
either deliberate revivals by poets
for legitimate enough archaic effect,
or antiquated survivals as in pre¬
tentious journalism, infecting their
context with dullness, or new
arrivals possible only in an age to
which the grammar of the subjunc¬
tive is not natural but artificial.
Revival: When I ask her if she
love me (prose, loves).
Survival : If this analysis be cor¬
rect (normal, is).
Arrival : If this were so, it was in
self-defence (sense, Was).
We may now proceed to illustrate
the four classes to which we have
been brought, Alives, Reviva ,
SUBJUNCTIVES
575
GROUPS
Survivals, & Arrivals, in the senses
already explained ; & no conceal¬
ment need be made of the purpose
in hand, which is to discourage the
last two classes.
ALIVES
Those uses are alive which it occurs
to no-one to suspect of pedantry or
artificiality, & which come as natural
in speech as other ways of saying the
thing, or more so. The giving of a
few specimens is all that will here
be necessary.
Go away (& all 2nd-pers. impera¬
tives).
Manners be hanged ! (& such 3rd-
pers. curses).
Come what may, Be that as it may,
Far be it from me to .. ., (& other such
stereotyped formulae).
I shall be 70 come Tuesday.
If he were here now (& all if . . .
were clauses expressing a hypothesis
that is not a fact ; were & not be,
& not a fact, are essential).
1 wish it were over.
Though all care be exercised (the
difference is still a practical one
between Though . . . is, — In spite of
the fact that, & Though . . . be,—
Even on the supposition that).
REVIVALS
What care 1 how fair she be ?
Lose who may, I still can say . . .
If ladies be but young dk fair.
But illustration is superfluous ;
there are no uses of the subjunctive
to which poets, & poetic writers,
may not resort if it suits them ; the
point to be made is merely that it is
no defence for the ordinary writer
who uses an antiquated subjunctive
to plead that he can parallel it in
a good poet.
SURVIVALS
In the examples that will be given
there is nothing incorrect; the
objection to the subjunctives in them
is that they diffuse an atmosphere
of .dullness & formalism over the
writing in which they occur ; the
motive underlying them, & the
effect they produce, are the same
that attend the choosing of Fokmal
words, a reference to which article
may save some repetition.
If it have [has] a flaw , that flaw
takes the shape of a slight incoher¬
ence./It is quite obvious to what grave
results such instances as the above
may lead, be they [if they are] only
sufficiently numerous./The causes
which would probably bring about a
protracted civil war in Servia should
King Peter die before the question of
his successor be [is, or has been]
more firmly decided. /If these others be
[are] all we can muster, it were [would
be] better to leave the sculpture
galleries empty./If Mr Hobhouse's
analysis of the vices of popular
government be [is] correct, much more
would seem to be needed./It were
[would be] futile to attempt to deprive
it of its real meaning./Unless imme¬
diate action be [is] taken, the country
will be so tied that . . ./That will
depend a good deal on whether he be
[is] shocked by the cynicism.
ARRIVALS
The best proof that the subjunctive
is, except in isolated uses, no longer
alive, & one good reason for abstain¬
ing from it even where, as in the
Survival examples, it is gramma¬
tical, are provided by a collection,
such as anyone can gather for him¬
self from any newspaper, of sub¬
junctives that are wrong. A col¬
lection follows, slightly grouped.
Mixed moods : That two verbs
whose relation to their surroundings
is precisely the same should be one
subjunctive, & one indicative, is an
absurdity that could not happen
until the distinction had lost its
reality ; but it does happen every
day :— If that appeal be made &
results tn the return of the Govern¬
ment to power , then . . ./There are
those who, if there be common security
& they are all right , not only care
nothing for , but would even oppose ,
the . . ./If the verdict goes against him
his home may be sold up, or if an
injunction be obtained against him
SUBJUNCTIVES
576
& he denes it he may he imprisoned./
If the history of Christianity is, as
Iloffding suggests, but a world-drama
which mythologizes in a passing
symbol the inner psychological drama,
if it be but a precipitate of the tides or
storms of the spiritual imagination,
if it be a mere projection of man's
agitated subjectivism, how can it give
us . . .? /These be s are not themselves
wrong ; they are Survival subjunc¬
tives ; but the fact that the verbs
associated with them, which have
subjunctives ready for use just as
much as to be, are allowed to remain
indicative shows that the use of be
too is mechanical & meaningless.
Were in conditionals : The correct
type, a common enough 4 Survival ’,
is Were that true there were no more
to say ; the first were, of the pro¬
tasis, is right only in combination
with the other were, of the apodosis,
or with its modern equivalent, would
( should) be ; & neither of them is
applicable to past time any more
than would be itself ; their reference
is to present or to undefined time,
or more truly not to time at all (&
especially not to a particular past
time) but to utopia, the realm of
non-fact. If it is a hard saying that
were (singular) in conditionals does
not refer to past time, consider some
other verb of past form in like case.
Such a verb may belong to past
time, or it may belong to utopia :
If he heard, he gave no sign (heard &
gave, past time) ; If he heard, how
angry he would be ! (heard & would
be, not past time, but utopia, the
realm of non-fact or the imaginary) ;
the first heard is indicative, the
second is subjunctive, though the
form happens to be the same ; in
the verb be, conveniently enough,
there happens to be still a distin¬
guishable form for the subjunctive,
& what corresponds for the verb be
to the two heard sentences is If it was
(never were ) so it did not appear.
If it were (or nowadays alternatively
was) so how angry we should be!.
Were (sing.) is, then, a recognizable
subjunctive, & applicable not to
CONDITIONAL
pubt iacM, put to present or future
non-facts ; it is entirely out of place
in an if -clause concerned with nast
actualities & not answered bv a
were or would be in the apodosis
It has been necessary to labour this
explanation because for the many
readers who are not at home with
grammatical technicalities the mat¬
ter is puzzling.. Examples :~It is
stated that, during the early part of
the War of Independence (1821), the
Greeks massacred Mussulmans’; if
this were so, it was only in self-
defence./If rent were cheap, clothes
were dearer than today./If the attitude
of the French Government were known
to our own Government last week it
explains the appeal to the Dominions./
We must not look for any particulars
as to that lost work (if it were ever
written), 44 The Life & Adventures of
Joseph Sell ”. These four contain
if .. . were (sing.) in protasis—an
4 Alive ’ form if the apodosis is
would be or were, i.e. if the condi¬
tional is of the utopian kind, but
wrong if the time of the were is a
particular past. Read was in each.
Examples in apodosis : —It were
just & fitting that on such an occasion
a Prince of the Royal House & Ilcir-
apparent to the Throne should himself
have plied the fires of the record war¬
ship with coal. The newspaper is
patting the Prince on the back for
what he actually did, viz stoke ; it
means not that it would be right
on an imaginary occasion, but that
it was on that past occasion right
for him to stoke ; read was./The
dull winter prospect appeared so quiet
cO peaceful, it were difficult to
imagine the Boches over there—on
sentry, in their dugouts, eating,
drinking, sleeping, just like the men
about me ; but, proving their pre¬
sence, a miniewurfer shell passed
overhead. Paraphrasing so as to get
rid of the glamour of the word were,
we get not 4 I should find it difficult ,
but 4 I found it difficult , as is shown
by 4 a shell passed ’; read it teas
difficult. .
Sequence : To those who have baa
SUBJUNCTIVES
577
GROUPS
to do with Latin & Greek Grammar,
there will be a familiar sound in
Sequence of tenses & Sequence of
moods ; what is implied in the terms
is that it may be necessary to use
a tense or a mood not to convey the
meaning peculiar to it as such, but
for the sake of harmony with the
tense or mood of another verb on
which it depends. The principle
has its place, though little is heard
of it, in English grammar also (see
Sequence of tenses) ; it is men¬
tioned here because the most likely
explanation of the subjunctives now
to be quoted, some clearly wrong,
some at the best uncalled-for, seems
to be a hazy memory of sequence
of moods ; after each example the
supposed reasoning is suggested, not
as sound, but as conceivable :—
Why should ordinary shop assistants
enjoy a half-holiday, as is proposed
in Sir William Bull's Bill, while the
staff behind the scenes, often working
underground & before a scorching
fire, be denied this privilege ? (Why
should assistants enjoy is in the sub¬
junctive ; therefore the subordinate
clause requires the staff be, not is,
denied)./But if, during the intercourse
occasioned by trade, he finds that a
neighbour in possession of desirable
property be weaker than himself, he
is apt to take advantage {if he finds
is a conditional ; therefore the
clause dependent on it must be in
the subjuncti ve)./By all means let
us follow after those things which
make for peace, so far as be possible
{let us follow is an exhortation ;
therefore the clause dependent on it
must &c.)./We should be glad to know
that every chairman of a Local Educa¬
tion Authority or Education Com¬
mittee were likely to read this short
biography {should is subjunctive,
therefore &c. ; or, perhaps more
probably, should be glad to know is
jn one word wish, & wish . . . were
is beyond cavil)./^4nd if exception¬
al action were needed to prove love,
what would after all be proved, except
that love were not the rule? {would
is a subjunctive, therefore &c.)./No
doctor would inject horse serum into
a patient if he knew that he were
liable to horse asthma (as the last)./
If I made a political pronouncement
I should feel that 1 were outraging
the hospitality of the Brotherhood
movement {should is a subjunctive,
therefore &c.)./It would not be sur¬
prising if this limit were reduced to
£125, the German limit, while volun¬
tary insurance were still allowed for
persons with incomes up to £160 a
year (the meaning of the while clause
is the same as if it had begun with
&, in which case were allowed would
have been inevitable). It may be
admitted that some of these are less
bad than others, & that, while the
group is characteristic of a time that
is not at ease with its subjunctives,
anyone who wished to parallel its
details in writers who used the mood
far more frequently than we as well
as more naturally could doubtless
do so ; nevertheless they are best
classed with Arrivals.
_ Indirect question : Latin grammar
is perhaps also responsible for the
notion that indirect question re¬
quires the subjunctive. There is no
such requirement in English ; Ask
him who he be is enough to show
that. Sir Adam asked Sir Richard
Redmayne if he were aware that one
of the miners' secretaries in Scotland
had been . . . Read was ; but again
such subjunctives may be found in
older writers.
Miscellaneous : He therefore came
round to the view that simple Bible
teaching were better abolished alto¬
gether & that the open door for all
religions were established in its place.
Were better abolished is a correct
Survival ; but dealing with the now
unnatural has tempted the writer
into an impossible continuation./
Be the ventilation of a gaseous mine
as efficient as it can be made, nothing
will prevent ... An unidiomatic
extension of the ‘ Alive * Be that as
it may, made absurd by its length./
He replied gently, but firmly, that if
his department were to be successful,
he must accommodate himself to the
SUBMERGE 578 SUBSTITUTE
people who employed him. His words
were not ‘ If my department be to
succeed ’, but ‘ is to ’. The sequence
change of is should be to was , &
were instead ruins the sense ; 4 were
to be successful ’ means 4 succeeded ’
or 4 should succeed ’, not 4 was to
have a chance ’.
The conclusion is that writers who
deal in Survival subjunctives run the
risks, first, of making their matter
dull, secondly, of being tempted
into blunders themselves, thirdly, of
injuring the language by encourag¬
ing others more ignorant than they
to blunder habitually, & lastly, of
having the proper dignity of style at
which they aim mistaken by cap¬
tious readers for pretentiousness.
submerge. Gerundive usu. sub¬
mersible rather than -gible.
submissive, -ittable. The second
form is unexceptionable ; but on the
principle explained in -able 2, sub¬
missive would have been expected
to establish itself on the analogy of
ad, o, & per, -missible. It is in fact,
to judge from the OED, hardly
existent, but may nevertheless be
recommended as preferable.
suborn. See Formal words.
subpoena. Best so written, see
m, ce ; p.p. subpoena'd, see -ed & ’d.
subscribe makes - bable ; see Mute e.
subsellium. PI. -ia.
subservience, -cy. See -ce, -cy.
subsidence. The OED gives pre¬
ference to subsidence over sub¬
sidence. But residence, confidence,
providence, & coincidence, all asso¬
ciated with verbs in -i'de, & all
disregarding that fact & conforming
to the Recessive accent tendency,
are a very strong argument on the
other side, against which perhaps
no opposite instance of any weight
can be brought. Subsidence is
therefore recommended ; the Latin
quantity ( sido settle) is of no impor¬
tance (see False quantity).
subsidize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
substantiate makes -liable ; see
“Able 1. For pronunciation of sub¬
stantiation, see -ciation.
substantially, -ively. See adjec¬
tivally.
substitute vb, substitution. A very
rapid change—according to the view
here taken, a corruption—has been
lately taking place in the meaning
& use of these words ; so rapid,
indeed, that what the OED stigma¬
tized in 1915 as 4 Now regarded as
incorrect ’ will soon, if nothing can
be done to stop it, become normal
usage & oust what is here held to be
the words’ only true sense. The
definition to which the OED adds
the above note is (for the verb) 4 To
take the place of, replace ’, & an
examination of what other diction¬
aries are at hand (Century, Standard,
Webster, Cassell’s Encyclopaedic, &
some small fry) discovers that none
of them records this sense at all, with
the exception of the Standard, in
which it is confined to Chemistry.
They all agree that the verb means
something entirely different, viz to
put (a person or thing) in the place
of another. It is clear, then, what
the orthodox use of the verb is ;
the use of the noun follows it; & we
can set down for comparison a sen¬
tence or two that are right & one or
two that are wrong, choosing as
nouns that will make the points
clear butter & margarine, Englishman
& alien.
CORRECT
A. We had to substitute margarine
(for butter).
B. Aliens are being substituted (for
Englishmen).
C. [Aliens are replacing English¬
men.]
D. The substitution of margarine
(for butter) is having bad effects.
E. Let there be no more substitu¬
tion of aliens (for Englishmen).
F. Its substitution (for butter) is
lamentable.
INCORRECT
A. We had to substitute butter (by
margarine). # , ..
B. Englishmen are being substi¬
tuted (by aliens).
SUBSTITUTE
579
SUBSTITUTE
C. Aliens are substituting English*
men.
D. The substitution of butter (by
margarine) is having bad effects.
E. Let there be no more substitu¬
tion of Englishmen (by aliens).
F. Its substitution (by margarine)
is lamentable.
One can hardly read those parallels,
with the risks of ambiguity that they
suggest, without realizing that either
the old or the new must go ; we
surely cannot keep such a treacher¬
ously double-edged knife as substi¬
tute has become ; either its original
edge, or the one into which its back
has been converted, must be ground
off; which is it to be ? Another
reflection, which may not occur
unsuggested to all, is that in the
incorrect set the words replace or
replacement would have done, where¬
as in the correct set they would
either have been impossible or have
changed the meaning. And here,
probably, is what accounts for the
whole perversion of our words ;
substitute & substitution have been
6cized upon by people who failed to
apprehend with precision the dic¬
tionary definitions & fancied they
had found equivalents in sense for
the words replacement), which they
had been ignorantly taught to regard
as solecisms in the required senses
(see replace) ; so they determined
(in their lingo) to substitute replace
by substitute, whereas they ought to
have refused (in English) to sub¬
stitute substitute for replace or to
replace replace by substitute .
.. 0 sum up : The dictionary defini¬
tions are right ; the new popular
use is wrong & confusing, & is based
upon a superstition ; but it has
uitnerto, as the dictionaries show,
S?“Sf escaped detection, & therefore
be necessary to give a con¬
vincing array of recent quotations,
satisfy readers that this article
T* • j D attack on the negligible.
TOdeed high time that replace
reinstated & substitute reduced
tLL, iu Pr °P er Unction. In going
rough the sentenops fimco whn
are new to the question may observe
that nearly all can be mended in
two ways, shown for verb & noun
in the first two examples—one the
change to replacement), & the other
the turning of the sentence upside
down & changing of by to for. One
or two exceptional types are placed
at the end with special corrections.
The ecclesiastical principle was
substituted by the national, the Empire
& the Papacy by the Communes
(Either was replaced; or The national
principle was substituted for the
ecclesiastical, the Communes for the
Empire tfc the Papacy)./Chief among
these innovations is the substitution
of the large dc unwieldy geographical
unit by a small & compact local
administrative unit (Either is the
replacement of ; or is the substitution
of a compact local unit for the un¬
wieldy geographical unit)./M. Chi-
cherin also requested that in article VI
the word 4 foment ’ should be substi¬
tuted by the word 4 prepare ’, saying
that 4 foment ’ has too vast an accepta¬
tion./ Although only a temporary, <&
liable to be substituted by an ex-
service man at any time, because 1
was physically unfit for the army,
1 am glad to . . ./If it proves successful
it will be extended all along the border ;
if it fails it will be substituted by an
arbitrary line along the lakes &
rivers./Many words, such as aviation,
airship, dirigible, aeroplane, aviator ,
&c., have been assailed & substituted
by terms which lend themselves to
finer expression./The 4 Stampa * hopes
that a definite pledge will be obtained
for Greek evacuation, & that regular
troops will not be substituted by
4 sacred battalions './If a good raw
hide gear is substituted by a set of
laminated gears, they will be found
quite as silent./Mr Asquith concluded
on a note of high appeal for the
substitution of the Supreme Council
by the League of Nations./The Greek
administration should continue under
the supervision of the Allies until the
time comes for its substitution by a
Turkish administration./The sub¬
stitution of the Council by a Com-
SUBTLE
580
SUCH
miltee of Ambassadors is about to be
realized./You appear to recommend
the abolition of the Council of India
cfc its substitution by a regular Com¬
mittee of Parliament./Even the sup¬
pression of the provinces, cfc their
substitution by larger spheres of
Government, is being considered./The
substitution of a voluntary censorship
by a compulsory Government one
would result in a more onerous
authority./The Chancellor of the
Exchequer looked forward to the aboli¬
tion of the excess profits duty cfc its
substitution by a tax on war fortunes./
The proposals will include the dis¬
missal of all Prussian or non-Rhenan
officials in the occupied areas, cfc their
substitution by officials born in the
country./And the very slow diminu¬
tion is due to the substitution of these
barbaric methods by others rational
cfc decent./A budget Tax on all ‘ land
values ’ should be levied in substitution
of the duties on tea, sugar, cocoa, cfc
other articles of food (It is true that
in replacement of would have an
awkward sound here ; but only
because the still simpler instead, or
in place, or in lieu, of is the plain
English for it)./If potatoes substitute
bread, what is going to substitute
potatoes ? is a question every German
will have to ask himself (In the com¬
paratively rare active use, the
upside-down method is not c(uite
applicable. Either read replace, or
If we substitute potatoes for bread,
what are we going to substitute for
potatoes ?)./Money cfc talent, often
substituted by their counterfeits, specu¬
lation cfc trickery, have here broken
down all barriers (often substituted by
means simply or often).
subtle, subtil(e), &c. The modern
forms are subtle, subtler, subtlest,
subtly, but subtilize ; b is sdent in
all. Spellings with the i retained are
(except in subtilize) usually left to
archaists of various kinds ; &, as
Milton was content with suttle, there
seems little reason for going back
beyond subtle to subtil.
subtraction), substr-o Spell in the
first way ; but the forbidden -s- is
called by the OED only 1 now
illiterate ’; & in the long array of
writers who have used it are Ben-
tham, the Duke of Wellington, &
Carlyle.
subversal. See -al nouns. Since
his ‘ Trade cfc Tariffs ’ appeared (in
1906) the subversal of the economic
conditions demands a fresh investiga¬
tion of the problem.
succedaneum. PI. -ea; but an
examination of quotations is so far
from suggesting any difference of
meaning between this pedantic term
& its synonym substitute that it may
surely be relegated to the Super¬
fluous words.
succeed. All the traditions in which
she has been brought up have not
succeeded to keep her back. Read in
keeping, & see Gerund 3.
succ6s. For s. d'estime, s. fou, see
i'rencii words.
success. For s. of esteem, see
Jallicisms 5.
succinct. Pronounce -ks-.
succour. Keep the -u-; -our & -or.
succuba, -bus. PI. ~ae, -i ; the
rords mean the same, & are not
espectively feminine & masculine,
such. 1. S. which, s. who, s. that,
. where, &c. 2. S. that rel.) (s . that
onj. 3. S. exclamatory. 4. lib¬
erate s. = that &c. 5. S. = so. 0. o.
is for as. 7. Suchlike.
1. S. which, s. who, s. that (re*.
>ron.), s. where (rel. adv.). Such is
. demonstrative adjective & demon-
trative pronoun, to which it was
ormerly common to make other
elatives besides as correspond,
specially which, who, that, & whet .
Jodern ‘idiom rejects all these, £
lonfincs itself to as; the OLU
emark on the use of such ...
kc. is ‘Now rare & regarded as
ncorrect \ It is not in fact so ver>
are ; but most modern exampks
,f it are due either to writers entii
gnorance of idiom or to thei k
hemselves in a difficulty ^
eeing how to get out of it. I
SUCH, 2
581
SUCH, 4
following extracts, when a mere
change of which &c. to as is not
possible, the way out, or a way, is
indicated :—The Roumanian Govern¬
ment contends that it has only requisi¬
tioned such things of which there is
abundance in the country (such things
as are abundant, or as there is
abundance of). /Prussia & the Kaiser
were preparing for such a war which
they believed would result in the Ger¬
man Empire (db Prussia) becoming
the master of the Old World./The
third year should be reserved for such
additional or special subjects ( elocu¬
tion , for instance) which need not be
regarded as essential. /It was proposed
to grant to such casual employees of
the Council who had been continu¬
ously employed for three months, db
whose employment was likely to
extend over twelve months, the privilege
of additional leave (read those, or
any, for such)./How, then, can such
of these men who trouble to think
regard the results of Mr Lloyd George's
budget ?/It is the bourgeois who thrive,
such of them who have escaped
molestation at the hands of the
Bolsheviks./. . . urging its adoption
as a means of enabling such of those
men who are trained in certain
occupations to get to db from their
work./It is subject, of course, to such
possible changes of plan that any
unexpected turn of events may bring
about./I noticed two cars approaching
in such a manner that seemed to
indicate they would both arrive at the
junction together./The first zone,
where the regulations are not so
onerous, covers such tracts where
there are no real signs of war (read
the or those for such ; or as show for
where there are).
2. Such that rel .){such that conj.
Now & then a s. that for s. as is
perhaps due to the writer’s hesitat¬
ing between two ways of putting
a thing, one with the relative as &
the other with the conjunction that,
* fi ?ally achieving neither, but
stumbling into the relative that.
They will never learn the truth from
this system of military inquiries, be¬
cause they will only see the results if
those are such that the Government
would like them to see (such as the
Government would like them to see ?
or such that the Government would
like them to be seen ?).// cannot
think that there is such a different
level of intelligence among English¬
men & Germans that would prevent
similar papers from being a profitable
property in Great Britain (such . . .
as would prevent ? or such . . . that
it would prevent ?).
3. Such exclamatory or appealing.
The Earl of Derby was the titular
King of Man—a piece of constitu¬
tional antiquarianism of which Scott
made such splendid use in ‘ Peveril
of the Peak ’. Such is liable to the
same over-use of this kind as so ;
reference to so 3 will make further
illustration unnecessary here. Use
& over-use of an idiom are different
things, & there is no need to avoid
this such altogether ; in the above
quotation it may be noticed that
if the writer had said the piece of
antiquarianism instead of a piece
the such would have passed well
enough.
4. The illiterate such (= that, those,
it, them , &c.). The significance of
the epithet will be found explained
in Illiteracies, & half a dozen
examples with corrections will suf¬
fice :— Ilis seven propositions for
non-partisan legislation must appeal
to the common-sense of every man db
woman in the realm ; is it too much
to hope that such will combine to
render them realities ? (that all
will)./^4s a Canadian, with, I trust,
a fair knowledge of the causes which
led to the defeat of Sir Wilfrid Laurier
in the recent election, I have been
somewhat amused at some of the
editorial articles in portions of the
British Press; the claim that the
result of such election is an Im¬
perialistic victory is very far from the
truth (of that election). /We have seen
during the war how those persons in
humble circumstances who came sud¬
denly into possession of moneys spent
such i, C; in . , . (spent them)./
SUCH, 5
582
SUDAN(ESE)
That there is a void in a millionaire's
life is not disproved by anyone showing
that a number of millionaires do not
recognize such void (recognize it, or
the or that void )./But when it comes
to us following his life & example ,
in all its intricate details, all will,
I think, agree that such is impossible
(that that is)./^4n appeal to phil¬
anthropy is hardly necessary, the
grounds for such being so self-evident
(for it being)./// 1 am refused the
Sacrament I do not believe that 1 shall
have less chance of entering the King¬
dom of God than if 1 received such
Sacrament (received it).
5. Such —so. Most people have no
hesitation in saying such a small
matter, such big apples, with such
little justice, such conflicting evidence ;
others object that it should be so
small a matter, apples so big, with so
little justice, evidence so conflicting.
It must first be admitted that the
objectors are (with allowances for
phrases of special meaning) entitled
to claim the support of grammar.
In ‘ such a small matter ’ it is
usually small, not matter or small
matter, that is to be modified by such
or so, &, small being an adjective,
the adverb so is obviously the gram¬
matical word to do the job ; at the
same time, such a small matter,
though it usually means so sma 1
a matter, may also mean a small
matter of the kind that has been
described ; but, speaking generally,
the objectors have grammar on their
side. Shall we then be meek & mend
our ways at their bidding ? Why,
no, not wholesale. We will try to
say so 'wherever idiom does not pro¬
test or stiffness ensue ; for instance,
we will give up ‘with such little
iustice ’ without a murmur ; but
{hey cannot expect of us ‘ I never
saw apples so big ’ instead of such
big apples ’. And they must please
to remark that the such idiom has
so established itself that the othe
is often impossible without a c an g®
of order that suggests formality o
rhetoric ; so big apples ? so co
vincind evidence ? no ; the adjective
has to be deferred ( apples so big) in
a clearly artificial way ; but we
grant that ‘ so small a matter ’ does
strictly deserve preference over
‘ such a small matter ’, &, if so
partial a concession is worth their
acceptance, let it be made. Other
idioms that are no better than they
should be, & yet need not be ruth¬
lessly expelled from society, are
nice & long &c., try & manage it
&c., & perhaps the misplaced only.
6. Such as for as. Even the effects
of unfavourable weather can be par¬
tially counteracted by artificial treat¬
ment such as by the use of phosphates.
The repetition of by results in a
such as not introducing as it should
a noun (use), but a preposition (by)
a plain but not uncommon blunder.
Omit either such or by./Some are
able to help in one way, such as for
instance in speaking; some in
another , such as organization . The
second part is right ; the first should
be either in one way such as for
instance speaking, or in one way as
for instance in speaking ; such as
requires a noun (speaking), not an
adverbial phrase (in speaking), as
its completion. .
7. Suchlike. That the word is a
sort of pleonasm in itself, being
ultimately = solike-like, is nothing
to its discredit, such pleonasms
being numerous (cf. poulterer
pullet + -er+-er) ; but, whether as
adjective (barley, oats, cfc suchlike
cereals) or as pronoun■(«*««
masters, plumbers, <fc sucMite),
now usually left to the uneducated,
such being used as the a ^ct^ &
the like as the pronoun. The U
however, abstains from comment.
Sudan(ese), Soud-. The
that prevailed when the na ® ^
became familiar about of the
Soud- ; the nmth edhm ‘ I)der
Encycl. Brit, gives its art ^ eleventh
that name ; in the tern h t he
it has become Sudan, % ^ q{
OED describes as a J t he
Soudan T^e older to™ ^ „
advantages (1) ot bun 0
SUD
583
SUMMER
the French, (2) of precluding the
pronunciation su-, & (3) of being
probably still the more familiar to
ordinary people ; Sudan has the
merit, if it is one, of having the same
number of letters (without suggest¬
ing the same sound) as the Arabic
word, & the other of showing that
its user claims to know more than
his neighbours. Sou- is recom¬
mended ; see Pride of knowledge.
sudarium, sudatorium. PI. -ia.
suddenness. So spelt,
sue makes suable ; see Mute e.
sudde. So written,
suet makes suety ; see -t-, -tt-.
sufficient(ly) & enough. The words
are discussed under enough ; for
sufficient in the following extracts,
see the first paragraph of that
article : — So far as the building trade
is concerned the complaint we have
made to the Government is that
sufficient has not been done to get
materials organized./And there should
be sufficient of a historic conscience
left in the Midland capital to evoke
a large subscription.
suffix. See Technical terms.
Suffocate makes -cable ; see -able, 1.
suffrage. For the comparative
merits of female s. & woman s., see
female) ( woman.
suffragette. A more regrettable
formation than others such as leader¬
ette & flannelette, in that it does not
even mean a sort of suffrage as they
mean a sort of leader & of flannel,
& therefore tends to vitiate the
popular conception of the termina¬
tion’s meaning. The word itself
may now be expected to die, having
lost its importance; may its in¬
fluence on word-making die with it I
suffuse makes -sable ; -able 1, 2.
Sufl(sm), So-. The So- forms are
called by the OED obsolete variants,
sugar makes sugared & sugary, see
-RR-; & sugar candy (un-
nyphened), see Hyphens 3 B.
SMggwi, So spelt ; gerundive
-note, see -able 2.
suggestlo falsi. See Technical
*®RMs. Pronounce -tio f&'Lsi.
suit, suite, nn. Suite is pronounced
swet. The two words are the same,
& the differences of usage accidental
& variable ; but where, the sense
being a set, either form would seem
admissible, we do say at present
a suit of clothes, a suit of armour,
a suit of sails, the four suits at cards,
follow suit; & on the other hand
a suite (of attendants &c.), a suite of
rooms or apartments, a suite of
furniture or chairs.
Sukey. So spelt ; see -ey, -ie, -y.
sullenness. So spelt.
sully. For inflexions sec Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
sulphureous, sulphuric, sulphurous.
The last has differentiated pronun¬
ciations su'Ifurus & sulfur'us, so
that there are four adjectives to
divide the work. Sulphuric &
sulphurous (-ur'us) can for general
purposes be ignored as technical
terms in Chemistry like other -ic &
-ous pairs. Sulphureous & sulphur¬
ous (su'l-), which remain, have never
been effectively differentiated, & the
OED refers the reader for most
senses of one to definitions given
under the other. Differentiation
may be expected to come, & perhaps
the likeliest course for it to take &
therefore the best to fall in with
is that sulphurous, now the more
popular word, should take to itself
the secondary or extended senses,
& sulphureous be restricted to the
primary material ones meaning ‘ of
or containing sulphur ’ without the
specific limitations of sulphuric &
sulphurous (-ur'us). This would
give—though naturally the border¬
line is not quite sharp— sulphureous
gases, springs, smells, drugs, sub¬
stances, but sulphurous yellow, light,
torments, language, preachers.
sumach, -ac. The OED gives pre
cedence to the first spelling, & pro¬
nounces su'm&k or shoo'm&k.
summer. 1. St Luke's, St Martin's,
S. Each of these is often used when
the other would be the right one •
St Luke’s day is in October (18th),
St Martin’s in November (11th).
SUMMERSAULT
584
SUPERIOR
2. Summer time, summer-time, sum¬
mertime. The hrst is the daylight-
saving term ; in other senses either
of the others should be used ; see
Hyphens, group *business man.
summersault,-set. See somersault.
summon(s). 1. For summon &
send for, see Formal words. 2.
Summons, n., has pi. summonses.
3. Summon is the verb in ordinary
use ; summons should not be used
as a verb except in the special sense
to seine with a legal summons or issue
a summons against, & even in that
sense summon is equally good.
Sunday. For the adverbial use
(S. for on S.) see Friday.
SUnk(en)o For idiomatic use of the
two forms, see sink.
Sunna, -nah. The first is the
received spelling.
super , — supernumerary, superficial
measure, or superfine. See Cur¬
tailed words.
super-. The use of this as an abbre¬
viation for 4 of a superior kind
as in superman, super-Dreadnought,
supercritic, & scores or hundreds of
other words, is so evidently con¬
venient that it is vain to protest
when others indulge in it, & so
evidently barbarous that it is worth
while to circumvent it oneself when
one can do so without becoming
unintelligible. Super-cinema, mean¬
ing merely a cinema of exceptional
size or splendour, & not something
that transcends & thereby ceases to
be a cinema, may serve as a speci¬
men of the worse applications.
superb. See Positive words for a
caution on contexts to which the
word is unsuitable,
supererogation. For a work of s.,
see Hackneyed phrases.
superficies. Five syllables
shlez); pi. the same.
Superfluous words. That there
are such things in the language is
likely to be admitted, & perhaps it
might be safe even to hazard the
generality that they ought to be put
in a black list & cast out; but woe
to the miscreant who dares post
up the first list of proscriptions!
Brevity & timidity will therefore be
the marks of our specification ; the
victims will be mainly such as have
no friends, with just one or two of
other kinds slipped in to redeem the
experiment from utterly negligible
insignificance. Indeed, it is more
necessary to account for the tame¬
ness of the list than to defend its
boldness ; & for this purpose it
must be borne in mind that most of
the words naturally thought of as
conspicuously suitable for expulsion
(say meticulous, asset, protagonist,
individual, & the like), abominable
as they are in their prevalent modern
senses, are not superfluous, because
each of them has somewhere in the
background a sense or senses at least
worth preserving, & often of impor¬
tance ; the use of them needs to be
mended, but not ended, & they are
dealt with elsewhere. The list
follows ; reasons for the condemna¬
tion should be looked for under the
word concerned, unless a special
article is indicated : — dampen (-en
verbs) ; elevator ; emotive ; epopee ;
faience ; femineity & femininity
(feminineness) ; filtrate ; flamboy
ant; gentlemanlike ; habitude ; legih
matize & legitimize ; lithesome ; men
tality; minify ; olden, vb (-en verbs)
quieten ; Tighten (-en verbs) ; ro
tatory ; smoothen (-en verbs) ; sue
cedaneum ; un- come-at-able ; vice-
regent ; viceroyal.
uperior. 1 . For has few equals &
s., see Hackneyed phrases.
The patronizing use (a most s.
imari), in which one expects 1
understood always that tn P
n one calls s. is nevertneless one.
ferior, resembles the correspond!^
es of honest, worthy, & 8 ood ’ ™
oducing on the hearer an
vourable impression of the sp ;
S. to, not 5. than, is required In
iom ; but such is the power of
iviously cannot be described as
SUPERIORITY
585
SUPERIORITY
uneducated are sometimes capable
of treating s. as we all treat better or
greater (cf. prefer, with which the
same mistake is much more fre¬
quent) ; the quotations are pur¬
posely given at sufficient length to
show that the writers are not mere
blunderers :—Mr Ernie, on the other
hand, as we gather from his preface,
desired first to translate Homer, db in
looking about for a metre decided on
the hexameter as the most appropriate
& superior for this style of the heroic
than the blank or rhymed verse of the
great English masters (read better . . .
than, or s. . . . to)./ Whatever the con¬
ditions in the provinces—the present
inquiry has dealt only with the Metro¬
polis—able db public-spirited men
have refused to accept the dictation of
the B.M.A., dc are giving far superior
attention to the insured persons than
was possible under the cheap con¬
ditions of the old club practice (read
greater . . . than , or s. ... to what).
SUPERIORITY. Surprise a person
of the class that is supposed to keep
servants cleaning his own boots, &
either he will go on with the job
while he talks to you, as if it were
the most natural thing in the world,
or else he will explain that the
bootboy or scullery-maid is ill &
give you to understand that he is,
despite appearances, superior to
boot-cleaning. If he takes the
second course, you conclude that he
is not superior to it; if the first,
that perhaps he is. So it is with the
various apologies (to use an expres¬
sive colloquialism—if we may adopt
the current slang—as the streetboys
have it—in the vernacular phrase —
the “ push-bike ", if the word may be
permitted so to speak-—in homely
phrase—not to put too fine a point
upon it—if the word be not too vulgar
-—saving the reader's reverence) to
which recourse is had by writers
who wish to safeguard their dignity
& yet be vivacious, to combine
eomfort with elegance, to touch
pitch & not be defiled. They should
make up their minds whether their
reputation or their style is such as
to allow of their dismounting from
the high horse now & again without
compromising themselves ; if they
can do that at all, they can dispense
with apologies ; if the apology is
needed, the thing apologized for
would be better away. A grievance
once redressed ceases to be an electoral
asset (if we may use a piece of ter¬
minology which we confess we dis¬
like)./Turgenev had so quick an eye ;
he is the master of the vignette—a
tiresome word, but it still has to
serve./About one thing there is com¬
plete unanimity ; 44 Coalition " must
go ; “ it is not a Party name, dc in
any case it will not do at the next
election " ; to put it vulgarly, that
cock won't fight./M. Baron the
younger is amusing as the “ bounder "
Olivier ./When the madness motif was
being treated on the stage, Shakespeare
(as was the custom of his theatre)
treated it “for all it was worth"./
With its primary postulate, 44 steep "
as it is, we will not quarrel. /It is a
play that hits you, as the children
say, 44 bang in the eye "./The annual
conflict between the income-tax de¬
mand note db the January sales has
ended, it seems, in the more or less
complete triumph of what the Upper
Fifth would call the former./These
otherwise admirable paintings are
not carried far enough in the “finish "
which, to use an Irishism, should be
done before the painting is begun./
To make use of an overworked phrase,
the wall painting requires a more
severe application of 44 fundamental
bramwork "./England had been com¬
pelled, in homely phrase, to 4 knuckle
down ' to America./Its work was, if
we may use a somewhat homely
expression, 4 done to time './Palmer¬
ston is to all appearance what would
be vulgarly called 4 out of the swim \
For another form of superiority,
that of the famous 4 of course as
often exposed & as irrepressible as
the three- card trick, see course.
I add a note that I find scribbled
by my brother in his copy of The
King's English : —Some writers use
SUPERLATIVES
586
SUPERSTITIONS
a slang phrase because it suits them,
& box the ears of people in general
because it is slang ; a refinement on
the institution of whipping-boys, by
which they not only have the boy,
but do the whipping.
SUPERLATIVES: the naked kind,
stripped of its the or a. The problem
is not one of Germany alone ; many
of the other States which were in the
Central Alliance are in worst plight
for food , so far as can be gathered./
. . . addressed the Senate , declaring
that widest diversity of opinion exists
regarding the formation of a League
of Nations./An extraordinary an¬
nouncement is made tonight, which is
bound to stir profoundcst interest
among all civilized peoples, & to mark
a really new epoch in the story of
democracy./But Stoddard did not
strike the local note, whereas Stedman
could tell of Stuyvesant & the “ Dutch
Patrol ” in pleasantest fashion & in
accordance with the very tone of the
Irving tradition./The League of Na¬
tions is furnished xvith a task that
will call for utmost watchfulness
d- probably for the exercise of the full
power it can wield. /Mr Vanderlip is,
therefore, in closest touch with the
affairs of international finance.
If the reader will be good enough
to examine these one by one, he will
certainly admit tins much—-that
such superlatives are, for better or
worse, departures from custom, &
that in each sentence a change from
‘most -’ or 11 -cst ’ to ‘(a)
very -’ or 1 the most-’ or
‘ the --est ’ would be a return to
normal English. If he will next try
to judge, from the whole of the
specimens taken together, what
effect is produced by this artifice,
it may be hoped, though less con¬
fidently, that he will agree with the
following view. The writers have no
sense of congruity (see Incongruous
vocabulary), & are barbarically
adorning contexts of straightforward
businesslike matter with detached
scraps of poetry or exalted feeling ;
the impression on sensitive readers
is merely that of a queer simulated
emotionalism.
Superstitions. ‘ it is wrong to
start a sentence with “ But I
know Macaulay does it, but it is bad
English. The word should either be
dropped entirely or the sentence
altered to contain the word “ how¬
ever That ungrammatical piece
of nonsense was written by the
editor of a scientific periodical to
a contributor who had found his
English polished up for him in proof,
& protested ; both parties being
men of determination, the article
got no further than proof. It is
wrong to start a sentence with
‘ but ’ ! It is wrong to end a sen¬
tence with a preposition 1 It is
wrong to split an infinitive ! Sec
the article Fetishes for these A
other such rules of thumb & for
references to articles in wliich it is
hown how misleading their sweet
implicity is ; see also the article
ubstitute for an illustration oi
he havoc that is wrought by un-
itelligent applications of an unin-
elligent dogma. The best known of
uch prohibitions is that of the
plit infinitive, & tlie hold of that
pon the journalistic mind is well
hown in the following, which may
e matched almost daily. lh<
writer is reporting a theatre decree
or hat-removal : ‘ • - ■ th c Manage-
nent relics on thc cooperation o
,ublic to strictly enforce tins rule .
'wen a split infinitive (he eoinnn n s)
•laii be forgiven in so wcll-mtentio
: notice. Theatre-managers arc not
tylists ; the split this manager has
►erpetrated, is it not a hit t >
c to put him, irrelevantly, m .
nllory for it betrays thc journal*
bscssion.
Well, beginners may sornctini
md that it is as much as the<r j ^
re worth to resist, like the char ]
f 4 But their editors edicts,
he other hand, to let oneself 1* ^
ar possessed by conventio i ^ ^
rounds one has not exami ^
uke a hand in enforcing
SUPER VAC ANEO U S
587
SUPREME
other people is to lose the indepen¬
dence of judgement that, if not so
smothered, would enable one to
solve the numerous problems for
which there are no rules of thumb,
supervacaneous. A Superfluous
word.
supervise, not -vize ; see -ise.
supine. Tne grammatical noun
(see Technical terms) is pro-
nomiced su'pin. For the literary
adjective the orthodox pronuncia¬
tion is supi'n, & of six verse quota¬
tions in the OED five require that
accent; Shelley provides one of the
five, & also the sixth, in which
su'pin is natural, though not quite
necessary. But Recessive accent
is likely to prevail sooner or later, as
in canine &c.
supple. The fine mass of the head,
solidly yet supplely modelled, is set in
a particularly beautiful convention of
the hair. The adverb is supply, not
supplely ; cf. subtle. It is true
that the OED has found more
instances in print of -plely than of
-ply, & therefore on its historical
principles makes supplely the stan¬
dard form. But the pronunciation
is undoubtedly su'pll, not su'pul-li,
& the long spelling has been due to
the wish to dist.nguish to the eye
from supply (swpli') n. & vb ; such
devices are not legitimate except in
the last necessity, as with singeing
& singing ; & it is to be observed
that, whereas the -e- in singeing
selects the right of two possible
pronunciations, the -le- in supplely
suggests a wrong one. It is unfor¬
tunate that adjectives in -bble,
-ckle, -ddle, -ffle, -ggle, -pple, -ttle,
are few & not provided with adverbs
common enough to settle the ques¬
tion ; subtly is in fact the best
analogue, & its spelling, though
subtlety has been occasionally used
is now established. *
supplement. Noun sfi'pliment :
verb sfipllmg'nt or sii'pllm6nt; see
Noun & verb accent C.
supply, vb. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
supposal. See -al nouns.
supposedly. Four syllables if used ;
see -edly.
suppositious, supposititious. The
supposititious elector who imagined
that the Parliament Bill was a weapon
for show cf? not for use is, we venture
to say, a mythical being. It is often
assumed that the first form is no
more than an ignorant & wrong
variant of the other, like pacifist by
the side of pacificist (see -ist A).
Ignorant it often is, no doubt, the
user not knowing how to spell or
pronounce supposititious ; but there
is no reason to call it wrong;
suppositious & supposititious may
as well coexist, if there is work for
two words, as factious & factitious ;
&, if the support of analogy for the
shorter form is demanded, there are
ambitious, expeditious, seditious, nu¬
tritious, cautious , cf? oblivious, to
supply it. There are moreover two
senses to be shared,
viz spurious, & hypothetical. Sup¬
posititious is directly from the Latin
p.p. suppositus = substituted or put
in another’s place, & therefore has
properly the meanings foisted, coun¬
terfeit, spurious, pretended, ostensi¬
ble. Suppositious is from the Eng¬
lish supposition — hvpothesis (cf.
suspicious similarly "formed at an
earlier stage, in Latin), & therefore
may properly mean supposed, hypo¬
thetical, assumed, postulated, im¬
aginary. It does not follow that
suppositious is wanted ; probably
the work it might do is better done
the more familiar synonyms
above given ; it does follow that
supposititious should not be given,
as in the quotation at the head,’
senses proper to the synonyms of
suppositious, but should be confined
to those implying intent to deceive.
suppress makes suppressible, see
-able 2 ; & suppressor, see -or.
suppressedly. A bad form ; -edly.
suppresslo verl. See Technical
terms. Pronounce -er'-i.
supreme. See Positive words, &,
tor the s. sacrifice. Stock pathos.
SURCEASE
588
surcease, n. & vb, is a good examp’e
of the archaic words that dull
writers at uneasily conscious mo¬
ments will revive in totally unsuit¬
able contexts ; see Incongruous
vocabulary. The fact is that in
ordinary English the word is dead,
though the pun in Macbeth (& catch,
with his surcease, success) is a tomb¬
stone that keeps its memory alive ;
there are contexts & styles in which
the ghosts of dead words may be
effectively evoked ; but in news¬
paper articles & pedestrian writing
ghosts are as little in their element
as in Fleet Street at midday. The
following quotations are borrowed
from the OED : —It was carried on
in all weathers . . . with no surcease
of keenness./Private schools for boys
give four days ’ surcease from lessons./
There is no surcease in the torrent of
Princes . . . who continue to pour into
the capital./I. . . thereupon surceased
from my labors./They could never
surcease to feel the liveliest interest in
those wonderful meteoric changes./
Intrigues & practices . . . would of
necessity surcease.
These are all from 19th or 20th c.
writers ; but it should be added that
at least two of the verb examples
are American ; & if the verb is, as
seems likely, still alive in the U.S.,
American writers are naturally ex¬
empt from criticism on the point.
surd For the phonetic sense see
Technical terms.
surety. Pronounce shoor't!; many
verse examples show that the
disyllabic sound is no innovation,
surgeon. See physician.
surloin. See sirloin.
surly. Adv. surlily ; see -lily s.f. ;
the change of spelling from sirly
disguises the fact that -ly in surly is
the ordinary suffix, & perhaps ac¬
counts for surlily on the analogy of
jollily, sillily, holily.
surmise, not -ize ; see -ise.
surmisedly. Four syllables if used ;
see -edly, & use conjecturally &c.
surprisal. See -al nouns.
surprise. 1. Not -ize; see -ise.
2. The verb makes -sable ; see Mff n
e. 3. * I should not be surprised tf
the Chancellor of the Exchequer don
not agree with me.* Mr Asquith
added that ... If Mr Asquith really
said what the reporter attributes to
him, which may be doubted, he
meant 4 agreed * or 4 agreesnot
4 does not agree \ The mistake,
for other examples of which gee
Negatives, & not, is particularly
common after should not be surprised.
surprisedly. Fo ur syllables, if used;
see -edly.
surtout. OED pronounces sertd&'t
or sertoo' ; it may be thought that
ser'too represents a later develop¬
ment ; but the word is now so little
used that the question is of no
importance.
surveillance. Pronounce serv&'lam.
survey. Noun ser'va, verb serv&'j
see Noun & verb accent. For verb
inflexions see Verbs in -ie &c., 2.
Agent noun, surveyor , see -ob.
survive makes - vable, see Mute e ;
& survivor, see -or.
suspenders, = braces, is 4 Chiefly
U.S.’—OED ; to use it for braces in
England is to throw away the
advantage of having two names for
two things.
suspense, suspension. In the verbal
sense, = suspending, the second
the right. Suspense, though it still
retains that force in suspense oj
judgement, has become so i den tinea
with a state of mind that to revive
its earlier use puzzles the hearer.
In the following quotation it is clear
that suspense compels one to rean
the sentence twice, whereas 8Ut P*__
sion or suspending would have wen
understood at first sight •
state of war is inevitably the .
of Liberalism, & in all the
hope that it may also be the death J
Liberalism.
suspensible exists, but >■
not better than the normal
pendable ; see -able 2.
-1
SUSPICION
589
SWAPPING HORSES
suspicion. For s. = soup£on, see
Gallicisms.
sustain. Mr -, Master of the
- Hounds, has sustained a broken
rib db other injuries through his horse
falling. The very common idiom
here illustrated is described by the
OED as ‘ in modern journalistic
use ’ ; but with such abstract ob¬
jects as injury, loss, leak, bruise, &c.,
instead of broken rib it is as old as
the 15th c., & the extension is not
a violent one. Nevertheless, sustain
as a synonym for suffer or receive or
get belongs to the class of Formal
words, & is better avoided both for
that reason & for a stronger one :
if it is not made to do the work of
those more suitable words, it calls
up more clearly the other meaning
in which it is valuable, viz to bear
up against or stand or endure with¬
out yielding or perishing, as in
4 capable of sustaining a siege ’.
sustainedly. Four syllables, if
used ; see -edly.
Susy, -le. See -ey, -ie, -y.
suttee, sati. Use the first, & see
Didacticism, Mahomet, Pride of
KNOWLEDGE.
svelte. See French words.
Swabian. See Suabian.
Swan of Avon. See Sobriquets.
swap, swop. The OED prefers -ap.
Swapping horses while crossing
the stream, a notoriously hazardous
operation, is paralleled in speech by
changing a word’s sense in the
middle of a sentence, by vacillating
between two constructions either of
which might follow a word legiti¬
mately enough, by starting off with
a subject that fits one verb but
must have something tacitly sub¬
stituted for it to fit another, & by
other such performances. These
lapses are difficult to formulate & to
exemplify, & any exposition of their
nature naturally incurs the charge
°J Pedantry ; nevertheless, the air
of slovenliness given by them is so
fatal to effective writing that atten¬
tion must be called to them when¬
ever an opportunity can be made,
as by this claptrap heading.
Changing of a word’s sense ; interest
is peculiarly liable to maltreat¬
ment :— Viscount Grey's promised
speech in the House of Lords on
Reparations db inter-Allied debts
furnished all the interest naturally
aroused. Interest is here virtually,
though not actually, used twice—
the speech furnished interest, in¬
terest was aroused ; but what was
furnished was interesting matter, &
what was aroused was eager cur¬
iosity ; interest can bear either
sense, but not both in one sentence./
For while the Opposition beat their
drums as loudly as ever, it was well
known that there was very little behind
all this fuss, db that in the very
interests which they so furiously pro¬
tected they were anxious to meet the
Government half-way. Which stands
for interests ; they furiously pro¬
tected certain interests, i.e. certain
persons or sets of persons or rights
or privileges ; they were inclined to
compromise in some people’s inter¬
ests, i.e. in their behalf or favour or
name ; but behalf is not a person or
a privilege or the like. The difficulty
of expressing the inconsistency,
however, explains why the word
interest is often thus abused. For
similar treatment of other words
than interest, see Legerdemain.
Shifting from one to another con¬
struction. But supposing nothing
changed db this Pope, who is made
incompetent by the weight at once of
his virtues db his ignorances, enjoys
a long life, we should look for a great
decline in .. . Supposing is followed
first by an object ( nothing) & adjec¬
tival complement {changed), &
secondly by a substantival clause
(this Pope enjoys). Either is right
by itself, but to swap one for the
other means disaster.
Tacit modification of the subject
&c. This barbarism could be stopped
in a very short time , if it were made
a punishable offence to throw rubbish
into the street, db would have the added
value of reducing the army of scaven-
SWATH(E)
gers. It is not the barbarism, but
the stoppage of it, that would have
the added value. /Fifty per cent of
the weight could be knocked off
practically every new petrol vehicle
produced & yet be able to carry
exactly the same load. What would
carry the same load is not the 50 %
knocked off, but either the vehicle
without it or the other 50 % that
remained./iVfr A. C. Benson recalls
a pleasant fiction, supposed to have
happened to Matthew Arnold. A
fiction neither happens nor is sup¬
posed to happen to anyone ; a
fiction can be recalled, but before it
can be supposed to have happened
it must be tacitly developed into
a fictitious experience ; for it is
itself a statement or narrative & not
an event. See Haziness for other
specimens of similar confusion.
Swath(e). The agricultural noun is
spelt either way & pronounced
swawth or swbth or swadh ; sec
-tii & -dii ; the noun & verb meaning
wrap is steatite (swadh). The possi¬
ble differentiation is easy to see but
very unlikely to be accepted.
sweat, sweater. Victims of GEN¬
TLE LISA!.
sweet. Sweet brier, sweet oil, sweet
pea, sweet sultan, sweet ; william (or
.S’. IF.) should have no hyphens ; see
Hyphens 3 B.
sweety. So spelt ; see -i:v, -ih, -y.
swell. Swollen is the usual form of
the p.p., & that not less, but more.
! ban formerly. The chief use of
swelled as p.p. is now in swelled bead,
in which its supposed irregularity
mav have been a recommendation
as lending a homely expressiveness.
swim. The past swam &. p.p. steam
are now almost invariable, though
the OED has a Carlyle quotation
for swam p.p., & a Tennyson for
swum past.
swine. Sing. & pi. the same ; s.
makes swinish, see Mute e.
swing. Past usually swung, though
OED quotes for swang Wordsworth,
Tennyson, Gosse, & Belloc.
590
®_ sympathy
swing(e)ing. At the bottom mm
tripe, in a swinging tureen—(kM.
smith. A capacious one ? or qm
hung on pivots ? See Mutb e, 4 m
the -e- in the part, of swinge.
swivel has - lied , -Uing , Ac.; -ll-,
swop. See swap.
sybarite. So spelt,
sybil. See sibyl. This wrn»
spelling (the Greek is Sibulla) is
especially common in the modem
use as a feminine name.
syce, groom. So spelt ; see sick.
syllabize &c. A verb & a noun are
clearly sometimes needed for the
notion of dividing words into syl¬
lables. The possible pairs seem to
be the following (the number after
each word means—1, that it is in
fairly common use ; 2, that it is on
record ; 3, that it is not given in
OED) :—
syllabate 3 syllabation 2
syllabicate 2 syllabication 1
syllabify 2 syllabification 1
syllabize 1 syllabization 3
One lirst-class verb, two firet-clatf
nouns, but neither of those nouni
belonging to that verb. It is ubsurd
enough, & any of several ways out
would do ; that indeed is why none
of them is taken. The best tiling
would be to accept the most recog¬
nized verb syllabize, give it the now
non-existent noun syllabization, 4
relegate all the rest to the Supeb-
I'luous words ; but there is no
authority both willing & able to
issue such decrees.
syllabub. See sillauub.
syllabus. PI. -bl.
syllepsis. See Technical teems.
PI. -pses.
syllogism. Sec Technical teems.
Sylph. Sec SALAMANDER.
sylvan. See silvan.
symbol. For synonyms see Slow,
symbology. For the form, see *»»*
on pacif(ic)isl. But symbolology *•
not used. ,
sympathetic. The play, in spue V
sublime scenes dt poetry, is an Utus-
t rat ion <k a warning to artists woo
deny, or forget , that no powers oj
SYMPATHY
SYNONYMS
l
execution db no subordinate achieve¬
ment can compensate for a central
figure who is “ unsympathetic ", db
that it is better for a “ hero " to pro¬
voke active fear or hate than indiffer¬
ence or half-contemptuous pity./
Macbeth is not made great by the mere
loan of a poet's imagery, db he is not
made sympathetic, however adequately
his crime may be explained db pal¬
liated, by being the victim of a halluci¬
nation./Let me first say that Elsie
Lindlner is by no means sympathetic
to the writer of this paper ; if she
were, the tragedy of the book would be
more than one could bear. It will be
seen that in these passages the word
does not mean what the man in the
street understands by it, i.e. capable
of or prone to sympathy, but has an
esoteric sense peculiar to book-
reviewers & dramatic critics &
familiar only to their readers, i.e.
capable of evoking sympathy. In
the OED there is no vestige of such
a sense ; but in the French diction¬
aries it is easily found :—II se dit de
personnes qui ^prouvent de la sym-
pathie, ou qui se concilient la sym-
pathie (Littr^) ; qui inspire la
sympathie (Larousse). It is a
Literary critics’ word, & a Gal¬
licism, & the possibility of confusion
between the Gallic & the English
senses is so obvious that the literary
critic should deny himself the plea¬
sure of showing it off.
sympathy. The exception some¬
times taken to following s. with for
instead of with is groundless ; the
OED, under the sense compassion,
even puts for before with as the
normal construction. For the prin¬
ciple at issue, see different.
symposium. Pron. -o'ziwm; pi. -ia.
symptom. For synonyms see sign.
synaeresis, synaloepha, synaphea.
See Technical terms.
synchronize is not a word that we
need regret the existence of, since
there is useful work that it can do
better than another; but it is a
word that we may fairly desire to
see as seldom as we may, one of the
learned terms that make a passage
in which they are not the best
possible words stodgy & repellent;
it may be compared with the lists in
Popularized technicalities. The
extracts below, for instance, would
surely have been better without
it :— The lock-out mania, therefore,
has synchronized [coincided ?] with
an increased willingness for sacrifice
on the part of the men./Founder's
Day, annually observed at the Charter-
house, synchronizes this year with
[is also, this year,] the tercentenary of
Sutton's Charity./A movement of
Russian troops to the Caucasus was
ordered . . . This movement synchron¬
ized with [There were at the same
time] reports of an extensive move¬
ment of Turkish troops near the Per¬
sian frontier./The winter solstice,
which north of the Equator synchron¬
izes with [determines] the first day of
the winter quarter, occurs at six
minutes to eleven tonight.
syncopation. See Technical terms.
syncope. For the sense in gram¬
mar, see Technical terms. Three
syllables (-pi).
synecdoche, synesis, synizesis. See
Technical terms.
SYNONYMS, in the narrowest sense,
are separate words whose meaning,
both denotation & connotation, is
so fully identical that one can always
be substituted for the other without
change in the effect of the sentence
in which it is done. Whether any
® ucI ] perfect synonyms exist is
doubtful ; gorse & furze may perhaps
be a pair ; but if it is a fact that one
is much more often used than the
other, or prevails in a different
geographical or social region, none
of which distinctions is apparent
from the OED quotations, then
exchange between them does alter
the effect on competent hearers, &
the synonymy is not perfect. At
any rate, perfect synonyms are
extremely rare.
Synonyms in the widest sense are
words either of which in one or
other of its acceptations can some-
SYNONYMS
592
times be substituted for the other
without affecting the meaning of a
sentence ; thus it does not matter
(to take the nearest possible ex¬
ample) whether I say a word has
‘ two senses ’ or 4 two meanings ’,
& sense & meaning are therefore
loose synonyms ; but if 4 He is a
man of sense ’ is rewritten as 4 He
is a man of meaning ’, it becomes
plain that sense & meaning are far
from perfect synonyms ; see field,
& sign, for sets of this kind.
Synonyms, or words like in sense
but unlike in look or sound, have as
their converse homonyms & homo¬
phones, or words like in look or
sound but unlike in sense. The
pole of a tent or coach or punt, &
the pole of the earth or the sky or
a magnet, are in spite of their
identical spelling separate words &
homonyms. Gauge & gage , not
spelt alike, but so sounded, are
homophones.
Misapprehension of the degree in
which words are synonymous is
responsible for much bad writing of
the less educated kind. From the
notion that conservative is a syn¬
onym of moderate, as it is when
compared with radical in politics,
come the absurdities, illustrated
under the word, of its use with
estimate &c. ; so with protagonist
(& champion ), meticulous (& scru¬
pulous), regard (& consider), optim¬
istic (& hopeful), substitution (&
replacement), dilemma (& difficulty),
ere (& before), save (& except),
EXTENUATE (& eXCUSe), FEASIBLE
(& possible), ilk (& name), per¬
centage (& part), proportion (&
portion), re (& concerning), as well
as numberless others. To appre¬
ciate the differences between partial
synonyms is therefore of the utmost
importance. There are unluckily
two obstacles to setting them out in
this book. One is that nearly all
words are partial synonyms, & the
treatment of them all from this
point of view alone would fill not
one but many volumes ; the other
is that synonym books in which
SYNONYMS
differences are analysed, engrossing
as they may have been to the active
party, the analyst, offer to the
passive party, the reader, nothing
but boredom. Everyone must, for
the most part, be his own analyst;
& no-one who does not expend,
whether expressly & systematically
or as a half-conscious accompani¬
ment of his reading & writing, a
good deal of care upon points of
synonymy is likely to write well.
A writer’s concern with synonyms
is twofold. He requires first the
power of calling up the various
names under which the idea he has
to express can go ; everyone has this
in some degree ; everyone can
develop his gift by exercise ; but
copiousness in this direction varies,
& to those who are deficient in it
ready-made lists of synonyms are
a blessed refuge, even if the ease
they bring has as doubtful an effect
on their style as the old Gradus
ad Parnassum on the schoolboy’s
elegiacs. Such lists, to be of much
use, must be voluminous, & those
who need them should try Roget’s
Thesaurus or some other work de¬
voted to that side of synonymy.
Secondly, he requires the power of
choosing rightly out of the group at
his command, which depends on his
realizing the differences between its
items. As has been implied already,
such differences cannot be ex¬
pounded for a language in anythin,
less than a vast dictionary devote*
to them alone ; no attempt at it
has been made in this book except
in cases where experience shows
warnings to be necessary. Still, a
book concerned like the present wan
English idiom in general cannot but
come into frequent touch wi
synonymy ; & those who wish
pursue that particular branch
idiom will find the following list ot
articles (in addition to those P „
viously referred to) useful as
guide:—act (n.), admission, apt,
asset, assure, authentic, hroad!
benign, besides, big, bloom,
burlesque, category, cease,
SYNONYMITY
593
TACTILE
monial, certitude, cheerful, classic,
clime, commonplace, conciseness,
connote, continual, continuance, con¬
trary, countenance, credence, de¬
cided, defective, definite, deism,
delusion, dower, due, duteous, effec¬
tive, England, enough, enteric,
entity, epistle, especially, essence,
essential, exceedingly, explicit, ex¬
terior, facile, faience, falsehood,
fatalism, faun, female (bis), festal,
fir, floor, foam, forceful, foreword,
Formal words, frantic, friar, furze,
Gallic, garret, Genteelism, glossary,
gourmand, Grecian, gulf, happening,
harmony, Hebrew, horrible, idio¬
syncrasy, illegible, include, Incongru¬
ous vocabulary, innate, intensive,
intuition, jargon, jocose, judicial,
lampoon, legislation, libel, Literary
words, littoral, Long variants, luxuri¬
ant, male, malignancy, masterful,
maunder, mentality, minify, mole¬
cule, monachal, mutual, Needless
variants, observance, physician, pi¬
geon, piteous, plenteous, polity, por¬
celain, practicable, proposition, pur¬
port, receipt, requirement, resort,
reversion, shall, that (rel. pr.), tint,
transparent.
synonymity, synonymy. There is
work for both words, the first mean¬
ing synonymousness, & the second
the subject & supply of synonyms.
synopsis. PI. -pses.
syntax. See Technical terms.
synthesis. PI. - theses . The scien
tific sound of the word often tempts
the pretentious to use it instead ol
more appropriate words such as
combination, alliance , or union : A
flickering gleam on the subject mat
be found in a pamphlet called 4 Tht
Case against Home Rule ', by Mi
Amery, which also propounds tht
new idea of a synthesis between tht
tariff db the opposition to Home Rule.
synthetize, not synthesize, is the
nght formation.
syphon, syren. See siphon, siren.
Syrisc, Syrian. There is the same
difference in application as between
Arabic & Arab(ian).
syringe. Pron. sl'rini. not sTrf'ni
syringitis. See Greek g.
syrup, syrupy. So spelt, the first
by usage in England ; for the
second, see -p-, -pf-. Golden syrup
is, outside the grocer’s, a Genteel¬
ism for treacle.
systemic, as compared with the
regular systematic, is excused by its
usefulness in distinguishing a sense
required in physiology &c. 4 of the
system or body as a whole ’ ; other
wrong formations, systemist, syslem-
ize, &c., have no such excuse, &
systematist &c. should be invariable.
systole. Pronounce si'stol!.
syzygy* Pronounce
Greek g) or si'ziji.
T
si'zigl (see
tabes. Pronounce ta'bez.
tableau (vivant), table-d hdte, ta-
blier. See French words.
taboo. Accent on last syllable ;
though this accent is English only,
it is established English, & to correct
it is pedantry ; to spell tabu (except
in ethnological dissertations) is no
better; see Pronunciation, &
Pride of knowledge. Past & p.p.
usu. tabooed, sometimes (see -ed &
’d) taboo'd.
tabula (rasa). PI. - lae (- sae ).
tabulate makes ‘table ; see -able 1.
tache. See French words.
tack. Confusion between the nau¬
tical word used figuratively & tact
(/ think we have been on the wrong
tact) is. not unknown in speech,
though it seldom gets into print.
tactics. See strategy for the
distinction.
tactile)(tactual. Why two words ?
And, there being two, is any useful
differentiation either established or
possible ? The existence of tactile
is sufficiently explained by the de¬
sire for a form corresponding to a
large class of adjectives that mean
having the power or quality of doing
or suffering some action—contrac¬
tile, ductile, erectile, fictile, fissile,
flexile, pensile, prehensile, protru-
TAENIA
594
T & -ED
sile, retractile, sessile, tensile, &
textile, to omit more familiar words
such as agile, docile, fragile, &
volatile. And the existence of
tactual is sufficiently explained by
a natural preference for tactually
over tactilely. But, in contrast with
the differentiation between agile &
actual, textile & textual, our pair are
used almost indiscriminately. Care¬
ful writers should confine tactile to
the meaning capable of feeling or
being felt by touch, & apply it to
organs & qualities, while tactual
should mean of or by touch & be
more generally applied— tactual tests,
sensation, anaesthesia, union, values.
The point is that the -ual words be¬
long to Latin abstract nouns in -us,
-iis, & the -ile words to Latin verbs,
& that on the whole their meanings
are true to that difference, however
little we may know or remember it.
taenia. PI. - niae .
Taffy. See Sobriquets.
tailoress. Feminine designations.
take makes talcable ; see Mute e.
talc makes talcky.
talent)(genius. Dr Henry Bradley,
in the OED, sums up the familiar
contrast thus :—‘ It was by the
German writers of the 18th c. that
the distinction between “ genius ”
& “ talent ”, which had some foun¬
dation in Fr. usage, was sharpened
into the strong antithesis which is
now universally current, so that the
one term is hardly ever defined
without reference to the other. The
difference between genius & talent
has been formulated very variously
by different writers, but there is
general agreement in regarding the
former as the higher of the two, as
“ creative ” & “ original ”, & as
achieving its results by instinctive
perception & spontaneous activity,
rather than by processes which
admit of being distinctly analysed .
talkative. Though a_ Hybrid de¬
rivative, the word is much too
firmly established to be attacked ;
but it is worth while, with a view to
discouraging imitation, to point out
that among 150 known words in
-ative (see Walker’s Rhyming Dic¬
tionary) t. is the only one in which
-ative has been appended to a non-
Latin verb.
tally, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
tains. PI. of the word meaning
ankle &c., tali ; pi. of the word
meaning slope &c., taluses. The
first comes to us from Latin, the
second from French.
tame makes -mable ; see Mute e.
tan, = tangent. Curtailed words.
-T & -ED. Typical words are be¬
reaved & bereft, burned & burnt,
dreamed & dreamt, kneeled & knelt,
Leaned & leant, leaped & leapt,
[earned & learnt, smelled & smelt,
spelled & spelt, spilled & spilt,
spoiled & spoilt, tossed & tost.
In the last of these the point is
purely one of spelling, & the sound
is the same either way ; there are
many other verbs of which that is
true (husht, kist, whipt, curst, cookt,
&c.), & individual writers make a
practice of using the short form as
a piece of spelling reform, a time-
saver, or an eccentricity ; whichever
the motive, the effect is with most
words eccentric ; but tost, esp. in
p.p. compounds such as storm-tost,
is current, by the side of tossed.
Of the rest the spelling may affect
the sound in some, & does affect it
in others. Thus, burned may be
sounded with d, but perhaps most
even of those who spell it so sound
it as with t, whereas leaped & leapt
are pronounced by ev e r y° ne with
different vowels—Iept, & lept. me
advice here offered is to use the -t
spelling in both classes, & that in the
face of the surely surprising fig ur ^
to be given below ; it will hardly
denied that most people say bernt
& 16pt, not bernd & lept, & «»*
formitv between the written &
spoken word is worth secunng
where, since both spellings
already in use, it costs nothing- A
present, however, the -ed forms
prevail in print over those in -t
TANTALIZE
most of our list; & it should be
added that, if the past tense were
distinguished from the p.p., the
preponderance of -ed for it would be
slightly greater. The figures are
arrived at by counting the occur¬
rences in all OED quotations of the
19th & 20th cc.; the first figure for
each word is the number for -ed,
the second for -t.
1. toss—23, 3
2. burn—7, 16 (see also burn)
learn—5, 0
smell—2, 8
spell—4, 4
spill—8, 17
spoil—9, 5 (see below)
3. bereave—3, 3 (see also bereave)
dream—5, 3 (see also dream)
kneel—3, 2
lean—12, 2
leap—7, 5
The figures for spoil are exclusive
of examples in which -ed alone is
possible ; that is so in the older
sense strip (as opp. damage). On
class 3 it is worth while to remark
that there are so many similar verbs
in which the -t form is now the only
one (creep, deal, feel, keep, leave,
mean, sleep, sweep, weep, &c.) that
the adoption of dreamt &c. in print
need expose no-one to the charge of
eccentricity.
tantalize. To the British motor in¬
dustry Free Trade has become as
tantalizing as a red rag to a bull.
See Slipshod extension. He who
is tantalized is usually irritated, but
he who is irritated is comparatively
seldom tantalized ; & to apply t. to
a wrong kind of irritation is to
betray ignorance.
tant solt peu. See French words.
Taoism. Pronounce tow'izm.
tapis. See French words.
tar, = sailor. See Sobriquets.
targeted. So spelt j see -t-, -tt-.
targum. PI. -ms ; see -um.
tany, vb. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
tarsus. PI. - st .
tart)(ple. The current distinction
is that a tart contains fruit or swept
595
TAUTOLOGY
stuff, & a pie meat or savoury stuff ;
but the earlier distinction was that
a tart was not, & a pie was, closed
in with pastry above ; & as relics
of the old use we retain mince pie as
the only possible form, & apple pie
& cherry pie as names of a trap bed
& a flower, though more or less
superseded by - tart in their
primary senses.
Tartar, Tatar. The second spelling
may well be left to the ethnologists ;
see Pride of knowledge.
tassel makes -lied ; see -ll-, -l-.
taste, vb, makes tastable ; Mute e.
tasty (so spelt, see Mute e) has
been displaced, except in unedu¬
cated or facetious use, in its primary
sense by savoury & in its secondary
by tasteful.
Tatar. See Tartar.
tattler. Now so spelt ; formerly,
& esp. in the name of the 18th-c.
periodical, tatler.
tattoo makes tattooed or tattoo'd :
see -ed & ’d.
TAUTOLOGY (lit. * saying the same
thing ’, i.e. as one has already said)
is a term used in various senses.
To repeat the words or the substance
of a preceding sentence or passage
may be impressive & a stroke of
rhetoric, or wearisome & a sign of
incompetence, mainly according as
it is done deliberately or uncon¬
sciously ; in either case it may be
called tautology (though the word
is m fact seldom used except in
reproach), but it is with neither of
these kinds that we are here con-
cerned. Another sense is the allow-
ing of a word or phrase to recur
without point while its previous
occurrence is still unforgotten ; this
kind of t. will be found fully dis¬
cussed in the articles Repetition
& Elegant variation ; it is of
great importance as an element in
style, but need not here be treated
again. Yet another form of t. is
that dealt with in Pleonasm 2, in
which synonyms, either capable of
serving the purpose by itself, are
TAX
596
TAX
conjoined, as in save & except.
Again, the word is sometimes ap¬
plied to identical propositions such
as ‘ I don’t like my tea too hot ’ ;
for such statements see the truism
section of commonplace.
What remains to be illustrated here
is the way in which writers who are
careless of form & desirous of
emphasis often fail to notice that
they are wasting words by express¬
ing twice over in a sentence some
part of it that is indeed essential but
needs only one expression. It is
true that words are cheap, &, if the
cost of them as such to the writer
were the end of the matter, it would
not be worth considering ; the
intelligent reader, however, is wont
to reason, perhaps unjustly, that if
his author writes loosely he probably
thinks loosely also, & is therefore
not worth attention. A few ex¬
amples follow, & under both 2 &
equally as 2 will be found collec¬
tions of the same kind of t. '.—The
motion on constitutional reforms aims
at placing women on the same
equality with men in the exercise of
the franchise (As no other equality
has been in question, same &
equality are tautological ; m the
same position as, or on an equality
with)./The wool profits were again
made the subject of another attack by
Mr Mackinder last night (U mi t
either again or another)./May 1 be
permitted to state that the activities of
the Club are not limited only to
aeronautics? (Limited & only are
tautological ; limited to, or directed
only to)./It is sheer pretence to sup¬
pose that speed & speed alone is the
only thing which counts (Omit either
tfc speed alone, or only).
tax & some synonyms— cess, cus¬
toms, due, duty, excise, fee, S abe ^
heriot, impost, levy, octroi, rate, scot
<fc lot, toll, tribute. With such sets o
words it is often converuent to have
a conspectus of the distinctions &
be saved the labour of turning them
up for comparison in separate dic¬
tionary articles. Such convenience
is all that is here aimed at, a rough
definition of each word being given
after the OED’s definition of tax
itself & its note thereon.
OED on tax :—(Definition) A com¬
pulsory contribution to the support of
government, levied on persons, pro¬
perty, income, commodities, trans¬
actions, etc., now at fixed rates,
mostly proportional to the amount
on which the contribution is levied.
(Note) ‘ Tax ’ is the most inclusive
term for these contributions, esp.
when spoken of as the matter of
taxation, & in such phrases &s direct
& indirect tax, including also similar
levies for the support of the work of
such local or specific bodies as county
or municipal councils, poor law or
school boards, etc. But in British
practice few of the individual imposts
are called by the name, the most
notable being the Income tax, Land
tax, & Property tax (also dog-tax,
match-tax, window-tax), the rest being
mostly styled ‘ duties ’, as excise, im¬
port, export, estate, house, stamp, death
duties, etc. The ‘ taxes ’ levied by
local bodies are usually called rates ,
e. g. borough, county, poor, school,
water rate, etc.
cess, = rate or tax, but chiefly in
local use, esp. in Ireland, Scotland,
& India. . ,
customs, payment levied upon im¬
ports from foreign countnes; cl.
6XCZS6. a. 4-Vip
due, any obligatory P a 3™ en ‘-
nature being usually specified byan
attributive noun, as harbour, marm,
‘"duty, tax levied on specific article,
or transactions, not on persons ,
also the note on to® above.
excise, duty charged on home f^
before they can be sold ; cf. custonw
fee regulation sum P a y aD |® Yl
public official or to PF ofe “XrmS
gabelle, a tax, but esp. the Frencn
pre-Revolution salt-tax. _ nd
due to lord of manor on tenant
decease. . moTC inde-
impost , a tax m the more
TAXI
597 TECHNICAL TERMS
finite sense, i. e. when tax is not to
be taken as contrasted with rate,
levy, exaction from every person
concerned of an equal amount or an
amount proportional to his pro¬
perty.
octroi, duty charged on articles
before they are admitted into a
town.
rate, amount of assessment on pro¬
perty for local purposes ; see also
the note on tax above.
scot <& lot, a tax levied by a muni¬
cipal corporation in proportionate
shares upon its members for the
defraying of municipal expenses.
toll, fixed charge for access or
passage or permission.
tribute, periodical payment made in
token of submission or as price of
protection by a State or person to
another.
taxi. PI. taxis better than -ies : cf.
-o(e)s 5 & 6.
teacheress. See Feminine desig¬
nations .
teasel, teazle. The OED treats the
first as the standard form,
tec. See Curtailed words.
Technical terms of rhetoric,
grammar, logic, prosody, diplomacy,
literature, &c., that a reader may
be confronted with or a writer have
need of. The list is very far from
exhaustive; & the principle of
selection has been to omit at one
extreme the words of which most
people who are given to reading at
all may be assumed to know the
me , an * a ?’ ^ a t the other those so
unfamiliar that no sensible writer
would use them unless he were
addressing experts or students. The
dostgn is to give the briefest service¬
able definition, & an illustration, of
each term; & they are roughly
classified as Rhet.(orical), Gram.
(matical), Log.(ical), Pros.(odical),
Dipl.(omatic), Lit.(erary), & c . Some
terms are included of which no
account is needed beyond what is
£ ve n in their alphabetical place in
the Dictionary ; these are printed
itt small capitals. Cross references
in italics with above or below are to
items in this article.
absolute (Gram.) ; ‘ freed \ An
adj. or a trans. vb is a. when the
adj. has no noun, or the vb no
object. Fortune favours the brave ;
If looks could kill. See also Abso¬
lute construction.
acatalectic (Pros.) ; ‘ not stopping
short ’. A verse or metre is a. when
its last foot is complete ; cf. cata-
lectic below. ‘ Ma'ny/me'n &/ma'ny
/wo'men is a trochaic dimeter a.
accidence (Gram.) ; ‘ the things
that befall (words) \ The part of
grammar concerned with inflexions,
or the forms that words can take ;
a book of paradigms. Cf. syntax
below.
ad captandum (Rhet.) ; * for catch¬
ing (the common herd ’, vulgus).
Applied to unsound specious argu¬
ments. An a. c. presentation of the
facts.
affix (Gram.) ; ‘ thing fastened on ’.
A term including both prefixes &
suffixes. What is the stem when all
affixes are removed ?
a fortiori (Log.) ; ‘ from yet firmer
ground ’. Introducing a fact that,
if one already accepted is true, must
also & still more obviously be true.
It could not have been finished in a
week ; a. f. not in a day.
alcaics (Pros.) ; ‘ verses of Alcaeus ’.
A four-line Greek & Latin stanza :
--- — bj s
- V - yj -
—
Imitated by Tennyson in :
O mighty-mouthed inventor of har¬
monies,
O skilled to sing of time or eternity.
God-gifted organ-voice of Eng¬
land,
Milton, a name to resound for
ages !
alexandrine (Pros.) ; origin doubt¬
ful. A six-foot iambic line, i. e. one
foot longer than that of blank verse ;
the normal line in French verse (but
see also senarius below), & ending
each stanza in Spenserians. (A
needless Alexandrine ends the song)
TECHNICAL. TERMS
598
ANTICLIMAX
That like/a wound/ed snake/drags
its/slow length/along.
allegory (iihet.) ; ‘ other wording
A narrative of which the true mean¬
ing is to be got by translating its
persons & events into others that
they are understood to symbolize.
The Faerie Queen & The Pilgrim’s
Progress are aa. For synonymy see
SIMILE.
alliteration (Rhet.) ; 4 letter-tag-
ging ’. The noticeable or effective
use in a phrase or sentence of words
beginning with or containing the
same letter or sound. A/ter li/e’s
/it/ul fever ; In a summer season
when soft was the sun.
amphibol(og)y (Log.) ; 4 aiming
both ways ’. A statement so ex¬
pressed as to admit of two gram¬
matical constructions each yielding
a different sense. Stuff a cold &
starve a fever appears to be two
sentences containing separate direc¬
tions for two maladies, but may also
be a conditional sentence meaning
If you are fool enough to stuff a cold
you will produce & have to starve
a fever.
anacoluthon (Gram.) ; inconse¬
quent matter ’. A sentence in which
there is wrongly substituted for the
completion of a construction some¬
thing that presupposes a different
beginning. Can I not make you
understand that if you don t get
reconciled to your father what is to
happen to you ? (the that construction
requires a statement, not a question,
to complete it). Pliny speaks ot
divers engaged in the strategy ot
ancient warfare, carrying tubes in
their mouths & so drew the necessary
air down to their lungs.
anacrusis (Pros.) ; ‘ a recoil . A
syllable (or more), in some metres
invariable & in some optional, before
the point at which the reckoning of
the normal feet begins. In the
couplet following, each line is a
trochaic dimeter catalectic, but the
first has not & the second has a. :
Ciearer/loves sound/other/ways ;
I/miss my /little/human/praise
anagram (Lit.) ; 4 rewriting \ A
shullfing of the letters of a word or
phrase resulting in a significant
combination. Bunyan tells his
readers that John Bunyan anagram’d
makes nu hony in a B (new honey in
a bee).
analogy (Log., Gram.); 4 accor¬
dance with proportion ’. Inference
or procedure based on the presump¬
tion that things whose likeness in
certain respects is known will be
found or should be treated as alike
also in respects about which know¬
ledge is limited to one of them.
The conclusion that a State, because
its development in some respects
resembles that of a person, must by
lapse of time grow feeble & die is
analogical. Since opera resembles
drama both in being the name of
a play & in ending in -a, analogy
provides opera with the (incorrect)
adj. operatic to match the rightly
formed dramatic. For other ex¬
amples, see Analogy.
anapaest (Pros.); ‘ struck back .
A metrical foot, . And his
co/horts were gleam/ing with pur/pie
db gold is an anapaestic dimeter or
four aa. , . . ..
anaphora (Rhet.); bnngmg back .
Marked repetition of a word or
phrase in successive clauses or
sentences. At her feet he bowed he
fell, he lay down : at her feet he
bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there
he fell down dead. ,
anastrophe (Rhet.); ‘ t*™"**:
Upsetting, for effect, of such norm
order as preposition before noun or
obiect after verb. No war or
battle’s sound Was heard
I around. Me he restored, & him he
h anff/enult (Gran,.) ; ‘ before the
nearly last Last syllable but two
of a word. In laboratory the a.
.ra- penult -to-* & ultima - ry.
anticlimax (Rhet.) ; ‘ cli .
effect of a climax by a fina1 item ^
inferior importance. i the
the acts of Asa, **»•"*£* not
TECHNICAL TERMS 599
written m the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Judah ? Nevertheless
in the time of his old age he was
diseased in his feet.
antistrophe( Pros.); ‘counter-turn\
The part of a Greek chorus chanted
in reply to the strophe & exactly
reproducing its metre. A short
specimen (Aesch. P. V. 414 foil.,
transl. Whitelaw) of strophe & a. is:
And Aria’s warlike
A PRIORI
And dwellers by the
Colchian shore,
Maidens, of battle
unafraid,
And Scythian hordes
that range
At earth’s remotest
verge
Round the Maeotic
pool:
flower of men,
All they, whose for¬
tress-city frowns
Near Caucasus, high-
perched ;
Wild host, whose
battle-cry
Shrills mid the charg¬
ing spears.
antithesis (Rhet.); * placing op¬
posite . Such choice or arrance¬
ment of words as emphasizes a con¬
trast. Crafty men contemn studies ;
simple men admire them ; & wise
men use them.
aonst(G ram.); ‘undefined’. The
Greek past tense corresponding to
Lnghsh chose &c. ; so named as not
being definitely perfect or imperfect
(like had chosen, a perfect tense, or
was choosing, an imperfect tense) ;
applied also to any such undefined
tense, e. g. to 1 choose in opposition
to 1 am choosing & I have chosen,
aphaeresis (Gram.); ‘ taking away ’.
The loss of an initial letter, syllable,
«c. Special was formerly especial
adder naddre, & cute acute. Cf.
syncope , apocope, below.
aphetic (Gram.) ; ‘ letting go ’.
An adj. now often used instead of
tne rare aphaeretic & meaning ‘ re-
sultmg from aphaeresis or aphesis ’
—the latter a lately coined word to
express gradual & unintentional
aphaeresis as in squire (esquire),
shun (attention).
apocope (Gram.); ‘cutting off’,
the loss of a final letter or syllable
or more. My, curio, cinema, were
tormeriy mine, curiosity, cinemato¬
graph. Cf. syncope below, & aphae¬
resis above.
apodosis (Gram.); ‘paying back’.
The main clause in a conditional
sentence, so called as satisfying the
expectation raised by the preceding
protasis, but retaining the name
even when the protasis follows. If
he would he could ; He could if he
would ; in each form the a. is he
could, & the rest the protasis.
(Rhet.); ‘fallingsilent’.
Significant breaking off so that the
hearer must supply the unsaid words.
If we should fail —. Oh, go to -/
a posteriori (Log.) ; ‘ from the
hinder end ’• Working back from
effects to causes, i.e. inductively.
God 's in his heaven — all ’s right with
the world is an a posteriori inference
if it means The world is so clearly
good that there must be a god in
heaven ; but an a priori inference
if it means that since we know there
is a god, the state of the world must
be right.
apostrophe (Rhet.) ; ‘ a turning
away ’. Words addressed to a pre¬
sent or absent person or thing &
breaking the thread of discourse.
There is not wind enough to twirl
The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can.
Hanging so light, & hanging so high.
On the topmost twig that looks up
at the sky. *
Hush, beating heart of Christabel f
Jesu, Maria, shield her well!
She folded her arms beneath her
cloak,
And stole to the other side of the
oak.
apposition (Gram.); ‘ putting to ’.
I he placing of a second description
side by side with that by which
something has first been denoted,
the second being treated as gram¬
matically parallel with the first,
oimon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me ?
a Priori (Log.) ; ‘ from the earlier
part . Working forward from known
or assumed causes to effects,i.e. de¬
ductively. For an example, see a
posteriori above.
arguing in a circle (Log.). The
basing of two conclusions each upon
the other. That the world is good
TECHNICAL TERMS
600
BALLADE
follows from the known goodness of
God ; that God is good is known
from the excellence of the world he
has made.
argumentum ad - (Log.) ; ‘ argu¬
ment directed to -\ a. a.
hominem, one calculated to appeal
to the individual addressed more
than to impartial reason ; a. a.
crumenam (purse), one touching the
hearer’s pocket ; a. a. baculum
(stick) or argumentum baculinum,
threat of force instead of argument ;
a. a. ignorantiam, one depending for
its effect on the hearer’s not knowing
something essential ; a. a. populum,
one pandering to popular passion ;
a. a. verecundiam (modesty), one to
meet which requires the opponent to
offend against decorum.
arsis (Pros.) ; ‘ raising The
more emphatic part of a foot, e. g.
the first syllable of a dactyl or
trochee, & the last of an anapaest
or iambus ; cpp. thesis. This is the
Latin & the prevailing modern use,
reversed from the original Greek ;
since the Greek meanings are still
sometimes preferred, confusion is
not unknown. The accented syl¬
lables are in arsis in Fro'ggy wou Id
a woo'ing go' Whe'ther his mother
would le't him or no' ; And so' the
poor do'g had no'ne.
aspirate (Gram.) ; 4 breathed .
Sound of the letter h when not fused
with another as in Philip (ph=f) or
thin or this or shin or chin or loch,
but pure as in hot & greenhouse.
Also used loosely of ph, th, & Scotch
ch, & of other letters now usually
called spirant or fricative.
assimilation (Gram.) ; making
like ’. The changing of a sound into
another identical with or nearer to
a neighbouring sound, as when the
d of godsibb (related in God) be¬
comes s in gossip, or when the dental
of in not becomes the labial m
before the labial p in impius impious.
asyndeton (Rhet.) ; 4 not bound
together ’. The omission, for effect,
of conjunctions by which words or
sentences would in normal speech be
connected.
The first sort by their own sugges¬
tion fell,
Self-tempted, A self-depraved; A
Man falls, deceived
By the other first: Man, therefore,
shall find grace ;
A The other, none.
attraction (Gram.) ; A tendency
less commonly operative in English
(except in mere blunders) than in
Latin & Greek, by which a word is
changed from the correct case,
number, or person, to that of an
adjacent word. When him [whom]
we serve’s away ; The wages of sin
is death. And (as a blunder) The
small amount of classics which are
still held to be necessary.
ballad (Lit.) ; 4 dancing-song ’.
Originally a song as accompaniment
to dancing ; later any simple senti¬
mental song esp. of two or more
verses each to the same melody, e.g.
Jonson’s Drink to me only—', a
separate modern use is as the name
of simple narrative poems in short
stanzas, such as Chevy Chase.
ballade (Lit.) ; 4 dancing-song . An
elaborate poem consisting of three
eight (or ten) line stanzas & a four
(or five) line envoy, all on three (or
four) rhymes only in the same order
in each stanza, & with the same
line ending each stanza & the envoy.
An old French form, revived in
France & England in the 19th c.
The Pompadour’s Fan (ballade, by
Austin Dobson)
Chicken-skin, delicate, white,
Painted by Carlo Vanloo,
Loves in a riot of light,
Roses & vaporous blue ;
Hark to the dainty frou-frou.
Picture above, if you can, __
Eyes that could melt as the dew,
This was the Pompadour s tan
S ^hX?n g «4 t ^S“ gh ’
Courtiers as butterflies bnghb
Beauties that Fragonard drew,
Talon-rouge, falbala, queue,
Cardinal, Duke, to a man,
Eager to sigh or to sue.
This was the Pompadour s fan
TECHNICAL TERMS
Ah, but things more than polite
Hung on this toy, voyez-vous !
Matters of state & of might,
Things that great ministers do ;
Things that, may be, overthrew
Those in whose brains they began ;
Here was the sign & the cue,—
This was the Pompadour’s fan I
ENVOY
Where are the secrets it knew ?
Weavings of plot & of plan ?
—But where is the Pompadour, too ?
This was the Pompadour’s fan !
baroque (Art); ‘ mis-shapen pearl
See rococo below.
begging the question (Log.). The
English version of petitio princinii
(see below).
BELLES LETTRES (Lit.); ‘fine
letters
biank verse (Pros.). Strictly, anv
unrhymed verse ; but in ordinary
use confined to the five-foot iambic
unrhymed verse in which Paradise
Lost, & the greater part of Shak-
spere s plays, are written.
brachylogy( Gram.); ‘ short speech ’.
Irregular shortening down of ex¬
pression. Less sugar. This is no use,
® A is as good or better than B, are
prachylogies for Less of sugar. This
is of no use, & A is as good as or
better than B ; the first is estab-
♦ •11 351 idi oma tic, the others are
still regarded by many as illegiti-
below SeC alS ° pre £ nant construction
burlesque (Lit.) ; ‘ ridicule \
caesura (Pros.); ‘ cutting \ The
point at which a verse line falls into
two parts. In Latin hexameters, an
obhgatory break between words in
the third foot (penthemimeral c.) or
n « j e ^ our th (hephthemimeral c.),
called strong if after a long & weak
if after a short syllable ; in Latin
pentameters, an invariable break
between words after two feet & a
nJl- il n . En g lish verse chiefly
noticeable m long metres such as
that of Locksley Hall '.—Till the
war-drum throbb’d no longer,//&
the battle-flags were furl’d In
601 _CLICHE
I Parliament of man,//the federation
of the world.
caricature (Lit.); ‘ loading ’.
catachresis (adj. -estic) (Gram.) ;
‘ misuse ’. Wrong application of a
term, use of words in senses that do
not belong to them. The popular
uses of chronic = severe, asset= ad¬
vantage, conservative= low, annex—
win, <& mutual— common, are ex¬
amples.
catalectic (Pros.); ‘stopping short \
borne metres consist of a specified
number of feet with the last foot
truncated; these are called c.; thus
Many / women/many/men /has only
the first syllable of the last trochee :
cf. acatalectic above.
causerie (Lit.) ; ‘ talk *. Informal
newspaper essay or article esp. on
literary subjects & appearing as one
of a series. Named after Sainte
Beuve’s Causeries du Lundi (Monday
talks), a series of weekly criticisms in
the Constitutionnel & Moniteur news¬
papers.
chiasmus (adj. - astic ) (Rhet.);
cross-fashion When the terms in
the second of two parallel phrases
reverse the order of those in the
first to which they correspond. If
the two phrases are written one
below the other, & lines drawn be¬
tween the corresponding terms,
those lines make the Greek letter
chi, a diagonal cross :
I cannot
dig
to beg
I am ashamed
choliambic (Pros.) ; ‘ lame iambic \
A classical metre changed fro m the
ordinary iambic (see below) by
having always a spondee in the
sixth & an iambus in the fifth foot :
O quid/solut/Is est/bfiat/ius/curis ?
Also called scazon.
clause (Gram.); ‘ close, end \
clwhi (Rhet.) ; * stereotype block ’.
A French name for such hackneyed
phrases as, not being the simple or
natural way of expressing what is
to be expressed, have served when
first used as real improvements on
TECHNICAL TERMS
602
COMPLEMENT
that in some particular context, but
have acquired an unfortunate popu¬
larity & come into general use even
where they are not more but less
suitable to the context than plain
speech. Such are 4 to be made the
recipient of ’ for to be given, 4 the
devouring element ’ for fire, 4 make
the supreme sacrifice ’ for die in
battle, 4 stand to reason * for be
obvious ; & see for other examples
Hackneyed phrases.
climax (Rhet.) ; 4 ladder Ar¬
rangement of a series of notions in
such an order that each is more
impressive than the preceding. (1)
Eye hath not seen, (2) nor ear heard,
(3) neither have entered into the heart
of man,/ the things which God hath
prepared ; three progressive stages
of strangeness.
cognate (Gram.) ; 4 akin A noun
Shat expresses again, with or without
some limitation, the action of a verb
to which it is appended in a sentence
is distinguished from the direct
object of a transitive verb (express¬
ing the external person or thing on
which the action is exerted) as the
cognate, or the internal, or the
adverbial, object or accusative :
is playing whist (cognate) ;
I hate whist (direct) ;
lived a good life (internal or cognate);
spent his life wed (direct) ;
looked daggers (adverbial or cognate).
In the last example daggers is a meta¬
phor for a look of a certain kind, &
therefore cognate with the verb.
collectives. Applied primarily (A)
to nouns denoting a whole made up
of similar parts, such as crew, flock,
firm. Cabinet. These are also called
nouns of multitude (see Number,
But other nouns, or uses of them,
are often described by the term, &
confusion may be saved by separ¬
ating these. (B) Nouns .
plural is in form not distinguishable
from the singular, as sheep, deer ,
salmon, grouse, counsel (= advocate),
(C) Nouns whose singular is some¬
times used instead of their plura ,
as duck, fish, shot , cannon; (H)
Nouns denoting either a thing o
a material consisting of many of
them, as hair, straw ; (E) Nouns
denoting either a material or a col¬
lection of things made of it, as linen,
silver, china ; (F) Nouns denoting
either a thing or some or all of them,
as fruit, timber ; (G) Abstract singu¬
lars used instead of concrete plurals,
as accommodation ( = rooms), kind -
ling ( = pieces of wood), royalty (=
royal persons), pottery (= pots); &
even (H) Nouns denoting substances
of indefinite quantity,as butter,water.
comedy (Lit.) ; 4 festival song \
common (Gram.). . f
complement (Gram.) ; 4 filling up .
That which completes, or helps to
complete, the verb, making with it
the predicate. This (A) is the
widest sense of the word,, not ex¬
cluding e. g. the direct object of a
transitive verb, or adverbs; it is
possibly the most reasonable appli¬
cation of the term ; it is also the
least useful, & the least used. (B)
Often the direct object is excluded,
but all other modifications or ap¬
pendages of the verb are called
complements ; a sense found con¬
venient in schemes of sentence
analysis, but too wide to be precise
& too narrow to be logical, (u) "
further restriction admits only sucn
words or phrases as are so essential
to the verb that they form one
notion with it & its meaning would
be incomplete without them; thus
in He put his affairs in order the verb
put is essentially incomplete without
its complement in order, whereas in
He replaced the volumes in order a
new detail merely is added by the
adverb in order to the complete verb
replaced ; some verbs are in thei^
nature incomplete, e. g. le-
aries, &, in must go, go is the conapie
ment of mush A serviceable ^
especially it it were estab^hed^
the only one. (D) Lastly,
narrowest sense, c- is a PP
to the noun or adjective p ^ ^
by means of a co P^ la ^titTve verb
{make, call, think, &c.) of the su j
(He is a fool ; He grew wiser ,
TECHNICAL TERMS
was made king) or of the object
(Call no man happy) ; in such
examples as the last, the comple¬
ment is called an objective or an
oblique c. A sense frequent in Latin
grammars.
concessive (Gram.); ‘ granting ’.
The name given to subordinate
clauses beginning with though or
although , to those or equivalent con¬
junctions, & to participles used with
the corresponding effect, as in 4 Ac¬
cepting your facts, I dispute your
inference
concords (Gram.) ; * agreement
The rules that an adjective is of the
same number, case, & gender, as its
noun, a verb of the same number &
person as its subject, & a noun of
the same case as that to which it is
in apposition.
conjugation (Gram.) ; ‘ yoking to¬
gether . Inflexion of verbs, or any
class of verbs inflected in a parti-
cular way ( first &c., strong &c., c.) ;
cf. declension below.
conjunction (Gram.); 4 joining to-
getner . A word whose function is
to join like things together, i.e. a
noun or its equivalent with another
noun or its equivalent, an adjective
<&c. with another, adverb &c. with
adverb &c., verb with verb, or
sentence with sentence; cf. pre¬
positions, which attach a noun to
something different, especially to
verbs. The relation between the
things joined is shown by the parti¬
cular conjunction chosen {but, and,
* n ° T K although , or because :
that or lest ; since or until). Some
conjunctions, in joining two sen¬
tences, convert one into a depen¬
dency of the other, or clause in it,
& are called subordinating or strong
cc., the others being co-ordinating or
toea« (strong—I hate him because he
is a Judas : weak—I hate him ; for
P® *®. a J hdas). Many words are
sometimes conjunctions & some-
52? adverbs (therefore, so, however,
wnce, Ac) ; & such words as when
& to here, though often in effect cc.,
S2- m 5 re strictly described as rela¬
tive adverbs with expressed or im-
603
DACTYL
plied antecedent (/ remember the
time when, i.e. at which, it happened;
1 will do it when, i. e. at the time at
which, 1 see fit).
conjunctive (Gram.) ; ‘ joining
together ’.
consecutive (Gram.); ‘ following \
A c. clause is a subordinate clause
that expresses the consequence of
the fact &c. stated in the sentence
on which it depends ; & a c. con¬
junction, in English that correspond¬
ing to a preceding so or such, is the
word joining such a clause to the
sentence (He was so angry that he
could not speak).
continuant (Gram.) ; Another name
for fricative (below).
copulative (Gram.) ; ‘ linking \
Copulative verbs are such as, like
the chief of them, be, link a com¬
plement to the subject (He is king ;
we grow wiser) ; among them are
included the passives of factitive
verbs (This is considered the best).
For copulative conjunctions, see
disjunctive below.
correlatives (Gram.) ; 4 mutual re¬
ference . Pairs or sets of words
such that each implies the existence,
though not necessarily the mention
of the other : cause & effect, parent
& child , either & or, then & when so
& as , &c.
couplet { Pros.); ‘joining’. Two
lines of verse, especially when of
equal metre, rhyming, & forming
a whole. See -stich. 6
crasis (Gram.) ; * mixture The
running of two separate vowel
sounds into one, as when cocaine &
naive, .originally pronounced ko'kain
n «5 Y» be come koka'n & nav.
Confined in Greek grammar to such
combinations between the last vowel
sound of one word & the first of the
next, as in k&go for kai ego.
cretic (Pros.); ‘of Crete’. The
toot —, as in the words o'tio'se &
su ppleme'nt when pronounced with
two equal accents.
cursive (Palaeogr.);
See uncial below.
dactyl (Pros.); ‘finger’. The toot
as m pottery or Julia.
* running ’.
TECHNICAL TERMS
604
declension (vb decline) (Gram.) ;
down-falling ’. Inflexion of nouns
& adjectives, or the nouns inflected
in a particular way (first &c., i &c.,
strong &c., d.). Cf. conjugation
above.
deduction (Log.); ‘down-drawing*.
Reasoning from the general to the
particular ; basing the truth of a
statement upon its being a case of
a wider statement known or ad¬
mitted to be true. If I argue that
I shall die because I have been
credibly informed that all men do
so, & I am a man, I am performing
d. Cf. induction below.
deliberative (Gram.) ; * weighing
well ’. A name given, especially in
Greek & Latin grammar, to the
subjunctive (& optative) used in
what may be called an interrogative
command, corresponding to the
English Shall we go ?, What was I
to do ?
denouement (Lit.) ; ‘ untying The
clearing up, at the end of a play or
tale, of the complications of the
plot. A term often preferred to the
English catastrophe because that has
lost in popular use its neutral sense.
dental (Gram.) ; ‘ of teeth ’. Con¬
sonants produced by applying the
tongue-tip to the upper teeth or to
the gum close behind them (t, d,
th, n).
deponent (Gram.) ; * laying aside ’.
Verbs passive in form but active in
sense are so called, especially in
Latin grammar, as utor I use, labor
I slip.
desiderative (Gram.) ; ‘ of desire \
From some Greek & Latin verbs
secondary verbs are formed with
special suffixes expressing the wish
to do, or the being on the point of
doing, the action. Thus the Latin
for be hungry, be in labour, is esurio
from edo I eat & parturio from pario
I give birth to ; these are d. verbs, &
-urio, & in Greek -iao, -seio, are d.
terminations.
diaeresis (Gram.) ; ‘ taking asun¬
der \ The pronouncing of two
successive vowels as separate sounds
& not as a single vowel or diphthong;
DISTRIBUTIVE
or the mark (•• over the second)
sometimes used to indicate such
separation, as in Chloe , aerated. A
peculiarity in the French use of the
mark may be mentioned by way of
warning ; in such words as aigue
cigue, the mark means not that the
e is separate from the u, but that ue
is not silent as in fatigue & vogue,
but forms a distinct syllable.
dialogue (Lit.); ‘cross-talking’. Con¬
versation as opposed to monologue,
to preaching, lecturing, speeches,
narrative, or description; neither
confined to nor excluding talk be¬
tween two persons; see duologue.
digraph (Gram.); ‘two-writing
Any two written consonants ex¬
pressing a sound not analysable into
two, as ph, dg, ch ; or any two
written vowels expressing a vowel
sound, whether simple or com¬
pound, that is pronounced in one
syllable, as (simple) eain beat ox head,
ee in heed, au, ui in fruit, (diphthong)
oi, oa in boat, ow. Digraphs there¬
fore include all diphthongs except
those, common in English, that are
written as single letters (e.g. the
a, i, o, heard in ale, white, no) & are
consequently often supposed not to
be diphthongs.
dimeter (Pros.). See -meter below.
disjunctive (Gram.); ‘unjoining’.
Conjunctions implying not com¬
bination but an alternative or a
contrast (as or, but) are so called,
the others (as and) being copulative.
The distinction is of some impor¬
tance in determining the number of
verbs after compound subjects ; see
Number 2, 3.
dissimilation (Gram.); ‘ making
unlike ’. Change in sound due to
dislike of the same sound in neigh¬
bouring syllables, as when the noun
from negotiate (-shlat) is pronounced
with -siashn, not -shlashn, or when
the Latin cinnamomum becomes in
English not cinnamom but cinnamon •
distich (Pros.) ; ‘ two-line - » ee
-STICH.
Those
”- -- - - \
tives & pronouns are bu «-"*•—. .
expressly convey that what is
TECHNICAL TERMS
EPIGRAPHY
605
of a class is applicable to its in¬
dividual members, not merely to it
as a whole. Either (cf. both), every
(cf. all), each (cf. both & all), neither
(cf. no, none).
DUOLOGUE (Lit.) ; * two-talk \
elegiacs (Pros.); * of dirges ’. A
Greek & Latin metre, in couplets
each consisting of a hexameter (see
below) & pentameter (see below).
Sometimes imitated in English, but
ill suited for accentual (as opp.
quantitative) verse. Two specimens
follow, both from Clough, the first
written with, & the second without,
regard to the English accents ; to
truly represent elegiacs, the second
couplet would have to be read with
the accents shown.
;Vhe f^ under/mulberry/branches,
the/diligent/rivulet/sparkles.
Or amid/cotton &/maize//pea-
sants their/waterworks/ply.
From thy/far' sour/ces', ’mid/
moun'tains/air'ily/climb'ing,
Pass to the/rich' low/land'//thou'
busy/sun'ny ri/ver'.
elrgy (Lit.); ‘ lamentation ’. In
Oie strict sense a song or poem of
Fw n K D §’ & P ro P erI y applied in
Adonais, & Thyrsis. But, the
i^ Un l e • ancient metre for such
4 being the elegiacs so named
account, a natural reaction
2L J e l an eleg y> whatever its
JrSJ® 1 * * tje name was extended
of a JL S *° rt P° ems > irrespective
kliS et * ’ that were of the subjective
ur^L e \T Te concerne d with ex¬
posing their authors’ feelipgs.
‘ e “<l?ncy is to restrict
sense.
; ‘ deficiency \
sou^s like part of the word before,
give nu> 1Q i f ann ®*» me (usually) in
vu T 1 g* gimme), one in
In Greek & Latin
everyone
some
=■5
while Greek enclitics often affect
the preceding word’s written accen¬
tuation. Cf. proclitic below.
enjambment (Pros.) ; ‘ in-treading ’.
In couplet metres, continuation of
a sentence or phrase beyond the end
of one couplet into the first line of
the next. In the heroic couplet as
used by Dryden & Pope one may
read hundreds of lines without find¬
ing an e. ; three examples follow :—
Him therefore e’er his fortune slip
her time
The statesman plots t’engage in
some bold crime
Past pardon.
That praise was his ; what therefore
did remain
For following chiefs, but boldly to
maintain
That crown restor’d ?
What nothing earthly gives, or can
destroy,
The soul’s calm sunshine, & the
heartfelt joy.
Is virtue’s prize.
envoy (Pros.); ‘(sending) on the
way . Parting words of a poem,
especially in the form of a final
stanza of fewer lines than the pre¬
ceding, or otherwise distinguished.
For an example see ballade above.
epexegetic (Gram.) ; ‘ additionally
explanatory ’. Applied especially
to various uses of the infinitive
appended without strict necessity
to limit & define the application of
what has preceded. A common
English use is exemplified in This is
very sad to find. Greek has many
idioms classed under this head.
epicene (Gram.) ; ‘ in common
See common.
epigram (Lit.); ‘ on-writing *. Four
distinct meanings, naturally enough
developed. First, now obsolete, an
inscription on a building, tomb, coin,
&c. Secondly, (inscriptions being
often in verse, & brief) a short poem,
& especially one with a sting in the
w 1ll * thirdly, any pungent saying.
Fourthly, a style full of such sayings.
epigraphy (Lit.); ‘study of in¬
scriptions Inscriptions & the
technical terms
science of interpreting them &c.
Cf. the original sense of epigram
above.
epode (Lit.) ; 4 additional song
In Greek choruses, the epode is a
concluding part, distinct in metre,
chanted after the antistrophe (see
above). In Horace’s Epodes, the
name is a loose one, given because
the metre chiefly used in the book
is one in which a full iambic line is
followed by a shorter one regarded
metrically as a mere appendage or
‘ added verse
epopee (Lit.) ; * epic-making
equivocation (Log.); ‘ calling alike \
A fallacy consisting in the use of a
word in different senses at different
stages of the reasoning. If we con¬
clude from Jones’s having a thick
head (i.e. being a dullard) that he
is proof against concussion, we take
thick head to mean first dull brain
& afterwards solid skull, which is
an equivocation.
etacism (Gram.) ; 4 saying eta ’.
Pronounce a'tosizm. The preserv¬
ing of the original a sound of eta ;
cf. itacism below.
ethic dative (Gram.) ; 4 dative of
emotion ’. In Latin & Greek a
person indirectly or vaguely con¬
cerned in the matter stated &c. is
sometimes introduced into the sen¬
tence in the dative ; thus, in Quid
mihi Celsus agit ?, the word mi hi
(lit., to or for me) amounts to a
parenthetic 4 I wonder ’. Me in
Elizabethan English was often so
used, as
See how this river comes me crank¬
ing in
And cuts me from the best of all my
land
A huge half-moon, a monstrous
cantle out.
euphemism (Rhet.) ; 4 decorous
speech
euphuism (Lit.) ; 4 giftedness ’.
explosive (Gram.) ; 4 clapping off ’.
A name given to those consonant
sounds (b, hard g, d, p, k, t) which
are produced by a sudden parting
of the lips or other organs, & can
606
farce
therefore not be prolonged; cl
fricative below.
factitive (Gram.) j 4 of making*.
Verbs of making, calling, & thinSw
(i. e., of making by deed, word, or
thought) are given this name for the
grammarian’s convenience: their
common attribute is the power of
attaching a complement (see above)
to the object if they are active
(many do call me fool) or to any
noun if they are passive ( the people
made rich by him).
fallacy (Log.); 4 deception ’. A
fallacy in logic is 4 an argument
which violates the laws of correct
demonstration. An argument may
be fallacious in matter (i.e. misstate¬
ment of facts), in wording (i. e. wrong
use of words), or in the process oj
inference. Fallacies have, therefore
been classified as: I. Material,
II. Verbal, III. Logical or Formal.’
— Encycl. Brit. Some types of f.
are of frequent enough occurrence
to have earned names that have
passed into ordinary speech, & serve
as a short way of announcing to a
false reasoner that his conscious or
unconscious sophistry is detected.
Such are arguing in a circle, equi -
vocation, begging the question, ignor-
atio elenchi, argumentum ad hominem
&c., petitio principii, non sequitur,
post hoc ergo propter hoc, false
analogy, undistributed middle, all of
which will be found alphabetically
placed in this article.
false analogy (Log.); 4 erroneous
correspondence ’. The unfounded
assumption that a thing that has
certain attributes in common with
another will resemble it also in some
attribute in which it is not known
to do so ; e. g., that of a pair of
hawks the larger is the male, on the
ground that other male animals are
larger than female ; or that idio-
syncracy is the right spelling because
words ending in the sound -krosf are
spelt with -cy. _
farce (Lit.); 4 stuffing \ See
comedy. The connexion with ine
etymological sense lies in the mean¬
ing interpolation, the farce having
TECHNICAL TERMS
607
HEROICS
■v
originated in interludes of buffoon¬
ery in religious dramas.
feminine rhyme (Pros.). See male 2.
final (Gram.); ‘ of the end A
f. clause is one expressing the pur¬
pose of the action stated &c. in the
main sentence of which it is a part,
& a f. conjunction (esp. that, in
order that, lest) is one that sub¬
ordinates such a clause. Eat that
you may live; Be wise, lest sorrow
lend me words.
frequentative (Gram.). F. verbs are
formed with certain suffixes to
express repeated or continuous
action of the kind denoted by the
simple verb. The chief f. suffixes in
English are -le, -er, as in sparkle,
chatter, dribble (drip). Most of the
nouns in -sation, -tation, come from
Latin frequentatives in -so, -to, as
conversation (L verto turn, versor
move about), hesitation (L haereo
stick, haesito keep sticking).
fricative (Gram.); * rubbing ’. An
adjective & noun applied to the
consonant sounds produced by pas¬
sage of breath through a narrowed
space between organs ; a general
term, exchangeable with continuant,
including the more special sibilant,
f P”ate, spirant , liquid, trill, & c .,
* distinguished from explosives or
mutes or stops.
gerund, gerundive (Gram.) ; * do-
J?8 • See the article Gerund :
nght treatment of gerunds is idio¬
matically of much importance.
J™™ 10 ( L ^., Gram.); « senten-
* G . n omic literature is writing
that consists of or is packed with
maxims or general truths pithily
Sl 8Sed ;. The 8 n °mic aorist in
a to the P ast > to Itate
- ? n proverb s . 1S ° f aU time8 > e ' «■
tTJ 1 *! 01 l Gra ™ ) 5 ‘ of the throat \
fown k ’ S’ & ch, heard in
dpH/ o - bdow ; gutturals, pro-
root y nf?L a ^ ng ’ are made ^th the
wounds to indicate that they are
made far back in the mouth, e. g. to
the German r as opp. the English.
hendecasyllable (Pros.) ; 4 eleven-
syllable ’. Applicable, & occasion¬
ally applied, to any metre having
lines of eleven syllables, e. g. to
Dante’s terza rima ; but so far
appropriated to what is called in
full the Phalaecian h. that to use it
of other metres risks misunder¬
standing. The P. h. is the Greek &
Latin metre best known from Catul¬
lus, having the scheme
——v-y,
& imitated by Tennyson:—
Look, I come to the test, a tiny poem
All composed in a metre of Catullus.
hendiadys (Rhet.) ; 4 one by means
of two ’. The expressing of a com¬
pound notion by giving its two
constituents as though they were
independent & connecting them
with a conjunction instead of sub¬
ordinating one to the other, as 4 pour
libation from bowls & from gold ’ =
from bowls of gold. Chiefly a poetic
ornament in Greek & Latin, & little
used in English ; but ‘ nice &
warm ’, 4 try & do better % instead
of 4 nicely warm ’, 4 try to do better ’,
are true examples. It should be
noticed that such combinations as
brandy & soda, assault & battery,
might & main, toil & moil, spick &
span, stand & deliver, since their two
parts are on an equal footing & not
in sense subordinate one to the
other, do not need the name, &
should not be called by it.
hephthemimeral (Pros.) ; 4 at the
se venth hal f( foot)’. See caesura above.
heroic (Lit., Pros.). H. poetry,=
epic. H. verse or metre , or heroics,
the metre used in h. poetry, i.e.
hexameters in Greek & Latin, & the
five-foot iambic in English, whether
blank as in Paradise Lost or in
rhymed couplets {the h. couplet) as
in Chaucer’s Prologue & in Dryden
& Pope, e. g.
Expatiate free o’er all this scene of
man ;
A mighty maze I but not without
a plan.
TECHNICAL TERMS
heteroclite (Gram.) ; * having a
second declension ’. Greek & Latin
nouns having forms belonging to
more than one declension, as Latin
domus (gen. pi. domuum 4th, do-
mo rum, 2nd), are called h.
hexameter (Pros.) ; ‘ six-measure ’.
The Greek & Latin heroic metre, in
full dactylic h. acatalcctic y on the
scheme
608
-/—W W /— V_> /-V-/ KJ f—KJ
- / - / - / - / / -
with a caesura (see above). Also
used in elegiacs (see above). Imi¬
tated in modern languages, e. g. by
Goethe in Hermann und Dorothea ,
by Longfellow in Evangeline & Miles
Standish, & by Clough in The Bothie
& elsewhere.
Chanced it my/eye fell a/side on a/
capless /bonnetless/maiden
Bending with/three-pronged/fork in
a/garden up/rooting po/tatoes.
hiatus (Pros.) ; ‘ yawning \ The
allowing of a word ending with a
vowel to be followed by one begin¬
ning with a vowel without elision of
the first ; avoided in Greek & Latin
verse.
historic (Gram.). II. infinitive is
a present infin. used in Latin as a
vivid substitute for an imperfect or
past indicative ; pars cedere, alii
insequi, some were giving way,
others pressing on. II. present is, in
any language, the present indicative
used instead of a past to give vivid¬
ness in describing a past event ( He
says nothing, but ups with his fist &
hits me in the eye). II. sequence is,
esp. in Greek & Latin, the use of the
tense or mood that is required after
a historic tense (opp. primary).
II. tenses are those proper to narrat¬
ing past events, i.e., in Greek the
aorist & imperfect & pluperfect, in
Latin the imperfect, the perfect
when = I did, & the pluperfect, & in
English the past tense (I did), the
past imperfect (I was doing), & the
pluperfect ; opp. primary,
homonym (Gram.) ; 4 same name ’.
See SYNONYM.
__ IAMBK S
homophone (Gram.); ‘ same sm
See synonym. *
humour (Lit.) ; 4 moisture
hypallage (Rhet.); 4 exchange •
The transferring of an epithet from
the more to the less natural part of
a group of nouns,, as when Virgil
speaks of 4 the trumpet’s Tuscan
blare * instead of 4 the Tuscan
trumpet’s blare ’, or Spenser of
4 Sansfoy’s dead dowry i.e. dead
Sansfoy’s dowry.
hyperbaton (Gram.); 4 stepping
over ’. Transposition of words out
of normal order, as in Browning’s
title Wanting Is — What?, or in
Shakspere’s That whiter skin of hers
than snow.
hyperbole (Rhet.); 4 over-shooting’.
Use of exaggerated terms for the
sake not of deception, but of
emphasis, as when infinite is used
for great , or 4 a thousand apologies ’
for an apology.
hypermetre (adj . -tricat) (Pros.);
4 over-measure ’. In Latin verse, a
syllable at the end of a line after the
metre is complete, to be elided
before a vowel beginning the next
line ; a rarity. Sometimes applied
in English to lines having a feminine
instead of the normal masculine
ending ; no rarity in blank verse.
hypocorisma (adj. -ristic) (Rhet.);
4 child’s prattle ’. Use of pet names,
nursery words, or diminutives, or
a word of these kinds, either simply*
as Molly for Mary, patball fp*
tennis, hanky for handkerchief, «*•»
or by way of euphemism,
man for paramour, story for >
frillies for under-linen.
hysteron proteron (Rhet.); *®
earlier’. Putting the cart
the horse in speech, as in Dogberry
Masters, it is proved already tWW>
are little better than false ^ na0 ^* fh .
will go near to be thought so
iambics (Pros.) ; 4 of the iam
Any metre consisting eitn ^
iambuses alone or of then*
other feet allowed as substitu
certain places ; but especially
iambic trimeter acataleclic, o ,
arius , in which the dialogue
TECHNICAL TERMS
INFLEXION
Greek plays is written. The scheme
in Greek Tragedy (with further
variations in Comedy) is :
W—
w—
W—
W —
W —
WWW
WWW
WWW
WWW
WW—
—WW
-uu
W
WW
These six-foot iambics are in modern
use called alexandrines (see above),
& rhymed couplets of them are the
French dramatic metre.
iambus (Pros.); 4 invective ’. The
foot w—, named as employed in early
Greek satires.
ictus (Pros.) ; 4 beat \ The stress
laid on particular syllables in mark¬
ing the rhythm of verse ; the part
of. a foot on which the ictus falls is
said to be in arsis (see above), & the
other part in thesis (see below). In
the line
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,
there is no ictus on the first or the
second un- but ictus on the third.
idola tribus, specus, fori, theatri
(Log.); 4 phantoms of the tribe,
cave, market, theatre ’. Bacon’s
classification of fallacies ; see idola
fobi.
ignoratio elenchi (Log.) ; 4 ignoring
A. the (required) disproof ’. A
allacy consisting in disproving or
proving something different from
what is strictly in question ; called
S„S n8 - 1Sh the f all “cy of irrelevant
wwfcmon If the question is
whether the law allows me to pollute
water passing through my garden,
allow h ° W 1 ” stead that it; ought to
rtstaimng is a hundred times
■ ? y ne *ghhour’s from
inpansyllabic (Oral) ; unequal-
reek A- T a*" name S* ven to those
C svllahW “° U ^ S which have
W*£t££ °“ es > “ "»“• virtue,
inchoative, (Gram.) ; ‘ on-
^ aapi. ’Sses
I35j ' in Greek -sko & in
Latin -sco are the i. terminations, as
gignosko learn (i.e. come to know),
calesco grow warm. The many Eng¬
lish words in -esce, -escent, as recru¬
desce, iridescent, are from Latin ii.
indirect object (Gram.). The person
or thing secondarily affected by the
action stated in the verb, if ex¬
pressed by a noun alone (i.e. without
to, for, &c.) is called the i. o. ; in
Latin & Greek it is recognizable, as
it once was in English, by being in
the dative, while the (direct) object
is in the accusative. The English
dative now having no separate form,
the i. o. must be otherwise identified,
viz by the fact that it stands be¬
tween the verb & the object (Hand
me that book), &, if it is to follow
the object, must be replaced by
a preposition phrase (Hand that
book to me). Variations are (1)
when no direct object is expressed,
as You told me yourself, (2) when the
direct object is a mere pronoun & is
allowed to precede, as I told it you
before (but not I told the story you
before), (3) when the i. o. is after
a passive verb, as It ivas told me in
confidence.
indirect question. A question
subordinated & serving as object,
subject, &c., of a sentence. For
some cautions on order of words, see
the article ; & for punctuation, see
question mark in Stops.
induction (Log.) ; 4 bringing in ’.
Reasoning from particular ( 4 cited ’)
cases to general principles ; inferring
of a law from observed occurrences.
If I argue, from the fact that all the
MacGregors I have known are
Scotch, that MacGregor is a Scotch
name, I make an i. Cf. deduction
above.
inflexion (vb inflect) (Gram.) ;
4 making curved ’. The general
name, including declension, con¬
jugation, & comparison, for changes
made in the form of words to show
their grammatical relations to their
context or to modify their meaning
in certain ways. Cats, him, greater,
sued, are formed by i. from, or are
ii. nf cat. he. Great. & sue .
X
TERMS
intensive (Gram.); ‘ tightening up’.
Said of words or word-elements that
add emphasis ; in vastly obliged
perdurable, vastly & per - are ii!
Often in contrast with privative (see
below) ; the in- of incisive (& inten¬
sive) is intensive, & that of incivility
privative. a
irony (Lit.) ; ‘ dissimulation ’.
itacism (Gram.); 4 saying ita ’.
Pronounce e'tasizm. The use in
Greek of the sound e instead of the
original a for the letter eta ; also the
tendency in late & modern Greek to
reduce many sounds once distinct
to e ; also the substitution by copy¬
ists in MSS. of eta for other letters in
consequence of this change in pro¬
nunciation. Cf. etacism above.
labial (Gram.); ‘ of the lip ’.
Sounds made by complete or partial
closure of the lips are called l.,
including the consonants p, b, m, w,
& (labiodental) f & v, & the vowels o
(Ln no), oo (in fool), do (in full), ow
(in how).
legitimate drama (Lit.). A phrase
denoting the plays of permanent
value such as are included in reper¬
tories & revived from time to time,
in contrast with melodrama, musical
farce, revue, adaptations of foreign
plays, & other fugitive pieces.
liquids (Gram.). The letters 1 &r, &
sometimes also m & n, are so called.
litotes (Rhet.) ; ‘ frugality ’. The
same as, or a variety of, meiosis
(see below). Sometimes confined to
the particular kind of rhetorical
understatement in which for the
positive notion required is substi¬
tuted its opposite with a negative.
In 1 Cor. xi. 17, 22, I praise you not
has the effect of an emphatic I
blame ; not a few means a great
number; Not bad, eh ?, after an
anecdote, means excellent. But
often used,indifferently with meiosis ,
of other understatements meant to
impress by moderation.
locative (Gram.); ‘ of place ’. Nouns
in Indo-European languages had a
case so called, equivalent in sense to
an adverb of place, e. g. Latin domi
at home, Romae in Rome.
METATHESIS
OFTi rfifi , the ^ ’* The
OLD definition (as regards modem
usage) is : Short poems (whether
or not intended to be sung), uS
divided into stanzas or strophes, I
directly expressing the poet’s own
thoughts & sentiments ’. The short
Pfces between the narrative parts
of Tennyson’s Princess (Home thev
brought her warrior dead, &c.), are
examples. Wordsworth’s
Daffodils, Shelley’s Skylark, Keats’s
Grecian Urn, Milton’s Penseroso,
Burns s Field Mouse, Herrick’s
Rosebuds, Lovelace’s Lucasta, Shak-
spere’s It was a lover, may serve to
illustrate ; but attempts to dis¬
tinguish lyric poetry clearly from
other kinds (epic, dramatic, elegiac,
didactic, &c.) have not been success-
ful, the classes not being mutually
exclusive.
major (Log.). See syllogism below.
majuscule (Palaeography); 4 some¬
what larger ’. See uncial below.
masculine rhyme (Pros.). See male
meiosis (Rhet.); 4 lessening \ The
use of understatement not to de¬
ceive, but to enhance the impression
on the hearer. Often applied to the
negative opposite illustrated under
litotes above, but taking many other
forms. & contrasted with hurterhnlt..
Very common in colloquial & 6lanc
English ; the emphatic rather (Did
you ever hear Caruso?—Rather!),
the American some (This is some
war ; see some 1), the schoolboy
decent ( = firstrate &c.), the retort
I'll see you further (i.e. in hell) first,
& the strangely inverted hyperbole
didn't half swear ( — swore horribly),
are familiar instances.
melodrama (Lit.); 4 music drama
metaphor (Rhet.) ; 4 transferring ’•
See the article, & Simile.
metathesis (Gram.) ; 4 change of
position ’. When successive sounds
in a word change places, as the s & p
in hasp (earlier hcepse) & clasp
(earlier also elapse), the s & k in ask
(vulg., & formerly in equally good
use, ax), the r & i in third (earlier
thridde) & thrill (earlier thirle ), the
611
TECHNICAL TERMS
O BJ. GENITIVE
u <& r in curly (earlier crulle : With
lokkes crulle as they were leyd in
presse—Chaucer).
-meter (Pros.) ; * measure A
little used sense of the word metre
is the unit (itself consisting some¬
times of one foot, sometimes of two)
that is repeated a certain number of
times in a line of verse. But the
compounds made from it— mono¬
meter, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter,
pentameter, hexameter —are in regular
use as one part of the full technical
names of metres (e. g. iambic trimeter
acatalectic) ; the feet of which two
& not one make a metre in this sense
are the iambus, trochee, & anapaest,
so that six iambi (or equivalents)
make a trimeter, but six dactyls (or
equivalents) make a hexameter.
metonymy ( Rhet.); 4 name-change \
Substitution of an attributive or
other suggestive word for the name
of the thing meant, as when the
Crown, Homer, wealth, stand for the
sovereign, Homer’s poems, & rich
people.
middle ( article ) (Lit.). Newspaper
article of a kind so called from
haying stood between the leading
articles & the book reviews, & being
a short essay usually of some literary
pretensions on some subject of per-
manent & general rather than topical
or political interest.
bd™ k teTm (Lo S*)- See syllogism
™ idd t Wice , (Gram.). Greek verbs
®ay have, besides or without the
* Passive voices, another
identical^ ™ ddle > in most tenses
bm? 1 m . form with th e passive,
Drfvni aST^ SSmg .* refle xive or reci-
procaj action, action viewed as affect-
diCs ’7 oed). or intransitive con -
miTJsSiS^i '. See s y lk> S ism below.
what^?i <P f Iae ^ gra P h y) > 4 some-
monofo£ tw . e V it ff e uncial below.
SS. offe are /T7 ly parallel
but tiRncna * r< j ® Latin, ongin :
to talking to dS onwdf of
aloud withmH or thinking
audience whether one is in fact
overheard or not, while monologue ,
though not conversely restricted to
a single person’s discourse that is
meant to be heard, has that sense
much more often than not, & is
especially used of a talker who
monopolizes conversation, or of a
dramatic performance or recitation
in which there is one actor only.
monometer (Pros.). See - meter
above.
mute (Gram.). The letters p, b, d,
t, g, k, are variously called mutes,
explosives, or stops ; see explosive &
fricative above.
nasal (Gram.) ; 4 of the nose ’.
Sounds requiring the nose passage to
be open, as in English those of m, n,
& ng, are so called.
nominativus pendens (Gram.);
4 hanging nominative ’. A form of
anacoluthon in which a sentence is
begun with what appears to be the
subject, but before the verb is
reached something else is substi¬
tuted in word or in thought, & the
supposed subject is left in the air.
The most familiar & violent instance
is which used in Sarah Gamp’s
manner ( which fiddle-strings is weak¬
ness to expredge my nerves this
night) ; but the irregularity is not
uncommon even in writing, & is
always apt to occur in speech. Cf.,
in Shakspere, 4 They who brought
me in my master’s hate/I live to
look upon their tragedy ’ (Rich. Ill,
hi. ii. 57).
non sequitur (Log.) ; 4 does not
follow ’. The fallacy of assuming an
unproved cause. Thus : It will be
a hard winter, for holly-berries
(which are meant as provision for
birds in hard weather) are abundant.
The reasoning called post hoc , ergo
propter hoc is a form of n. s.
objective genitive (Gram.). The
genitive that stands to a verbal
noun or noun of action in the same
relation as the object to a verb.
In fear God , God is the object of the
verb, &, in put the fear of God in
them, God is in the same relation
to the noun fear , & is called the
TECHNICAL TERMS
612
OXYMORON
& ) __*?■ . In English the
of genitive is usual, but the
1 j £ eiu t lve or the possessive
adjective also occurs, as in the Tsar's
murder, the deep damnation of his
taking-off.
oblique complement (Gram.). See
complement (D) above.
octonarius (Pros.) ; ‘ eight each \
An eight-foot iambic line j see
senarius below.
octosyllabics (Pros.) ; ‘ eight-syl¬
lable The usual name of the
8-syl. rhyming iambic metre used in
Hudibras , The Lady of the Lake , &c.
The way was long, the wind was cold;
The minstrel was infirm & old.
ode (Lit.) ; ‘ song The OED
definition of the word in its prevail¬
ing modern sense may be given :
‘A rimed (rarely unrimed) lyric, often
in the form of an address ; generally
dignified or exalted in subject, feeling,
& style, but sometimes (in earlier use)
simple & familiar (though less so than
a song)'. But what with confusion
between this very comprehensive
modern sense & the more definite
Greek sense (as in choric ode & Pin¬
daric ode), what with the obvious
vagueness of the modern sense itself,
& what with the fact that ‘elaborate’
& ‘irregular’ are both epithets com¬
monly applied to ode metres, the
only possible conception of the ode
seems to be that of a Shape
If shape it might be called that shape
had none
Distinguishable in member, joint, or
limb.
onomatopoeia (adj. -poeic, -poetic)
(Gram.) ; ‘ name-making ’. Forma¬
tion of names or words from sounds
that resemble those associated with
the object or action to be named, or
that seem suggestive of its qualities ;
babble, cuckoo, croak, puff-puff, are
probable examples.
optative (Gram.) ; ‘ of wish ’. Greek
verbs have certain forms called the
o. mood, used in expressing wishes
( = English would that 1 were &c.),
& also to serve in historic sequence
as the Greek subjunctive serves in
primary sequence. In modern gram¬
mar the word is sometimes applied
to whatever verbal form is used in
expressmg a wish, e.g. So help me
bod ! or Oh that 1 were young again l
oratio obliqua, oratio recta, (Gram.) •
‘ bent speech, straight speech \
Latin names, the second for the
actual words used by a speaker
without modification, & the first for
the form taken by his words when
they are reported & fitted into the
reporter’s framework. Thus How
are you ? I am delighted to see you
(recta) becomes in obliqua He asked
how 1 was <& said he was delighted to
see. me ; or, if the framework is
invisible, How was I ? he was de¬
lighted to see me. Most newspaper
reports of speeches, & all third-
person letters, are in oratio obliqua
or reported speech.
ottava rima (Pros.); 4 octave verse ’.
The stanza invented by Boccaccio,
adopted & made the regular Italian
heroic metre by Tasso & Ariosto, &
used by Byron in Don Juan. Eight
five-foot iambic lines rhyming abab-
abcc.
When Newton saw an apple fall, he
found
In that slight startle from his
contemplation—
’Tis said (for I’ll not answer above
ground
For any sage’s creed or calcula¬
tion)—
A mode of proving that the earth
turn’d round
In a most natural whirl, called
‘ gravitation ’;
And this is the sole mortal who
could grapple,
Since Adam, with a fall, or with an
apple.
oxymoron (Rhet.); ‘ sharp-dull ’.
The combining in one expression of
two terms that are ordinarily con¬
tradictory, & whose exceptional
coincidence is therefore arresting.
A cheerful pessimist; Harmonious
discord; His honour rooted in dis¬
honour stood. And faith unfaithful
kept him falsely true.
TECHNICAL TERMS
613
PERSIFLAGE
palatal (Gram.) ; 4 of the palate
Sounds made by placing the middle
of the tongue against or near the
palate—intermediate between gut¬
turals & dentals. The y in yet is
palatal; & in English the so-called
gutturals (k, g) tend to become
palatals by being made with the
middle instead of with the root of
the tongue.
paradigm (Gram.); 4 showing side
by side A table of inflexion forms,
e. g. of a particular declension of
nouns or conjugation of verbs.
parenthesis (Gram.) ; * side in¬
sertion ’.
parisyllabic (Gram.) ; 4 equal-syl¬
labled ’. A name given to those
Greek & Latin nouns which have the
same number of syllables in the
other cases as in the nominative, as
nom. collis, gen. collis.
parody (Lit.) ; 4 side-song ’. See
BURLESQUE.
paronomasia (Rhet.); 4 word-shunt¬
ing ’. Puns, plays on words, making
jocular or suggestive use of similar¬
ity between different words or of a
word’s different senses. The best
known of all (though concealed in
English) is perhaps that of Matt. xvi.
18 : Thou art Peter (Greek Petros),
& upon this rock (Greek petra) I will
build my church ; & another is non
Angli scd angeli, not Angles but
angels.
partitive (Gram.) ; 4 of division \
P. words are such nouns & pronouns
as by their nature imply the separ¬
ating or distinguishing of a part of
some whole from the rest, such as
part, portion, half, much, superla¬
tives, some, any, each ; the p. geni¬
tive is that of the word denoting the
whole, which is made to depend on
a p. word by being put in the
genitive in fully inflected languages,
but in English attached to it by of.
But the greatest of these is charity ;
greatest is the p. word, & of these the
p. genitive.
paulo-post future (Gram.); 4 about
to be a little later ’. A name for the
future perfect (I shall have died)
especially in Greek grammar, in
which a peculiar use of it justifies
a peculiar name ; the Greek for
I shall have died. It will have been
done, is better represented by I shall
be a dead man. It will be a done thing
or fait accompli, i.e., a future state,
resulting from a less distantly future
event, is described. Except with
reference to this Greek usage, there
is no reason for preferring the name
to the ordinary intelligible future
perfect ; but it is often used, & often
misused.
pentameter (Pros.); 4 five-measure \
Sometimes applied to the English
heroic metres, i.e. blank verse or
heroic couplet ; but an iambic p.
should mean (see -meter above) ten
iambic feet. The line universally
called p. is the second line in
elegiacs (see above) ; it was used in
these couplets only, not by itself.
The scheme is :
— / — \=L)=L/— / / —\JKJ /-uu /
with invariable caesura.
This line also is not in fact a dactylic
p., but a pair of dactylic trimeters
catalectic in succession. Two ex¬
amples of English imitation are
given under elegiacs above.
penthemimeral (Pros.); 4 of five
halves ’. The p. caesura in Latin
hexameters (& pentameters) is that
after two & a half feet; see caesura .
penult (Gram.) ; 4 nearly last \
The last syllable but one of a word.
period (Rhet.) ; 4 circuit \ Strict¬
ly, any complete sentence; but
applied usually to one consisting of
a number of clauses in dependence
on a principal sentence, & so, in the
plural, to a style marked by elabor¬
ate arrangement.
peripeteia (Lit.) ; 4 falling round *.
A sudden change of fortune in a
drama or tale, e. g., in The Merchant
of Venice, the downfall of Shylock,
with Gratiano repeating to him his
own words 4 O learned judge ’.
periphrasis (adj. -phrastic) (Rhet.);
4 roundabout speech
persiflage (Rhet.) ; 4 whistle-talk \
Irresponsible talk, of which the
hearer is to make what he can with-
TECHNICAL TERMS
614
PROLEPSIS
out the right to suppose that the
speaker means what he seems to
say ; the treating of serious things
as trifles & of trifles as serious.
‘ Talking with one’s tongue in one’s
cheek ’ may serve as a parallel.
Hannah More, quoted in the OED,
describes French p. as ‘ the cold
compound of irony, irreligion, sel¬
fishness, & sneer ’ ; irony, paradox,
& levity, are perhaps rather the
ingredients of the compound as now
conceived.
personification (Rhet.) ; ‘ mak¬
ing into a person ’.
petitio principii (Log.) ; 4 assump¬
tion of the basis ’. The fallacy of
founding a conclusion on a basis
that as much needs to be proved as
the conclusion itself. Arguing in
a circle (see above) is a common
variety of p. p. That foxhunting is
not cruel, since the fox enjoys the
fun, & that one must keep servants,
since all respectable people do so,
are other examples of begging the
question or p. p., in which the argu¬
ment is not circular.
Pindarics (Lit.) ; * of Pindar ’.
The form of English verse in which
a poem consists of several stanzas
often of unequal length, with the
rhymes within the stanza irregularly
disposed, & the number of feet in the
lines arbitrarily varied. In Pindar’s
own odes, the structure is an elabo¬
rate one of strophe, antistrophe (see
above), & epode, far removed from
irregularity ; but the English imita¬
tors noted the variety of metre within
his strophes & neglected the precise
correspondence between them; P.
came consequently to be the name
for verse in which regularity of metre
was scorned under the supposed im¬
pulse of high emotion,
pleonasm (Rhet., Gram.) ; * ex¬
ceeding ’.
post hoc, ergo propter hoc (Log.) ;
‘ after it, therefore due to it ’. The
fallacy of confusing consequence
with sequence. On Sunday we
prayed for rain ; on Monday it
rained ; therefore the prayers caused
the rain.
prefix (Gram.); 4 attached in front ’
An affix (see above) attached to the
beginning of a word orstem to make a
compound word, as re-, ex-, be-, a-
in reform , ex-officer , belabour , arise. *
pregnant construction (Gram.). ‘But
Philip was found at Azotus * is in
the Greek ‘ But Philip was found
to Azotus ’; i. e., the expressed sen¬
tence contains an implied one
Philip was conveyed to & Philip was
found at Azotus. Though we cannot
(except in the dialect of Devon &c.)
say He was found to Azotus, we do
habitually say Put it in your pocket,
meaning Put it in(to & keep it in)
your pocket.
premise (Log.) ; ‘ thing sent be¬
fore ’. See syllogism below.
privative (Gram.) ; 4 taking away \
Prefixes that deny the presence of
the quality denoted by the simple
word are called p. or negative. The
a- of aseptic & the in- of innocent
are privative, whereas the a- of arise
& the in- of insist are not.
proclitic (Gram.) ; ‘ forward-lean¬
ing ’. In Greek, certain words that
coalesce in speech with the following
word to the extent of not having,
like other words, a written accent of
their own. Applied in English to
words like a or an, the , & preposi¬
tions normally placed, i.e. before
their nouns.
prolate, -lalive (Gram.) ; 4 carrying
forward Many verbs have mean¬
ings that are not self-sufficient, but
need to be carried forward by an¬
other verb in the infinitive ; such
are the auxiliaries, & other verbs
meaning be able or willing or wont
or desirous, begin, cease, seem, be
said, &c. This infinitive is called
prolate or prolative.
prolepsis (adj. -ptic) (Gram.) ; 4 an¬
ticipating ’. Anticipatory use of an
epithet, i. e. the applying of it as if
already true to a thing of which it
only becomes true by or after the
action now being stated. A strong
example is
So the two brothers & their mur¬
der’d man
Rode past fair Florence
TECHNICAL TERMS
615
RESOLUTION
i. e., the man who was afterwards
their victim. More ordinary ex¬
amples are He struck him dead,
Fill full the cup, &c.
prosody (Lit.); * to song \ The
science of versification, including
(1) the rules of quantity & accent
governing the pronunciation of
words in a language, & (2) tables of
the various metres showing the
number & kind & arrangement of
feet, lines, stanzas, &c., in each.
prosopopoeia (Rhet.); * personi¬
fication ’. The Greek word of which
personificatio(n) are the Latin & the
English translations, occasionally
used instead of the more familiar
term. See Personification.
protasis (Gram.); 4 laying out be¬
fore \ The subordinate clause or
condition in a conditional sentence,
normally standing before the apodo-
sis or result, but often after it, as
If I can come 1 mill, or I will come
if I can, the //-clause being in each
the.p. Applied also to other sub¬
ordinate clauses ; but both terms
are chiefly used in stating rules for
the syntax of conditional sentences,
especially in Latin & Greek.
pyrrhic (Pros.); ‘ of the Pyrrhic
(dance) \ The foot w ^ ; in English
represented chiefly by double ana¬
crusis (see above), as O my in
O my/Mari/on’s a/bonny/lass
(a trochaic dimeter catalectic with
double anacrusis).
quaternarius (Pros.) ; 4 by fours \
A four-foot line, esp. the iambic or
trochaic dimeter acatalectic, as in
The way was long, the wind was cold.
Why so pale & wan, fond lover ?
Cf. senarius below.
quatorzain, quatrain, (Pros.); ‘four-
teener ’, 4 fourer \ See -stich.
quinarius (Pros.); 4 by fives \ A
five-foot line, esp. of iambi as in
blank verse ; cf. senarius below.
Old John of Gaunt, time-honour’d
Lancaster.
reciprocal (Gram.); • back-for¬
ward \ R. pronouns are those used
in expressing similar action of A
upon B & B upon A ; r. verb is a
term sometimes applied to verbs
that can be used with a plural
subject to denote mutual action ;
e. g., we fought, or argued , or corre¬
sponded, can imply an unexpressed
(with) each other, whereas me shooed,
or composed, or dressed, cannot.
Cf. reflexive below.
reductio ad absurdum (Log.) ; 6 re¬
ducing to absurdity The method
of disproving a thesis by producing
something that is both obviously
deducible from it & obviously con¬
trary to admitted truth, or of
proving one by showing that its
contrary involves a consequence
similarly absurd. A r. a. a. of the
theory that the less one eats the
healthier one is would be 4 Conse¬
quently, to eat nothing at all gives
one the best possible health ’. The
proof, as opp. disproof, by r. a. a. is
the form often used by Euclid, e. g.
in I. vi, where the contrary of the
thing to be proved is assumed, &
shown to lead to an absurdity. An
extreme case, such as the eating
nothing of the instance above, is
often called 4 the r. a. a. of ’ a plan.
reduplication (Gram.) ; 4 doubling
Repetition of a sound as a way of
changing a word’s form for inflex¬
ional or other purposes ; especially
the syllable prefixed to Greek verb-
stems in forming the perfect (/wo,
perf. leluka). Mamma, poohpooh,
puff puff, &c., are reduplications.
reflexive (Gram.) ; 4 back-bent ’.
R. verbs are those of which the
object & the subject are the same
person or thing. Pride, vb, is re¬
flexive, since one prides oneself, not
someone else ; & many verbs that
are not solely r. can be used reflex-
ively, e. g. kill oneself. R. pronouns
are those serving as object to r.
verbs, myself &c. ; the personal
pronouns me, you, &c., are still
rarely used as reflexives, e. g. in He
sat him down, I bethought me.
resolution (vb, resolve) (Pros.) ;
‘ loosen again The substitution
m a metrical foot of two shorts for
a normal long ; a spondee by reso-
TECHNICAL TERMS
616
RONDEAU
lution becomes a dactyl or ana¬
paest ; a resolved iambus or trochee
is a tribrach.
revue (Lit.) ; 4 review A loosely
constructed play or series of scenes
or spectacles satirizing, exhibiting,
or referring to, current fashions &
events.
rhetorical question (Rhet.). A ques¬
tion is often put not to elicit infor¬
mation, but as a more striking
substitute for a statement of con¬
trary effect. The assumption is that
only one answer is possible, & that
if the hearer is compelled to make it
mentally himself it will impress him
more than the speaker’s statement.
So Who does not know . . . ? for
Everyone knows , Was ever such non¬
sense written ? for Never was &c.
rhotacism (Gram.) ; ‘ saying r ’.
Used of two tendencies : (1) abnor¬
mal pronunciation of r, as in some
English dialects especially in the
north ; (2) reduction of other con¬
sonants to r, especially in Latin
when s between two vowels becomes
r ( corpus , vulnus, genitive corporis,
vulneris).
rhyme (Pros.) ; * rhythm ’. As
now understood in English verse, r.
is identity of sound between words
or lines extending back from the end
to the last fully accented vowel &
not farther ; greet & deceit , shepherd
& leopard, quality & frivolity, station¬
ery & probationary, are rhymes ;
seat & deceit , station & crustacean,
visible & invisible, are not. Words
that, to judge from spelling, might
have been rhymes, but have not in
fact the required identity of sound,
as phase & race, love & move & cove,
are often treated as rhyming, but
are called imperfect rhymes. One-
syllable rhymes are called male or
masculine or single, two-syllable
female or feminine or double, three-
syllable & four-syllable triple &
quadruple.
rhyme royal (Pros.). A metre in
stanzas of seven five-foot iambic
lines rhyming ababbcc. Chaucer’s
Clerk's Tale is a well-known ex¬
ample ;
This sergeant cam unto his lord
ageyn.
And of Grisildis wordes and hir chere
He tolde him point for point, in
short and playn.
And him presenteth with his doghter
dere.
Somwhat this lord hath rewthe in
his manere ;
But natheless his purpos heeld he
stille,
As lordes doon, whan they wol han
hir wille.
rhythm (Rhet.) ; ‘ flow
rider (Lit.). A clause tacked on to
a Bill at a late stage with some
addition or restriction or other
alteration; a corollary naturally
arising out of a more general prin¬
ciple ; a problem soluble by means
of some principle & used to test a
learner’s grasp of it.
rococo (Art) ; ‘ rockwork *. This
& baroque are epithets applied, some¬
times indifferently, sometimes with
the distinction noted below, to
tendencies prevailing in the archi¬
tecture & furniture of the early 18th
century in France & imitated else¬
where. Departure from the normal
or expected, incongruous combina¬
tions, bristling surfaces, profuse
ornament, strange or broken curves
or lines, are the characteristic fea¬
tures. The distinction referred to is
that r. is regarded as a form taken
by b. when it aimed no longer at
astounding the spectator with the
marvellous, but rather at amusing
him with the ingenious.
rondeau, rondeau of Villon , rondel,
roundel, (Pros.) ; ‘ round ’. Poems
of fixed form (named as ending
where they began) with the common
characteristics that the opening
word, words, line, or two lines, recur
at stated places, & that all rhymes
are set by the first two different
endings.
In a rondeau , which is of thirteen
lines exclusive of refrain, the first
half line or less recurs as refrain
after the eighth & the last lines.
In a rondeau of Villon , which is of
TECHNICAL TERMS
617
RONDEAU
ten lines, the similar refrain is after
the sixth & the last.
In a rondel , which is of fourteen or
thirteen lines according as it ends
with a refrain of the first two or
only the first, the first two lines
recur after the sixth, & the first two
or the first only at the end.
The word roundel is, as ordinarily
used, the English for rondeau or
rondel, either or both. But it is also
applied to a metre of Swinburne’s,
of nine lines exclusive of refrain,
with a refrain of the rondeau kind
after the third & the last lines.
RONDEAU
On London stones I sometimes sigh
For wider green & bluer sky ;—
Too oft the trembling note is drowned
In this huge city’s varied sound;—
* Pure song is country-born ’—I cry.
Then comes the spring,—the months go by.
The last stray swallows seaward fly ;
And I—I too !—no more am found
On London stones !
In vain !—the woods, the fields deny
That clearer strain I fain would try ;
Mine is an urban Muse, & bound
By some strange law to paven ground ;
Abroad she pouts ;—she is not shy
On London stones.
RONDEAU OF VILLON
We loved of yore, in warfare bold,
Nor laurelless. Now all must go ;
Let this left wall of Venus show
The arms, the tuneless lyre of old.
Here let them hang, the torches cold.
The portal-bursting bar, the bow.
We loved of yore.
But thou, who Cyprus sweet dost hold,
And Memphis free from Thracian snow,
Goddess & queen, with vengeful blow
Smite,—smite but once that pretty scold
We loved of yore.
RONDEL
Love comes back to his vacant dwelling,—
The old, old Love that we knew of yore !
We see him stand by the open door,
With his great eyes sad, & his bosom swelling.
He makes as though in our arms repelling
He fain would lie as he lay before ;—
Love comes back to his vacant dwelling,—
The old, old Love that we knew of yore 1
TECHNICAL TERMS
SATIRE
618
Ah, who shall help us from over-spelling
That sweet forgotten, forbidden lore !
E’en as we doubt in our hearts once more.
With a rush of tears to our eyelids welling,
Love comes back to his vacant dwelling.
ROUNDEL OF SWINBURNE
A roundel is wrought as a ring or a starbright sphere,
With craft of delight & with cunning of sound unsought,
That the heart of the hearer may smile if to pleasure his ear
A roundel is wrought.
Its jewel of music is carven of all or of aught—
Love, laughter, or mourning—remembrance of rapture or fear—
That fancy may fashion to hang in the ear of thought.
As a bird’s quick song runs round, & the hearts in us hear
Pause answer to pause, & again the same strain caught,
So moves the device whence, round as a pearl or tear,
A roundel is wrought.
root (Gram.). Roots are the ulti¬
mate elements of language not ad¬
mitting of analysis. In the word
unhistorically, un-, -ly, -al, -ic, -tor,
can all be set aside as successive
affixes modifying in recognized ways
the meaning of what each was added
to. There remains HIS, which
would be called the root if unhis¬
torically were an isolated word ;
investigation shows that the same
element, with phonetic variations
that are not arbitrary, is present in
many other words, e.g. in English
wit, in the Latin-derived vision, & in
the Greek-derived idea ; & that the
Indo-European or Aryan root is
VID, with the sense sight or know¬
ledge. Cf. stem below.
roundel. See rondeau above.
rune (Lit.) ; 4 secret In the
plural, the letters of the earliest
Teutonic alphabet, used especially
by Scandinavians & Anglo-Saxons,
& developed perhaps in the 2nd or
3rd century by modifying Roman
or Greek letters to facilitate the
carving of inscriptions. In the sin¬
gular, a name given to certain
Finnish (& sometimes incorrectly to
old Scandinavian) poems or their
cantos.
saga (Lit.) ; 4 story ’. /' Any of the
narrative compositions in prose that
were written in Iceland or Norway
during the middle ages ; in English
use often applied spec, to those
which embody the traditional his¬
tory of Icelandic families or of the
kings of Norway —OED.
sapphics (Pros.) ; ‘ of Sappho ’.
A Greek & Latin stanza metre
— v_/- ter
often imitated, but with grotesque
misrepresentation of the rhythm, in
English. Hookham Frere, joint
author with Canning of the best-
known example, ‘ Needy knife-
grinder illustrates the departure
from the Latin rhythm by printing
an English sapphic with the im¬
possible quantities required :
Cold was the night wind ; drifting
fast the snows fell ;
Wide were the downs, and sheltfir/ess
and nak6d,
When a poor wan d'rer struggled on
hSr journey Weary and waysore.
Real sapphics would require a strong
accent on the italic syllables, & no
accent on drift-, shel-, & strug-, be¬
sides minor differences.
sarcasm (Lit.) ; ‘ flesh-tearing .
satire (Lit.) ; 4 medley See
HUMOUR.
TECHNICAL TERMS
619
SONNET
Saturnian verse (Pros.) ; 4 of Sa¬
turn \ The supposed native Roman
metre previous to the adoption of
Greek forms. Whether it was a sin¬
gle definite metre, &, if so, what
its scansion was, are disputed points;
but the usually quoted specimen,
Dabunt malum Metelli Naevio poetae,
resembles in rhythm our The queen
was in her parlour eating bread db
honey.
scazon (Pros.) ; 4 limping See
choliambic above.
semivowel (Gram.) ; In modern
technical use, the letters w & y ;
but often applied, as in earlier use,
to f, 1, m, n, r, s, & x.
senarius (Pros.) ; 4 by sixes ’. A
six-foot iambic line (iambic trimeter
acatalectic). The line used in Greek
& Latin dramatic dialogue, &, under
the name of alexandrine, in the
rhyming couplets of French plays &
other verse. The French metre,
however, has the peculiarity that it
falls naturally into four anapaestic
divisions rather than into six iambi,
so that the effect is utterly unlike
that of Greek verse. Thus :
Et, quand meme/on pourroit/se
resoudre/h le faire,
Croi ri ez- vous/o bli ger/tout le monde
/h se taire ?
Contre la/m&lisance/il n’est point
/de rempart.
A tous les/sots caquets/n’ayons
donc/nul 6gard ;
Efforgons/-nous de vivre/avec toute
/innocence
Etlaissons/aux causeurs /une plein /e
licence.
septenarius (Pros.) ; 4 by sevens \
A seven-foot line, especially the
trochaic tetrameter catalectic,
—w—o—w—w—w—w—\_/—, as in
Comrades, leave me here a little, while
as yet ’ tis early morn, which, how¬
ever, should more properly be called
an octonarius.
sequence (Gram.) ; 4 following \
sestina (Pros.); ‘sixth’. 4 A poem
of six six-line stanzas (with an envoy)
In which the line-endings of the first
stanza are repeated, but in different
order, in the other five ’—OED.
Chiefly an old Provencal, Italian, &
French form, but occasionally copied
in English; the most generally
accessible example (since the length
forbids the giving of one here) is
Kipling’s Sestina of the Tramp Royal
in The Seven Seas.
sibilant (Gram.) ; 4 hissing *. A
sound or letter of the nature of
s, z, sh, &c. ; cf. fricative above.
SIMILE (Rhet.) ; 4 like ’.
sirvente (Lit.) ; 4 serving ’ (perhaps
in sense man at arms). Troubadours’
poems not of special metrical form,
but chiefly of moral & political
satire, & adapted for singing to
known tunes.
soliloquy (Lit.) ; 4 sole speech *.
See monologue above.
sonant (Gram.) ; 4 sounding ’. Of
the explosive sounds (see above),
some (b, d, g) are accompanied by
vibration of the vocal cords & are
called voiced or sonant ; others
(p, k, t) are without such vibration
& are called unvoiced, voiceless, mute,
or surd; when whispered, the son¬
ants are not clearly distinguishable
from the corresponding surds. See
also voiced below.
sonnet (Pros.) ; 4 sound-piece ’. A
kind of short poem of which there
are . English three recognized
varieties, the features common to
all being (1) use of rhyme, (2) the
line-metre, of five iambi, (3) the
number of lines, fourteen, & (4)
division into an octave (first eight
lines) & a sestet (last six). The
three varieties are the Petrarchan,
the Shaksperian, & the Miltonic, of
which specimens will be given.
The Petrarchan s. has a break in
sense between octave & sestet, two
rhymes only in the octave, arranged
abbaabba, & two, or three, other
rhymes in the sestet variously ar¬
ranged, but never so that the last
two lines form a rhymed couplet
unless they also rhyme with the
first line of the sestet. The follow¬
ing Wordsworth s. observes these
rules :—
fc
The world is too much with us ; late & soon,
Getting & spending, we lay waste our powers :
Little we see in Nature that is ours ;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon !
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon ;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers ;
For this, for every thing, we are out of tune ; [octave]
It moves us not.—Great God I I’d rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn ;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn ;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea ;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
In the Shaksperian s. y though the
pause between octave & sestet is
present, the structure consists less
of those two parts than of three
quatrains, each with two indepen¬
dent rhymes, followed by a couplet
again independently rhymed—seven
rhymes as compared with the
Petrarchan four or five :—
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds.
Or bends with the remover to remove :
O, no ! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests & is never shaken ;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken, [octave]
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips & cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come ;
Love alters not with his brief hours & weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error & upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Of the Miltonic s., which follows the octave & the sestet are worked
the Petrarchan in the arrangement into one whole without the break
of the octave, the peculiarity is that of sense elsewhere observed :—
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world & wide.
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, & present
My true account, lest He, returning, chide,
4 Doth God exact day-labour, light denied ? ’
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent [octave]
That murmur, soon replies 4 God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly ; thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o’er land & ocean without rest ;
They also serve who only stand & wait ’.
sorites (Log.) ; ‘ heap ’. Applied brought into the desired relation to
to two entirely different things. a subject by a series of propositions
1. A process by which a predicate is in which the predicate of one e-
A
TECHNICAL TERMS 621 SUBJ. GENITIVE
comes the subject of the next, & the
conclusion has the first subject & the
last predicate. Thus : Schoolmas¬
ters are teachers ; Teachers are
benefactors ; Benefactors are praise¬
worthy ; Therefore schoolmasters
are praiseworthy. A sorites may be
a short way of exhibiting truth, or,
as in the above example, may con¬
ceal fallacies at each or any step.
2. A logical trick named from the
difficulty of deciding how many
grains of corn make a heap; is
a man bald who has 1000, 1001,
1002, &c., hairs on his head ? If the
Almighty cannot undo the done,
where is the line of almightiness to
be drawn ?
Spenserians (Pros.). The metre of
the Faerie Queen , often used by
later poets, especially by Byron in
Childe Harold ; eight five-foot &
a ninth six-foot iambic lines, rhym¬
ing ababbcbcc.
A gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes & silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine.
The cruel markes of many a bloudy fielde ;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield :
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield :
Full jolly knight he seemd, & faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts & fierce encounters fitt.
spirant (Gram.) ; 4 breathing ’. 4 A
consonant which admits of a con¬
tinued emission of some amount of
breath, so that the sound is capable
of being prolonged ’—OED. Some¬
times confined to f, th, v, as deve¬
loped from p, t or d, b, followed by
h ; sometimes including also the
sibilants, liquids, nasals, semivowels,
& aspirate. Cf. also fricative &
aspirate above.
spondee (Pros.) ; 4 libation ’. The
foot-, as in gold cup or dry rot.
stanza (Pros.) ; 4 standing ’. Many
poems consist of a succession of
metrically similar line-groups each
of which has the same number &
length of lines & the same rhyme-
scheme as the rest. This pattern
unit is called, especially when of
more than two lines, a stanza. It
may be of a generally accepted kind,
as the alcaic or Spenserian or rhyme
royal s., or one made for the occasion
& observed throughout a single
poem only.
stem (Gram.). A word’s stem is the
art from which its inflexions may
e supposed to have been formed by
the addition of affixes ; in the in¬
flexions it may be found unchanged,
or may have been affected by
phonetic tendencies ; thus the s. of
man is man , giving man's, men, &
men's. Cf. root above ; of the Eng¬
lish verb wit the root is VID, but
the stem, giving wit, wot, wist,
wottest, &c., is wit. Different parts
of a 4 word ’ may be formed from
different stems ; there are e. g.
several stems in what is called the
verb be.
stichomyth (Lit.) ; 4 line-talk ’. In
verse plays, interchange of short
speeches consisting each of a single
fine. Common in Greek plays ; &
modem examples may be found in
Les Femmes Savantes in. v &
Richard 111, iv. iv. 342 foil.
stop (Gram.). For punctuation,
see Stops. In phonetics, stop is a
term equivalent to explosive (see
above).
strophe (Pros.) ; 4 turn ’. Part of
a Greek choric ode chanted while
the chorus proceeded in one direc¬
tion, to be followed by a metrically
exact counterpart as it returned.
Number & length & metre of the
lines composing it unrestricted. For
an example see antistrophe above.
subjective genitive (Gram.). See
objective genitive above for the prin¬
ciple. If from the sentence God
created man two nouns are taken,
God's creation contains a subjective
TECHNICAL TERMS 622
SYNAPHEA
genitive, & man's creation (or
usually the creation of man) an
objective genitive.
suffix (Gram.) ; 4 attached below ’.
An affix (see above) at the end of
a word or stem to make a derivative,
as -cy, -ship, -ful, in tenan(t)cy,
lordship, & fearful.
suggestio falsi (Rhet.) ; 4 suggestion
of the untrue ’. The making of a
statement from which, though it is
not actually false, the natural &
intended inference is a false one.
E.g., if A, asked whether B is honest,
replies, though he in fact knows no
harm of B, that his principle is to
live & let live & he is not going to
give away his old friend, the ques¬
tioner infers that A knows B to
be dishonest. Cf. suppressio veri
below.
supine (Gram.) ; 4 lying face up \
A Latin-grammar term for two
verbal nouns (or adverbs) ending in
-um, -u, of no importance in English
grammar except as an occasional
name for the infinitive with to (to
go) as distinguished from the infini¬
tive without to (go).
suppressio veri (Rhet.) ; 4 suppres¬
sion of the true ’. Intentional with¬
holding of a material fact with a
view to affecting a decision &c. ;
cf. suggestio falsi above.
surd (Gram.) ; 4 deaf, dumb ’. See
sonant above.
syllepsis & zeugma (Gram., Rhet.) ;
4 taking together ’, 4 yoking ’. Two
figures distinguished by scholars,
but confused in popular use, the
second more familiar word being
applied to both. Examples of
syllepsis are : Miss Bolo went home
in a flood of tears & a sedan chair./
He lost his hat & his temper./The
flood of enthusiasm & flowers was
terrific./She was seen washing clothes
with happiness & Pears’ soap.
Examples of zeugma are : Kill the
boys & the luggage !/The pine¬
apple was eaten & the apples
neglected./With weeping eyes &
hearts./See Pan with flocks, with
fruits Pomona crowned.
What is common to both figures is
that a single word (that italicized in
each example) is in relations that
seem to be but are not the same
with a pair of others. The difference
is that syllepsis is grammatically
correct, but requires the single word
to be understood in a different sense
with each of its pair (e.g., in the last
with expresses first accompaniment,
but secondly instrument), whereas
in zeugma the single word actually
fails to give sense with one of its
pair, & from it the appropriate word
has to be supplied— destroy or
plunder the luggage, the apples were
neglected, bleeding hearts, Pan sur¬
rounded.
syllogism (Log.) ; 4 combined rea¬
soning ’. Deduction, from two pro¬
positions containing three terms of
which one appears in both, of a con¬
clusion that is necessarily true if
they are true ; a s. of the simplest
form is :
All men are mortal ;
All Germans are men ;
Therefore all Germans are mortal.
The predicate of the conclusion
(here mortal) is called the major
term, & the preliminary proposition
containing it the major premise;
the subject of the conclusion (here
Germans) is called the minor term ,
& the preliminary proposition con¬
taining it the minor premise. The
term common to both premises
(here men) is called the middle term.
synaeresis (Gram.) ; 1 taking to¬
gether The opposite of diaeresis
(see above); i. e., the making of two
separate vowel sounds into one, as
when aerial is pronounced like Ariel,
naive like nerve, extraordinary as
-trord-, or cocaine (originally three
syllables) as -cane.
synalocpha (Pros.) ; 4 smearing to¬
gether ’. The non-sounding of a
final vowel before an init'al vowel,
whether indicated by written elision
as in Greek verse or left to the
reader’s perception as in Latin verse.
Cf. crasis above, & synizesis
below.
synaphea (Pros.) ; 4 joining to¬
gether ’. In most Latin & Greek
TECHNICAL TERMS
623
TERZA RIMA
verse, the last syllable of each line
is exempt from the strict metrical
requirements, i.e. it may be either
long or short, & is not, if it ends in
a vowel, subject to elision before a
vowel beginning the next line. But
regularly in some metres, & by
exception in others, the end of a line
is regarded as continuous with the
next line, & e. g. a syllable more
than is needed to complete the me¬
tre of the line may be used, & elided.
The treatment of lines as continuous
is called synaphea ; verse treated
on the ordinary principle that each
line is metrically detached from the
next is said to have no s. English
blank verse has no s., as is shown
by the fact that the fifth foot may
have one or even two extra (un¬
accented) syllables after the ac¬
cented one that completes the
metre. E. g., the line Look, where he
comes ! Not poppy nor mandragora
is not an alexandrine, but a five-foot
line with mandrag(ora) as the fifth
foot.
syncopation (Gram., Mus.) ; ‘ cut¬
ting together ’. In grammar, the
use of syncope (see below). In music
(a use lately much popularized by
the advent of ragtime songs, jazz
dances, &c.) the OED definition is :
The action of beginning a note on
a normally unaccented part of the
bar & sustaining it into the normally
accented part, so as to produce the
effect of shifting back or anticipating
the accent ; the shifting of accent
so produced.
syncope (Gram.) ; ‘ cutting to¬
gether ’. The shortening of a word
by omission of a syllable or other
part in the middle ; cf. aphaeresis &
apocope above. Symbology & pacifist
& idolatry for symbolology, pacificist ,
& idololatry, are examples.
synecdoche (Rhet.) ; ‘ inclusive ex-
tended acceptation ’. The mention
of a part when the whole is to be
understood, as in A fleet of fifty sail
(i.e. ships), or vice versii as in Eng¬
land (i.e. the English cricket XI)
toon. '
synesis (Gram.); * meaning \ The
adapting of the number &c. of a
word to the meaning instead of to
the grammatical form of the word
that should determine it, as in
A large number were (instead of was)
killed.
synizesis (Pros.) ; ‘ sitting to¬
gether ’. In Greek verse, the count¬
ing of two long vowels, the first
ending & the second beginning a
word, as one syllable, without writ¬
ten elision ; rare except in certain
combinations, as inel oi>.
synonym (Rhet.) ; ‘ with-name ’.
syntax (Gram.); * combined order ’.
The part of grammar concerned not
with the etymology, formation, &
inflexion, of words, but with the
arrangement of them in sentences.
Cf. accidence above.
tercet (Pros.) ; ‘ third ’. A three-
line group, especially one of those
composing terza rima (see below),
or half the sestet of a sonnet (see
above). Cf. -stich.
term (Log.). For major, minor,
middle, t. see syllogism above.
terza rima (Pros.); ‘ third rhyme ’.
Dante’s metre in the Divina Corn-
media —lines of five iambic feet with
an extra syllable, so rhymed that
every rhyme occurs thrice in alter¬
nate lines, except the rhymes of the
first & last lines of a canto, which
occur twice only. In every tercet
(see above) reckoned from the be¬
ginning, the first & third lines rhyme
while the second introduces a new
rhyme to be carried on by the first
& third of the next tercet, giving an
effect of unending continuity to the
piece. The last tercet is converted
by an extra line into a quartet,
to avoid the leaving of a line un¬
rhymed. Dante’s t. r. has double or
feminine rhyme throughout. Eng¬
lish imitations, since English has no
such abundance of trochaic endings
as Italian, have mostly single or
masculine rhymes & ten instead of
the Italian eleven syllables. The
following lines of Byron, being three
tercets & a line, show the same
rhyme scheme at beginning & end as
if they were a whole canto :—
TECHNICAL TERMS
C24
TRIPLET
Oh ! more than these illustrious far shall be
The being—& even yet he may be born—
The mortal saviour who shall set thee free,
And see thy diadem, so changed & worn
By fresh barbarians, on thy brow replaced ;
And the sweet sun replenishing thy morn,
Thy moral morn, too long with clouds defaced.
And noxious vapours from Avernus risen,
Such as all they must breathe who are debased
By servitude, & have the mind in prison.
tetralogy (Lit.) ; * four pieces In
ancient Athens, a trilogy (see below)
with the addition of a satyric drama
or comic play with chorus of satyrs,
forming the unit offered by each
competitor for the tragic prize.
Now, any set of four connected
plays or tales.
tetrameter (Pros.). See -meter above.
tetrastich (Pros.). See -stich.
thesis (Pros.) ; 4 putting down \
The unaccented part of a foot. See
arsis above ; syllables not marked
with an accent in the examples there
given are said to be in thesis.
tmesis (Gram.) ; 4 cutting ’. Separ¬
ation of the parts of a compound
word by another word inserted be¬
tween them, as when 4 toward us ’
is written to usward , or 4 whatsoever
things ’ what things soever.
tribrach (Pros.) ; 4 three short ’.
The foot w chiefly serving as
the resolved equivalent of a trochee
or iambus, in Greek & Latin verse.
English scansion is so loose that any
example is of doubtful validity ;
but the following line may be said
to begin with a t. :
Travel you/far on,/or are/you at/
the farthest ?
trill (Gram.). A letter pronounced
with vibration of the tongue or
uvula, especially r.
trilogy (Lit.) ; 4 three pieces \ In
ancient Athens, there were dramatic
competitions at which each dramat¬
ist presented three plays, originally
giving successive parts of the same
legend ; the extant Agamemnon,
Choephoroe , & Eumenides , of Aes¬
chylus formed a trilogy, &, with
the addition of the lost Proteus a
tetralogy (see above). Later trilogies
were connected not necessarily by
a common subject, but by being
works of the same poet presented
on the same occasion. In modern
use the word is applied to a work
such as Shakspere’s Henry VI, com¬
prising three separate plays, or to a
novel «fec. with two sequels.
trimeter (Pros.). See -meter above.
triolet (Pros.) ; 4 three-piece An
eight-line poem in which the first
line occurs thrice (1, 4, 7) & the
second twice (2, 8), & the other lines
rhyme with these two. An example
(Robert Bridges) is :
All women born are so perverse
No man need boast their love
possessing.
If nought seem better, nothing’s
worse :
All women born are so perverse.
From Adam’s wife, that proved a
curse
Though God had made her for a
blessing,
All women born are so perverse
No man need boast their love
possessing.
triplet (Pros.). See -stich. Ap¬
plied specially to the occasional use,
in rhymed-couplet metres, of three
lines instead of two to a rhyme ;
common in heroic couplets,especially
in Dryden ; the following example
is from Scott :
The humble boon was soon obtained;
The aged minstrel audience gained.
But when he reached the room of
state,
Where she, with all her ladies, sate,
Perchance he wished his boon
denied :
For, when to tune his harp he tnedt
TECHNICAL TERMS
His
ease,
Which marks security to please;
{ And scenes, long past, of joy &
pain.
Came wildering o’er his aged
brain—
He tried to tune his harp in vain 1
The pitying duchess praised its
chime.
And gave him heart, & gave him
time.
Till every string’s according glee
Was blended into harmony.
tristich (Pros.) ; ‘ three-line ’. See
-STICH.
trochee (Pros.) ; * running \ The
foot — \j, as in manner or body.
tu quoque (Rhet.) ; 4 thou also \
The meeting of a charge or argu¬
ment not by disproof &c. but by
retorting it upon its user. E. g.,
Why don’t you go yourself? to a
civilian urging one to enlist.
turn-over (Lit.). A light newspaper
article named from beginning near
the end of the first page & continuing
into the second, & resembling the
middle article (see above), but
usually of a more journalistic & less
literary tone.
ultima (Gram.) ; 4 last ’. The last
syllable of a word ; see antepenult
above.
uncial (Palaeog.) ; * inch ’. The
style of writing, consisting of large
letters, some of them rounded from
the angular capital forms, but not
run together, found in early Greek
& Latin MSS. The later & smaller
writing in MSS., in which the letters
are further rounded, slanted, & run
together, is called cursive. The
terms majuscule & minuscule are
sometimes used as synonyms of
uncial & cursive, but strictly majus¬
cule includes both capital & uncial
writing, whereas minuscule & cursive ,
applied to MSS., are coextensive.
undistributed middle (Log.). A
fallacy (see above). The u. m. is the
logical name for a middle term that
is not made universal; see syllogism
above, where the middle term men
625
VERS LIBRE
is made universal by the word all,
or 4 distributed Such distribution
is necessary to the validity of the
conclusion, & the fallacy of the u. m.
consists in allowing a middle term
that is not universalized to pass as
universally true. Thus we know or
believe that wet feet result in colds ;
we catch cold, & say 4 1 must have
got my feet wet ’; i. e., in syllogistic
form :
Colds are wet-feet products.
My trouble is a cold.
Therefore my trouble is a wet-feet
product.
Which would be sound if colds
meant all colds, but not if it merely
means some colds.
unvoiced (Gram.). See sonant above.
velar (Gram.); 4 of the curtain (i. e.
the soft palate) Applied to gut¬
turals made farther back than the
hard palate, esp. in dealing with the
original Indo-European language;
see guttural & palatal above.
vers libre (Lit.) ; 4 free verse \
Versification or verses in which
different metres are mingled, or
prosodical restrictions disregarded,
or variable rhythm substituted for
definite metre. A number of short
specimens follow, collected from
notices in the Times Literary Supple¬
ment :—
1. Colour, thick as dust, lay
Spattered about the highway
Colour so bright that one would
think
White, blue, cherry-pink
Were made to clutch and
drink.
Colour that made one stop and
say:—
Earth, are you Heaven to-day? 1
Colour that made one pray.
Lumps of colour, liquid and cool.
Cool and near.
Clear and gay.
Tumbled about my way.
2. Life—give me life until the end.
That at the very top of being,
The battle-spirit shouting in my
blood.
Out of the reddest hell of the
fight
I may be snatched and flung
Into the everlasting lull*
The immortal incommunicable
dream.
3. Because I saw her pass
With the flickering candle-light
Across her bosom’s curve,
A circle on the wall,
In which she moved,
Alone,
Up to her little room.
4. Within an office whose exterior
Resembles an ultra-conservative
mind
You battle with the avaricious
words
Of a meager, petrified man.
Your face is brown stagnation
Sometimes astounded byathrust
Of chattering wistfulness.
Bravery is fear
Effectively sneering at itself,
And you are forever wavering
Upon the edge of this condition.
Yet your obscurity
Is an important atom
In the mysterious march of time.
[A sonnet, skeletonized to modern
formula—Times]
5. With running laughter
Her cailins came out of the
grassy morning
Calling her, and fierce hawks
rose from the trees
Around them. Rushing down
the rocky glenside
They sobbed among the grum¬
bling kerns and pulled
Their tumbling hair about them,
moaning : ‘ Ochone.’
6. Messengers,
Of varied fate.
Of pitch and toss and gain.
Of life and driven time,
And the inane
Of jesters.
7. Out into a green backyard came
a woman in a blue apron
Carrying yellow meal in a bright
tin pail.
VILLANELLE
The chickens came running ;
And those little hungry sparrows
that are my thoughts
All day teasing and quarrelling,
Settled down on the grass among
the plump flock.
Greedy and pleased.
8. Phoenix, bird of terrible pride,
ruddy eye and iron beak 1
Come, leave the incinerary nest;
spread your red wings.
And soaring in the golden light
survey the world ;
hover against the highest sky ;
menace men with your strange
phenomena.
9. We stand in the crowd, craning
our necks.
To see in small cages linnets new
caught.
And a puppy of dubious descent
is waved in our faces, and
here
With the daylight dimming his
eyes is an owl, fluffy, solemn
and queer.
10. Jammy-mouth from the feasts
of the gods
From the far crystal cities
We come,
Where in talking trees
The old beast sings
To himself
And his voice
Is terrible to the kings of
cities.
From this globular grey hubble-
bubble
We come.
vicious circle. In logic, circle &
vicious circle mean the same—the
basing of a conclusion on a premise
that is itself based on this conclu¬
sion ; for an example see arguing in
a circle above. The phrase v. c. is
also applied outside logic to the
reaction between two evils that
aggravate each other : The wrecked
sailor’s thirst makes him drink salt
water ; the salt increases his thirst.
villanelle (Pros.) ; ‘ country-piece .
A form of poem in five (or more)
tercets & a quatrain, all on two
TECHNICAL TERMS
626
TECHNICAL TERMS
627
TENSES
rhymes, one that in the middle line
of each tercet & the second line of
the quatrain, the other everywhere
else. The first line ends the second
& the fourth tercet; the third line
ends the first, third, & fifth tercets ;
& the quatrain ends with the first &
third lines. Example, from Austin
Dobson :
When I saw you last, Rose,
You were only so high ;—
How fast the time goes 1
Like a bud ere it blows.
You just peeped at the sky.
When I saw you last. Rose I
Now your petals unclose,
Now your May-time is nigh ;—
How fast the time goes 1
And a life,—how it grows 1
You were scarcely so shy.
When I saw you last, Rose I
In your bosom it shows
There’s a guest on the sly ;
(How fast the time goes !)
Is it Cupid ? Who knows !
Yet you used not to sigh.
When I saw you last. Rose ;—
How fast the time goes 1
voiced (Gram.). See sonant above.
weak ending (Pros.). Blank-verse
lines whose last word is a proclitic
(e.g. a preposition with its noun still
to come, the if of a clause, the
auxiliary have) are said to have
weak endings. These are of impor¬
tance in determining the sequence of
Shakspere’s plays, being more fre¬
quent in the later. Examples :
You demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ring¬
lets make.
That calflike they my lowing
followed through
Tooth'd briers.
Not a relation for a breakfast, nor
Befitting this first meeting.
But, howsoe'er you have
Been justled from your senses, know
for certain.
zeugma . See syllepsis above.
techy. See tetchy.
teens (in one’s t. &c.). No apos-
trophe.
teethe, teething. For the dh sound,
see th & dh.
teetotaller, but teetotalism ; see
“LL“j
telephone, vb, makes - noble ; see
Mute e.
temerarious. ‘ Now only literary ’
—OED ; see Literary words.
templet, -plate. The -et form is
better, the other being due to false
association with plate in wall-plate
&c.
temptress. See Feminine desig¬
nations.
tenant. Tenant farmer, & tenant
right, should be so written without
hyphens ; see Hyphens (3 B for the
second, & group *Lord Mayor for
the first).
tempest. See wind, n.
tend (= attend). Dr Hutton has
written an interesting account of the
Eskimos of Labrador, among whom he
has lived for some years past tending
to their needs in his hospital. Since
this verb tend (unlike the one con¬
nected with tendency) is said to be
merely an aphetic form of attend,
it is remarkable that its construction
& that of attend should differ ; but
they certainly do ; tend one’s needs,
but attend to one’s needs ; see Cast-
iron idiom.
tender makes - er , -est; -er & -est 2.
tendon of Achilles is the English,
& tendo Achillis the Latin ; mix¬
tures of these should be avoided, &
the only other form should be ‘ the
Achilles tendon ’ colloquially.
tendril makes tendrilled; -ll-, -l-.
tenet. Pronounce tS'nit.
tenor. The form tenour is called
obsolete by the OED for all senses,
though it appears in some of its
19th-c. quotations, esp. in the sense
course or procedure or purport; see
-our & -OR.
# TENSES &c. Certain points requir¬
ing care will be found under Se¬
quence of tenses. Subjunctive,
TENUIS
628
Perfect infinitive, as 4, had,
LEST, SHALL, WILL.
tenuis. PI. - ues (-z).
tepefy. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
tepid makes -est, see -er & -est 4.
tercentenary. See centenary.
tercet. See Technical terms.
teredo. English pi., teredos , see
-o(e)s 6 ; Latin pi. tere'dines, see
Latin plurals.
term. For major, minor, middle, t.
in logic, see Technical terms
( syllogism ).
terminate makes -nable, see -able
i ; & -tor, see -or.
terminological. For t. inexactitude
see Polysyllabic humour.
terminus. PI., even in the com¬
monest sense of railway t., usu.
termini ; see Latin plurals.
termly, a. & adv. The word has
been so far displaced by terminally)
that there is now a tinge of affecta¬
tion in its use. The analogy of
daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, fails
because term, unlike day &c., is of
Latin origin.
tern. See -sTicn.
Terpsichore. Pronounce terpsi'-
korl ; & see Muses.
terrain. The justification of the
word is that it expresses a complex
notion briefly. When it is used as
a substitute for ground, tract, region,
or district —good ordinary words—,
it lacks the justification that an
out-of-the-way word requires, &
becomes pretentious. It means a
piece of ground with all the pecu¬
liarities that fit or unfit it for mili¬
tary or other purposes ; & to speak
of 4 the peculiarities of the t.’, 4 the
nature of the t.% &c., instead of
simply 4 the t.\ is, though the
readers’ assumed ignorance may ex¬
cuse it, a pleonasm.
terrify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
terrorize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
tertium quid. 4 A third something ’.
Originally a mixture of two things,
having properties not so well ascer¬
tained as those of its elements. In
this sense an alloy, or a chord (‘ not
a fourth sound, but a star ’), or
4 Fair Trade ’, or Anglocatholicism,
might be called t. q. Now often in
the changed sense (the notion of
unknown qualities being lost) of
another alternative, a middle course,
or third member of a set ; so tem¬
perance as between drunkenness &
teetotalism, suicide as an escape
from the choice between poverty &
dishonour, or the third person play¬
ing propriety for a pair of lovers, is
in popular language a t. q.
terza rima. See Technical terms.
tessera. PI. -rae.
test. For synonyms see sign.
testatrix. For pi. see -trix.
testify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
te(t)chy, touchy. In the sense
irritable, over-sensitive, the OED
suggests that touchy is perhaps an
alteration of techy ; techy (or teachy)
is the oldest recorded form, but
tetchy is the usual modern spelling
of those who do not prefer touchy.
As the etymology of te(t)chy is un¬
known, & the much commoner
touchy gives the same meaning with¬
out being a puzzle, any attempt to
keep tc(t)chy alive seems due to a
liking for curiosities.
tete-ft-tete. See French words.
tether. For synonyms in the fig.
sense see field.
tetralogy, tetrameter. See Tech¬
nical terms.
tetrastich. See -stich.
Teutonice, -c6. See Latine.
thalamus. PI. -mi.
Thalia. See Muses.
than. 1. T. & prefer {able). 2. T. &
inversion. 3. Part of verb after
rather t. 4. Hardly & scarcely t.
5. T. after the more &c. 6. T. as
strong conjunction, as weak con¬
junction, & as preposition. T.
Double standard of comparison.
8. T. after non-comparatives. 9. T.
& ellipsis. 10. Flounderings.
1. For t. after prefer & preferable
without rather, a common solecism,
see prefer(able) 3.
THAN, 2
629
THAN, 7
2. T. & inversion. No tariff-armed
nation has got better entry for its
potatoes in the XJ.S.A. market than
has Ireland./ The evidence could not
now be given in the same sense, any
more than could Mr Chamberlain’s
speeches of 1903 be now delivered./
The success of the offensive will depend
upon its ability to compel the enemy
to lose men in afar heavier proportion
than do his assailants./TAe visit will
be much more direct in its effect upon
the war than could be any indis¬
criminate bombing of open towns.
Such inversions are deprecated ; see
Inversion, esp. the section on inver¬
sion after relatives & comparatives,
group 2 & comment 2.
3. Infinitive, or gerund &c., after
rather t. They were all in favour of
* dying in the last ditch ' rather than
sign their own death-warrant. The
justification of sign instead of sign¬
ing is discussed in -ing 5.
4 . Hardly t., scarcely t. But hardly
had I landed at Liverpool than the
Mikado's death recalled me to Japan.
Read no sooner for hardly, or when
for than ; & see under hardly 2,
SCARCELY 1.
5. T. after the more, the less, &c.
If we simply take the attitude of
accepting her theory of naval policy,
we make it so much the less probable
that she will change her law than if
we enter into violent contention. See
THE for the wrongness of this con¬
struction.
6. T. as strong conjunction, weak
conjunction, & preposition. In You
treat her worse than I treat her, t. is
a strong or subordinating conjunc¬
tion, attaching an adverbial clause
to its owner worse. In You treat her
worse than I, the same account may
be given with the explanation that
there is an ellipsis of treat her ; or t.
may be called a weak or coordinating
conjunction linking the two simi¬
larly constructed nouns you & I.
In You treat her worse than me, the
same two names for t. are possible,
but the ellipsis is of you treat (not
treat her), or the similarly con¬
structed nouns are her & me (not uou
& me) ; those are the possibilities
if the sentence is said with the only
sense that an educated person gives
it. But an uneducated person may
mean by it You treat her worse
than I treat her ; &, if it is to be so
taken, t. is not a conjunction of
either . kind, but a preposition
governing me. Doubts whether a
word is a preposition or a conjunc¬
tion or both are not unknown ; see
e. g. but 1 with regard to such
phrases as all but he (conj.) & all
but him (prep.) ; usage, also, changes
in such matters with time. It is
obvious, however, that recognition
of t. as a preposition makes some
sentences ambiguous that could
otherwise have only one meaning,
& is to that extent undesirable.
The OED statement on the preposi¬
tion use is that, with the special
exception of t. whom, which is pre¬
ferred to t. who unless both are
avoided, ‘ it is now considered in¬
correct That incorrectness occurs
in the four following examples,
where us, him, & them, should be
we, he, they :—That international
accord will finish by reaching the
great mass of the Socialist proletariat
of Germany ; no one wishes it more
than us. /On the other hand, the
moment he should become weaker
than us . . ./The butcher of the last
few months has been a good deal more
obliging than him of the war period./
Do not let us split up our energy by
having more than one society; the
idea is more than them all.
On the other hand, the subjective
he s that follow had better have been
him on the weak-conjunction prin¬
ciple, since the ellipsis required for
the strong-conjunction explanation
is in each piece awkward, esp. * no
other artist than he was * '—If ever
Captain O'Connor gives us a second
volume , we beg him to engage no other
artist than he who illustrated the
first./The Entente had no better friend
than he on the other side of the
Atlantic.
7 . Double standard of comparison :
more more t. A ludicrous example
THAN, 8
630
THAN, 10
of conflicting lhans, which almost
any reader would detect, is : ‘I
have less confidence than Mr Orr in
the valuers being obliged to adopt
his method of valuation than that
we all shall be compelled to adopt
theirs \ Less is clearly unequal to
its two jobs ; it can put Mr Orr in
his place with regard to I, or the
valuers with regard to us, but not
both. Such a freak sentence would
not be worth quoting but for the
light it throws on a less flagrant but
more frequent absurdity of the same
kind, the following of more & more
with than :—My eyes are more &
more averse to light than ever./The
order has gradually found more &
more room for educational & learned
work than was possible in the early
centuries. Both sentences would be
riffht if db more were omitted ; but
the introduction of it implies the
tacit introduction of other thans
which conflict with those that are
expressed. More d? more means
more yesterday than the day before,
& more today than yesterday ; to
combine that shifting date with the
unshifting dates ever & in early
centuries is impossible. T. should
never be used after more & more.
8. T. after non-comparatives. Else,
other, & their compounds, are the
onlv words outside true compara¬
tives whose right to be followed by
t. is unquestioned ; & 4 true com¬
paratives ’ is to be taken as exclud¬
ing such Latin words as superior &
inferior, senior & junior, all of which,
as well as preferable), require not t.,
but to ; the use of t., on the analogy
of other t., after different diverse
opposite, &c., is 4 now mostly avoid¬
ed ’ (OED). Two examples follow
of irregularities that should not
appear in print; for what . . • «;
read what ...but or what else. ..L,
& for increased, greater :— What, then,
remains if this measure of a £ ree ™ e f
time?/There is obviously a vasi ^
increased number of people who> can
& do follow reasoned arguments m
books <& newspapers than there was
before educational methods were so
efficient.
9. T. with ellipsis or brachylogy.
Some kinds of ellipsis are so cus¬
tomary in the member of a sentence
beginning with t. that to write out
the whole sense would be much
more noticeable than the ellipsis.
But hasty writers are encouraged by
this to think that any slovenliness
will pass muster :— Many of them
take tea & coffee to excess, & I am
convinced myself the evil consequences
of excess of these beverages is much
greater than alcohol (are much
greater than those of aleohol)./27ie
proceedings were more humiliating to
ourselves, to a great party, than I can
recollect in the course of my political
experience (than anything I)./The
interpretations of the words are more
uniformly admirable than could, per¬
haps, have been produced by any
other person (than any other person,
perhaps, could have made them)./
This was due to the feeling that the
Bill went further than public opinion
warranted or was justified in the case
of a private member's measure (than
what public opinion warranted or
what was). . ,
10. Flounderings. There is often
a difficulty in getting the things to
be compared into sufficient gram
matical conformity to s ]; and
either side of a tnan ; bat ^ 1 ..
who take so little trouble about it
as the authors of the following
sentences must not be surprise
their readers are indignant.
countries where a Referendum is a
recognized part of the constitution^
machinery, the House °f J ie Pf gg
lives is much more ready to pass,
provisionally, constitutional refoms^
Parliament in a country like our d
The Awkward Age, which w J
published, was being receive
a little more intelu ? enc . h f n *jj ad
been the habit of greeting his pr
ductions.
TH & -DH
631
THAT, ADJ<
-TH & -DH. Monosyllabic nouns
ending in -th after a vowel sound
(including - ar - &c.) differ in the
pronunciation of the plural. Those
only need be considered whose
plural is in regular use, which ex¬
cludes sloth, broth, ruth, & many
others. The common words lath,
mouth, oath, path, truth, & youth, all
sound the plural as -dhz, not -ths ;
but the equally common words
berth, birth, breath, death, fourth,
girth, growth, smith, db myth, have
-ths in sound as well as in spelling.
Others again, chiefly words whose
plural is less commonly used than
those above, are doubtful ; such are
bath, cloth, sheath, & wreath (-dhz
recommended), & (with -ths usual)
heath, hearth, moth, swath, & wraith.
Cf. the article -ve(d). It may be
added that the verbs or verbal nouns
connected with bath, breath, cloth,
mouth, sheath, teeth, & wreath, have
the dh sound (bathe, breathe, clothe,
mouthing, sheathe, teething, wreathe) ;
cf. also smithy, worthy, northern, &
southern, all with -dh-.
thank you, thanks, &c. 1 thank you
is now reserved for formal occasions
or tongues ; thank you is the ordi¬
nary phrase, but tends more & more
to be lengthened with or without
occasion into thank you very much ;
thanks is a shade less ceremonious
than thank you, & many & best &
a thousand thanks are frequent
elaborations of it ; much thanks is
archaic, but not obsolete ; thanks
much is a hybrid form, confusing the
noun with the verb, & an affectation.
that, adj. & adv. 1. 2\ = such a,
so great a, to such an extent. 2. T.
with noun & participle.
1. The adjectival use (He has that
confidence in his theory that he would
act on it tomorrow) was formerly
normal English, & survives col¬
loquially, but in literary use such a,
so great a, &c., are substituted. The
adverbial use (when I was that high ;
he was that angry) is still more
unliterary; & in spoken English
it now passes only where, as in the
first example, actual demonstration
with the hand is possible ; where
it is impossible, as in the second
example, that is held uneducated or
vulgar.
2. T. with a noun & a participle or
other equivalent of a defining rela¬
tive clause. The type meant is
shown in that part affected, that land
lying fallow, that theory now in
question, & the contention is that it
is a bad type. In the OED there
is a solitary example, & that justi¬
fiable for special reasons ; but in
modern newspaper use it is growing
very common. Four specimens
are :— It was essential that both these
phases of his art should be adequately
represented in that branch of the
National Gallery devoted to native
talent./ That part relating to the
freedom of the seas was given fairly
fully in the 4 Times ’./Aphorisms <fe
maodms are treated with that respect
usually reserved for religious dogma./
Shorter hours in all departments of
labour prevent that expeditious hand¬
ling of cargoes needed.
The use of that (demonstrative
adjective) with the sole function of
pointing forward to a defining
relative clause is established Eng¬
lish, & * that part which concerns
us ’ is as common as 4 the part that
concerns us * ; but when for the
relative clause is substituted a par¬
ticiple or phrase, it is an innovation
to keep the that ; it may safely be
said that most good writers take
the trouble to clear away the now
needless that, & write the instead.
The full form should have been that
branch which is devoted (or the branch
that is devoted), & the short form
the branch devoted ; & similarly for
the rest.
It should be observed that sen¬
tences occur at first sight similar to
those condemned, but with the
difference that another purpose is
served by that instead of or as well
as that of heralding the participle
&c. One such is the OED quotation
already referred to : On that penin-
sulated rock called La Spilla ; here
THAT, CONJ.
THAT, CONJ
that is justified as meaning * the
well-known Compare also : The
world needs peace. You wih always
find us at your side to preserve that
peace bought by so much blood. Here
the justification of that is its referring
back to the peace of the previous
sentence.
The misuse here objected to is still
commoner in the plural ; see those.
that, conj. 1. Kinds of clause
attached by t. conj. 2. Omission of
t. in substantival clauses. 3. T. &
whether with doubt(ful). 4. Interim
t. 5. T. & as after (in) so far. 6.
Non-parallel t.-clauses in combina¬
tion.
1. Kinds of clause attached by t.
conj. In adjectival or relative
clauses that begin with t., it is a
relative pronoun, not a conjunction ;
see for these the next article. T.
conj. attaches a substantival clause
to the verb, noun, &c., to which it
is object (I hear that he is dead),
subject (T. pain exists is certain ), in
apposition ( The fact t. pain exists),
&c. ; or else an adverbial clause to
the word &c. modified (The heat is
such that it will boil water). The
only point needing to be insisted on
is that in either case, whether the
J.-cIause is substantival or adverbial,
the sentence out of which it is made
by prefixing t. must be of the state¬
ment form, not a question, com¬
mand, or exclamation. Sentences
of those other kinds can be sub¬
ordinated or turned into clauses,
but not by prefixing t. The mistake
is not made by good writers, but yet
occurs often enough to need men¬
tion. One way of avoiding it is so
to arrange that there is unsub¬
ordinated quotation of the question
&c., & the other is, before sub¬
ordinating, to convert the question
&c. into a statement giving the
same meaning. Of the following
examples all but the third are of im¬
possible substantival clauses, & that
(Crises. . .) adverbial:— I should like
io point out to Reformer that, had the
brave defender of Ladysmith known
he could hold out for another M
months, would he not have informed
General Buller of the fact ? (a. I should
like to ask R. this : Had ... b. he
would surely have informed)./Your
correspondent suggests that if we lend
money let us send it to Canada for
railways there (a. suggests : If... b.
we should send )./Crises,international
or national, arise so rapidly in these
days that who can say what a few
years may bring forth? (a. arise
rapidly in these days ; who . . .
b. that none can).] /One can only
comment that if such a refuge was
open to the Romans, how much more
available is it to our own people, with
their vast territories over the seas,
comprising some of the suavest climes
<& most fertile soils on our planet!
(a. comment : If . . . b. Romans, it
is much more available).
2. Omission of t. in substantival
clauses. 1 know that my Redeemer
liveth : 1 know 1 can trust you.
These are equally good English; if
that were shifted from the first to the
second, both would still be gram¬
matically correct, but each less
idiomatic than as it is. That is, the
use or omission of the t. of a sub¬
stantival clause depends partly on
whether the tone is elevated or
colloquial. But a glance at the
following examples of obviously
wrong omission will show that there
is not free choice after all verbs or
in all constructions :— I assert the
feeling in Canada today is such
against annexation that .. •/Sir, in
reply to Mr Baker, may 1 point out
A. „ * A Word to
in the circular entitled ‘ A Word
English Women * the opposition of
South Africa to the Plumage Bill is
expressly proclaimed ?/Sir, I MJ 1
abashed to see in my notice of m
Bradley Bin's book Sylhet
Thackeray ’ 1 have credited the etaer
W. M. Thackeray with ‘ sixteen
children./For instance, you state tM
exemption of incomes under £
from income-tax would reduce __
payers by six millions., /The enormous
rents which would be asked f oT
houses would naturally render owners
THAT, CONJ., 3
633
THAT, CONJ., 4
of existing properties restless &
envious, with the result they would
continually strive to raise their own
rents to a similar level./There was
much cheering when Mr Balfour
blurted out that his own view was the
House of Lords was not strong
enough. It will be noticed that most
of these are from the correspondence
columns of newspapers, i. e. are by
writers who may be unpractised. It
at once occurs to the reader that
state, assert, & point out, are words
that stand on their dignity & will
not dispense with the attendance
of t. The same idea is not suggested
about see in the fourth example,
since a moment’s thought assures us
that I see, & 1 see that, Vesuvius is
active again are equally good. The
reason why t. is there required is
that by omitting it the chance is lost
of making plain the arrangement of
the sentence & showing that in .. .
Thackeray belongs not to see, but to
have credited. The lesson of the last
two examples is that omission is
unadvipable when the substantival
clause is in apposition to a noun, as
here to result, & mew.
It may be useful to give tentative
lists, to which everyone can make
additions for his own use, of verbs
that (1) prefer t. expressed, (2) prefer
t. omitted, & (3) vary according to
the tone of the context. (1) T. is
usual with agree, assert, assume,
aver, calculate, conceive, hold, learn,
maintain, reckon, state , suggest; (2)
T. is unusual with believe, presume,
suppose, think ; (3) T. is used or
omitted with be told, confess, con-
sider, declare, grant, hear, know, per-
cewe, propose, say, see, understand.
The verbs with which the question
may arise are many more than these
few, which may however be enough
to assist observation.
3. T. & whether with doubt(ful).
it gave him cause for wonder that no
serviceable [petroleum] 4 pool' had
been revealed in England ; that any
existed, however, seemed doubtful, for
; • • The choice allowed by
idiom is between Whether any ex¬
isted seemed doubtful, & That any
existed seemed unlikely, according to
the shade of meaning required. See
doubt(ful).
4. Interim t. It often happens to
a writer to embark upon a substan¬
tival J.-clause, to find that it is
carrying him further than he reckon¬
ed, & to feel that the reader & he
will be lost in a chartless sea unless
they can get back to port & make
a fresh start. His way of effecting
this is to repeat his initial t. This
relieves his own feeling of being lost;
whether it helps the inattentive
reader is doubtful ; but it is not
doubtful that it exasperates the
attentive reader, who from the
moment he saw t. has been on the
watch for the verb that it tells him
to expect, & realizes suddenly, when
another t. appears, that his chart is
incorrect. These interim thals are
definite grammatical blunders,which
can often be mended by leaving out
the offending t. with or without
other superfluous words ; in the
examples below the omittenda are
bracketed. The first two show the
most venial form of the mistake, the
resumptive t. being inserted at the
point from which progress to the
expected verb is not to be again
interrupted by subordinate clauses ;
the others are worse :— There can
be no question that, had the Navy
from the very beginning been un¬
hampered by the restrictions volun¬
tarily put upon Us activities by the
unratified Declaration of London, had
neutral traders not been permitted to
supply the enemy with things essential
to war—& in vast quantities — [that]
the end of the war would have come
much sooner./He must have astonished
the 4 First Gentleman in Europe *
when he wrote to him that if he did not
adopt the new principles , as laid down
in his 4 Grammar of the Six Senses \
founded on Space, Time, dk Eternity,
[that] neither he nor his subjects could
possibly hope to be saved. /Is there any
man of sane judgement in the Unionist
forty who does not know in his heart
that, if the Unionist Party were free
THAT, CONJ., 5
C34
THAT, REL,
from the Protectionist entanglement,
& [that,] if it] had not committed the
gigantic error of inciting the Lords to
reject the Budget, its position & pros¬
pects at the present moment would be
vastly improved ?/It should be borne
in mind that, whilst many things have
increased in cost, t& [that] therefore
the value of the £1 has decreased,
there are many items of expenditure
which have not increased in anything
like the same proportion./It has been
shown that if that inheritance be
widening, as it is, & [that] if] the
means of increasing it exist, as they
do, then growth of numbers must add
to the power./We can only say that if
the business men who read the Times
are really of opinion that this is a
sensible procedure, & [that,] if they]
find any satisfaction whatever in the
writing down of a huge sum which
everybody knows can never be re¬
covered, they will have only themselves
to thank if the politicians continue to
make game of them.
Another sentence is appended as
showing not indeed an interim t.,
but mistakes curable by the same
method of excision. If the writer
wishes to keep his thats, he must
correct had authorized into had not
authorized, & knew into did not know ;
the repetition of t. has lulled him
into the state in which yes & no
mean the same thing :— The Minis¬
ter added that there was no need to say
that the Government knew nothing
about these statements, still less [that
it] had authorized them, or [that it]
knew what amount of truth there might
be in them.
See also Overzeal.
5. T. & as after (in) so far. For the
rather elusive distinction, & its im¬
portance, see far 4, 5, in so far, &
Compound prepositions.
6. Non-parallel f.-clauses in com¬
bination. Parallel ^.-clauses can be
strung together ad libitum, & may be
rhetorically effective. It is other¬
wise with interdependent or dis¬
similar ^.-clauses ; for the principle
see Repetition. The unpleasant¬
ness of the construction deprecated
is sufficiently shown in: It ig
thoroughly in accordance with this
recognition that the people have rights
superior to those of any individual
that Mr Roosevelt is seeking legis¬
lation that will perpetuate the Govern¬
ment's title to the coal & oil lands in
the public domain.
that, rel. pron. 1. Relation between
that & which. 2. That-i sm. 3. Ellip¬
tical that as relative adverb. 4.
That- clause not close up. 5. One
that in two cases. 6. Double govern¬
ment.
1. Relation between that & which.
What grammarians say should be
has perhaps less influence on what
shall be than even the more modest
of them realize ; usage evolves itself
little disturbed by their likes & dis¬
likes. And yet the temptation to
show how better use might have
been made of the material to hand
is sometimes irresistible. The Eng¬
lish relatives, more particularly as
used by English rather than Ameri¬
can writers, offer such a temptation.
The relations between that, who, &
which, have come to us from our
forefathers as an odd jumble, &
plainly show that the language has
not been neatly constructed by a
master builder who could create
each part to do the exact work
required of it, neither overlapped nor
overlappi ng ; far from that, its parts
have had to grow as they could.
Whereas it might seem orderly that,
as who is appropriated to persons, so
that should have been appropriated
to things, or again that, as the rela¬
tive that is substantival only, so the
relative which should have been
adjectival only, we find in fact tha
the antecedent of that is often
personal, & that which more orte
represents than agrees with a noun.
We find again that while
two possessives ( whose & of who h
& which one (of which), that has n
of its own, though it often ne ® . ’
& has to borrow of which or •
Such peculiarities are explicable, du
not now curable ; they are inh
THAT, REL.
635
THAT,
m the relative apparatus that we
have received & are bound to work
with. It does not follow that the
use we are now making of it is the
best it is capable of ; & perhaps the
line of improvement lies in clearer
differentiation between that & which ,
& restoration of that to the place from
which, in print, it tends to be ousted.
A supposed, & misleading, distinc¬
tion is that that is the colloquial &
which the literary relative. That
is a false inference from an actual
but misinterpreted fact ; it is a fact
that the proportion of thats to whichs
is far higher in speech than in writ¬
ing ; but the reason is not that the
spoken thats are properly converted
into written whichs , but that the
kind of clause properly begun with
which is rare in speech with its short
detached sentences, but very com¬
mon in the more complex & con¬
tinuous structure of writing, while
the kind properly begun with that
is equally necessary in both. This
false inference, however, tends to
verify itself by persuading the
writers who follow rules of thumb
actually to change the original that
of their thoughts into a which for
presentation in print.
The two kinds of relative clause, to
one of which that & to the other of
which which is appropriate, are the
defining & the non-defining ; & if
writers would agree to regard that as
the defining relative pronoun, &
which as the non-defining, there
would be much gain both in lucidity
& in ease. Some there are who
follow this principle now ; but it
would be idle to pretend that it is
the practice either of most or of the
best writers.
A defining relative clause is one
that identifies the person or thing
meant by limiting the denotation of
the antecedent: Each made a list of
books that had influenced him ; not
books generally, but books as de¬
fined by the that-clause. Contrast
with that j 1 always buy his books ,
which have influenced me greatly •
the clause does not limit his books.
which needs no limitation ; it gives
a reason ( = for they have), or adds
a new fact ( = & they have). There
is no great difficulty, though often
more than in this chosen pair, about
deciding whether a relative clause is
defining or not ; & the practice of
using that if it is, & which if it is not,
would also be easy but for certain
peculiarities of that. The most im¬
portant of these is its insistence on
being the first word of its clause ;
it cannot, like whom & which, endure
that a preposition governing it
should, by coming before it, part it
from the antecedent or the main
sentence ; such a preposition has to
go, instead, at the end of the clause ;
that is quite in harmony with the
closer connexion between a defining,
(or that-) clause & the antecedent
than between a non-defining (or
which-) clause & the antecedent ;
but it forces the writer to choose
between ending his sentence or
clause with a preposition, & giving
up that for which. In the article
Preposition at end it is explained
that to shrink with horror from end-
ingwith a preposition is no more than
foolish superstition ; but there are
often particular reasons for not choos¬
ing that alternative, & then the other
must be taken, & the fact accepted
that the preposition-governed case
of that is borrowed from which , & its
possessive from who ; its cases are,
then: subj. that; obj. that; poss.
whose; prep.-preceded {in, by, from,
for, &c.) which. Another peculiarity
of that is that in the defining clauses
to which it is proper it may, if
it is not the subject, be omitted
& yet operative ( The man you saw
means the same as The man that you
saw), while which in the non-defining
clauses to which it is proper must be
expressed ( This fact, which you admit ,
condemns you cannot be changed
without altering the sense to This
fact, you admit, condemns you).
The following sentences (or parts of
sentences) are re-writings, in con¬
formity with the account already
given of the difference between that
xiau>
636
& which, of verbatim extracts from
newspapers ; the originals, corre¬
spondingly lettered, are reproduced
below, & the reader is invited to
compare the two versions & to say
whether, even apart from the gram¬
matical theory here maintained, the
re-writings do not offer him a more
natural & easy English than the
others :—
a. It examines the rat that carries
the flea that harbours the germ that
infects the poor Indian.
b. The Bishop of Salisbury is the
third bishop that his family has
given to the world.
c. Even the greatest enemy that
this country may possess at this hour
cannot fail to admire . . .
d. Visualize the wonderful things
the airman sees & all the feelines he
has.
e. It seems that the Derna, which
arrived safely, was sent in the
ordinary way.
/. It is extremely unwise to try to
reinforce a bond that is quite ade¬
quate with others that might only
prove disruptive.
g. Among the distinguished visitors
the Crawfords had at Rome was
Longfellow.
h. The greater proportion of Con¬
sols are held by persons or corpora¬
tions that never place them on the
market.
i. Even in the cathedral organ-loft
there are grievances that flourish &
reforms that call for attention.
k. It is necessary to root out the
autocratic principles that underlie
German militarism, which threatens
the peace of the world.
l. King George & Queen Mary have
been welcomed with the pomp &
circumstance thatmay well attend an
event new in the experience of India.
m. A hatred of the rule that not
only is unable to give them protec¬
tion, but strikes at them blindly &
without discrimination.
n. He provides a philosophy that
disparages the intellect, & forms a
handy background for all kinds of
irrational beliefs. I
THAT
re « aia
of the threads of culture that she
let drop, which now lie in w fld
tangles at her feet.
P‘ President Wilson has been very
prompt with his reply to the Note
that Dr Solf sent to President Wil¬
son, which was received in Washing¬
ton yesterday morning. 6
q. The life-work that Acton col¬
lected innumerable materials for,
but never wrote, was a History of
Liberty.
r. You give currency to a subtle
fallacy that one often comes across,
but does not like to see in one’s
favourite paper.
s. After a search for several days,
he found a firm that had a large
quantity of them for which they had
no use.
t. No-one can fail to be struck by
the immense improvement they
have wrought in the condition of the
people, which often is quite irre¬
spective of the number of actual
converts.
v. There will be a split in the
Lutheran Church comparable to the
quarrel that has broken out in the
Catholic Church on the question of
modernism, which seems to have run
its course.
w. The class that I belong to,
which has made great sacrifices,
will not be sufferers under the new
plan.
x. The Pan-German papers are
calling for the resignation of Herr
von Kiihlmann in consequence of
the speeches he has just made in the
Reichstag, in which he admitted
that it was impossible for Germany
to win by force of arms.
y. All honour to these men for the
courage & wisdom they have shown,
which are of infinitely greater value
to the country than ...
In the original extracts, which are
given below in italics, the words that
have been changed in the above
versions are in roman type} »
where the reason for the change is
not at once obvious, a note is added.
But it will save repetition to state
THAT, REL.
THAT, REL.
shortly here what is explained more
fully under which with and or
but, that a defining & a non¬
defining clause, whether that is used
in both or which in both, or that in
one & which in the other, ought not
to be coupled by and or but as if
they were parallel things. The
verbatim extracts are :— It examines
the rat which carries the flea which
harbours the germ which infects the
poor Indian.
b. The Bishop of Salisbury is the
third bishop which his family has
given to the world.
c. Even the greatest enemy which
this country may possess at this hour
cannot fail to admire . . .
d. Visualize the wonderful things the
airman sees <fc all the feelings which
he has. Two thats , one that, or no
expressed relative ( = a suppressed
that ) will do equally well.
e. It seems that the Derna that
arrived safely was sent in the ordinary
way. The defining that- clause would
be right only if there were several
Dernas, of which only one arrived
safely.
f. It is extremely unwise to try to
reinforce a bond, which is quite ade¬
quate, with others which might only
prove disruptive.
g. Among other distinguished visitors
which the Crawfords had at Rome
was Longfellow.
h. The greater proportion of Consols
are held by persons or corporations
which never place them on the market.
i. Even in the cathedral organ-loft
there are grievances which flourish &
reforms that call for attention. The
change from which to that is mere
Elegant variation, to which even
two which* would be preferable.
k. It is necessary to root out the
autocratic principles which underlie
German militarism, that threatens
the peace of the world. Elegant
variation again; which, having
been wrongly chosen the first time,
is wrongly rejected the second time
for variety’s sake.
l. King George & Queen Mary have
been welcomed with the pomp & cir¬
cumstance which may well attend an
event which is new in the experience
of India. That is the right relative
in both places; but, though its
repetition is no worse than that of
which, it is as well to avoid it.
m. A hatred of the rule that is not
only unable to give them protection,
but which strikes at them blindly <&
without discrimination. What has
caused the change from that to which
here is the writer’s realizing that
but that is somehow undesirable ;
it is so, because of the repugnance
of that, mentioned above, to being
parted from its antecedent ; but the
way out is to let the previous that
carry on for both clauses, a task it
is quite equal to.
n. He provides a philosophy which
disparages the intellect & that forms
a handy background for all kinds of
irrational beliefs.
o. She cannot easily retain control of
the threads of culture which she has let
drop, & now lie in muddled tangles
at her feet. The first clause is defin¬
ing, & should have that; the second
is defining or non-defining, being
unessential to the identification &
yet capable of being regarded as
helping it. Against allowing the
that to carry on, as in m, there is the
objection, disregarded indeed by the
writer, that the two relatives are in
different cases ; it is therefore best
to make the second clause non¬
defining, & use which, without and.
p. President Wilson has been very
prompt with his reply to the Note
which Dr Solf sent to President
Wilson, {& was received in Washing¬
ton yesterday morning. Similar to o,
except that this time the second
clause is certainly non-defining.
q. The life-work for which Acton
collected innumerable materials but
never wrote was a History of Liberty.
Restoration of the defining that
often solves the difficulty seen here
& in the next piece, that of a relative
under double government, first by a
preposition, & then by a verb ; the
postponing of the preposition, ab¬
normal though possible with which ,
THAT, REL.
is with that not only normal but
necessary.
r. You give currency to a subtle
fallacy across which one often comes ,
but docs not like to see in one's
favourite paper.
s. After a search for several days he
found a firm wliich had a large
quantity of them & which they had
no use for. Both clauses are de¬
fining, & that is required ; but the
relatives have not the same ante-
cedent, & the and is therefore (see
WHICH WITH AND OH BUT) Wrong.
But there is a legitimate choice be¬
tween that . . .for &for which, & the
latter gives an escape from one that-
clause depending on another.
t. No one can fail to be struck by
the immense improvement which they
have wrought in the condition of the
people , & which often is quite irre¬
spective of the number of actual con¬
verts. Defining & non-defining clauses
joined by and ; see above.
v. There will be a split in the
Lutheran Church comparable to the
quarrel that has broken out in the
Catholic Church on the question of
modernism, but which seems to have
run its course. The second clause may
be either defining or non-defining ; if
defining, that (or rather nothing, cf.
m) is required instead of which ; if
non-defining, but must be omitted, &
which kept.
w. The class to which I belong &
which has made great sacrifices will
not be sufferers under the new plan.
Defining & non-defining wrongly
coupled ; omit and, & naturally
prefer (that) I belong to to the equally
legitimate to which 1 belong as better
both in clearness & in sound.
x. The Pan-German papers are
calling for the resignation of Ilerr
von Kuhlmann in consequence of the
speeches which he has just made in
the Reichstag, & in which he admitted
that it was impossible for Germany to
win by force of arms.
y. All honour to these men for the
courage d? wisdom they have shown,
& which are of infinitely greater value
to the country than . . . The second 1
638 _ THAT, Rfi fc,g
I clause is cleariy non-defining; th*
and should go, wuetner or not
difference between that & xohichi >
accepted. a
^Anf-ism. As has been explain,
ed, the tendency in modern wntim
is for which to supersede that even in
the functions for which t. is better
fitted. On the other hand some
writers seem deliberately, where
most other people would use which, to
choose that under the impression that
its archaic sound adds the grace of
unusualness to their style. A few
I examples will show that in non-
defining clauses to be certainly
noticeable, & the reader will perhaps
conclude that its noticeability is not
a grace :— But her fate, that has lately
been halting in its pursuit of her ,
overtakes her at last./This is clearly
recognized by Mr Macfall in his
eloquent & well illustrated monograph,
that is more than a mere record of
the fortunes of its titular subject./
Our policy in Mesopotamia, our sup¬
pression of Egyptian manifestations ,
<& the Amritsar tragedy , have all
earned severe criticism among Ameri¬
cans in Europe, that in turn has
found an exaggerated reflection in the
United States./At Lingard's shout
for Jorgenson, that in the profound
silence struck his ears ominously , he
raised his eyes./Neither . . ., nor . . .,
nor . . ., will save the country if the
town, that has all the power in its
hands, is content to let it die./Ilis
arguments on these points were heard
by the great audience cf business men
in almost unbroken silence, that gave
place to an outburst of applause when
he . . .
3. Elliptical that as relative adverb.
The familiar yet remarkable fact
that a preposition governing that
docs not precede it but follows it at
a distance has been mentioned in I.
The idiom now to be noticed maybe
traceable to that fact. In the five
following examples that serves as
a sort of relative adverb, equivalent
to which with a preposition :—H
cannot treat any section of Labour
with the in/'nnsemience tfe variability
THAT, REL., 4
639
THAT, REL.,
that it has treated the miner, or any
industry with the incompetence that
it has treated the coal industry, & then
expect peace ( = with which)./We
very much question whether the even¬
tual historian will regard it as a
period of Rationalism in the sense
that we have apparently agreed to
regard the eighteenth century as a
period of Rationalism ( = in which)./
She found herself after Trafalgar in
the same position that Rome found
herself after the destruction of the
Carthaginian fleet ( = in which). /He
took him for his model for the very
reason that he ought to have shunned
his example ( = for which )./Others,
watching the fluctuating rates of ex¬
change with all the anxiety that a
mariner consults his barometer in
a storm-menaced sea, are buying
securities that can . .. (= with which).
This is a freedom that should no
more be allowed to lapse than the
right of putting a preposition last or
of omitting an objective that. But
idiom requires that which should not
be so treated ; it has been tried,
with obviously bad results, in :—
It touched them in a way which no
book in the world could touch them./
The man who cleaned the slate in the
way which Sir E. Satow has done
both in Morocco & Japan. And
further, that itself cannot be so
treated unless the preposition to be
supplied in the clause has been
actually expressed with the ante¬
cedent ; in the following, at which
must be substituted for that : One of
the greatest dangers in London is the
pace that the corners in the main
streets are turned.
4. That- clause not close up. The
clinging of the defining that to its
antecedent has been noticed in 1.
It is the gap between it & the ante¬
cedent that occasions a certain dis¬
comfort in reading the correct
sentences below. Each fAat-clause
is, or at the least may be meant as,
defining ; but between each & the
s<!tual noun of the antecedent
( formulae, fight, thoroughfare , coun¬
try) intervenes a clause or phrase
that would suffice by itself for
identification. In such circum¬
stances a that-clause, though correct,
is often felt to be queer, & it is
usually possible, though by no
means necessary, to regard it as
non-defining & change that to which.
The reader will probably agree that
the change would be desirable
in some of the four, & in others
for special reasons undesirable :—
‘ Petty France ’ was the name ancient¬
ly borne by the thoroughfare now
known as Y ork-street, that runs from
the Broadway, Westminster, to Buck¬
ingham Gate./Dingwall, which has
taken a very active part in the electoral
fight for the Wick Burghs, that has
resulted in so striking a Liberal
triumph, has other claims upon . . ./
The foolish formulae for which the
Coalition was responsible, <& that the
Conservatives have taken over, are not
good enough./When Mr Raleigh
writes, as he does, as if America was
a country of bounding megalomaniacs,
that measured everything by size db
wealth, he is talking nonsense.
5. One that in two cases. Examples
o & p of the first section contained
two relative clauses each, the which
of each second one being suppressed.
It is quite in order to let a relative
which or that carry on & serve a
second clause as well, but only if
three conditions are satisfied : the
antecedent of the two must be the
same ; both must be defining, or
both non-defining ; & the case of the
relative must be the same : this last
condition is violated with which in
o & p, & with that in the examples
now to be given. If there is a change
of case, that or which must be re¬
peated ; or, more often, the repeti¬
tion should be saved by some change
of structure, as suggested in the
brackets : — The whole thing is a piece
of hypocrisy of a kind that few
associations would care to avow even
in committee, but is here exhibited
unblushingly in the light of day (com¬
mittee ; but here it is exhibited)./
The art of war includes a technique
that it is indispensable to acquire db
THE
640
acquired by prolonged
can)* must be acquired, but
,, 6 \ P? UbI 5 g° ver nment. A book
th at 1 heard of & bought is a familiar
& satisfactory form of speech ; that
/f g r em " d fi . rs * ^y °/ & again by
bought ; but it is not good enough
J? r , th u Se consi der that spoken
that should become written which,
& that a preposition should not end
a . cI f s , e 5 they change it to A book
of which 1 heard db bought, forgetting
that if they do not repeat ‘ which I ’
this commits them to ‘ A book of
which I bought ’. Examples have
already been given in q & r of the
first section ; but the efficacy of that
in making the mistake impossible is
so little appreciated as to deserve
special treatment. The first ex¬
ample below shows the right form
for such needs, with that ; the
others illustrate the frequency of the
mistake, which is naturally not made
by those who recognize that in writ¬
ing as well as in speech that is the
true defining relative, & the place
for a preposition governing it is later
in the clause :— 4 Command ’, by
William McFee, is one of those fine
roomy books that one lives in with
pleasure for a considerable time db
leaves at the last page with regret./
A great international conference to
which America is to be invited, or is
to be asked to convene at Washing¬
ton./We must not be faced by a peace
of which we may disapprove & yet
must accept. /An ammunition dump
on which he dropped his remainii.g
bombs & left blazing merrily./It is
incarcerated in prison-like places, to
which it objects, db does all in its
power to avoid.
THE
the. 1. The Times correspondent
&c. 2. By the hundred &c. 3. The
good db (the ?) bad. 4. The with two
nouns & singular verb. 5. Single
adverbial the with comparatives.
6. Double adverbial the with com¬
paratives.
1. The Times correspondent &c. It
is agreed that The Hague Conference
, e Z n g°J technical expert,
M T of The raises a qSS:
tion that, however trivial, is for ever
presenting itself with newspara
names : in 4 the Conference at The
Thi^T' ’ ° r > the , correspondent of
The Times , we know where to use
a capital & where a small letter*
but when one the is cut out by
using (The) Hague & (The) Tima
attnbutiyely instead of as nouns, £
the remaining the that which belong.
ed to Hague, or that which belonged
to Conference ? & is it consequently
to be The , or the ? * 3
.. - Though com¬
positors or writers often choose the
wrong alternative & print The, a
moment’s thought shows that it is
Conference or correspondent that
must have its the, while Hague &
Times can do without it. We soy
a Times correspondent *, & 4 the
last Hague Conference *, stripping
Hague & Times of their The without
scruple ; it follows that the indis¬
pensable the belongs to the other
word, & should not be The unless
after a full stop. For a similar
question with Times's, see Posses¬
sive puzzles 4.
2. By the hundred &c. The mild
revelations of a gentle domestic exist¬
ence which some royal personages
have given us command readers by the
hundreds of thousands. The idio¬
matic English is by the hundred
thousand; by hundreds of thousands
will also pass, but with the plural
the is not used. So also with dozen,
score, &c.
3. The good db (the ?) bad. Primi¬
tively splendid dresses, which appealed
after the manner of barbaric magni¬
ficence to the most complex & ele¬
mentary aesthetic instincts. Is the
omission of another the most or the
between and & elementary tolerable ?
The purist will condemn it on prin¬
ciple, & probably most of us will,
for this particular case, endorse his
condemnation. But he will add that
neither must we say ‘ The French,
German, & Russian figures are not
yet to hand ’, unless we are talking
of their combined total; the Ger-
THE, 4
641
THE, 5
mans & the Russians, he will say,
must have their separating the ; &
in these rigours sensible people will
not follow him. What may fairly
be expected of us is to realize that
among expressions of several adjec¬
tives or nouns introduced by the
some cannot have the repeated with
each item ( the black & white pen¬
guins), & some can logically claim
the repetition ( the red & the yellow
tomatoes). A careful writer will have
the distinction in mind, but he will
not necessarily be a slave to logic ;
‘ the red & yellow tomatoes ’ may
be preferred for better reasons than
ignorance or indolence. For other
attempts to impose a needless rigid¬
ity, see only, & not 1.
4. The with two nouns & singular
verb. It is the single-handed cour¬
age & intrepidity of these men which
appeal to the imagination, cfc are even
more marvellous than their adventures.
Two nouns of closely allied meaning
are often felt to make no more than
a single notion ; courage <& intrepid¬
ity is almost a hendiadys for intrepid
courage ; that feeling is here strength¬
ened by the writer’s choosing to use
only one the instead of two ; & to
change appeal & are to appeals & is
would be not only legitimate, but an
idiomatic improvement.
5. Single adverbial the with com¬
paratives. In ‘the more the mer¬
rier ’ we have double the ; in ‘ They
are none the better ’ we have single
the, & that is the type here to be
discussed ; but in both types the
is not the ordinary adjective or
4 article *, as in 4 the table ’ &c., but
an adverb (or, in the double type,
two adverbs); the original mean¬
ings were in the double type by what
(i.e. by how much) & by that (i.e. by
so much), & in the single type by that
(i.e. thereby or on that account, or
sometimes by so much or by that
amount). These facts are familiar
to all students of grammar, & are
simple enough ; but the modern
idiom based on them is less easy to
be sure of. It will appear from the
extracts presently to be quoted that
1351
the usage here ascribed to the best
writers is not universal, but often
violated. What is here maintained
is that good writers do not, & bad
writers do, prefix the to compara¬
tives when it conveys nothing at all ;
& again that good writers do not,
& bad writers do, allow themselves
a than after a comparative that has
the before it. The second & more
limited question may be taken first :
Is the with comparatives idiomatic
if than follows ?
Starting with the position that I
have taken pills & you have not,
I may be imagined saying I took the
pills, but
(without the)
A, I am no better
B, I am no better for taking them
C, I am no better than if I had not
taken them
D, I am no better than you
(or, with the)
a, I am none the better
b, I am none the better for taking
them
c, I am none the better than if I
had not &c.
d, I am none the better than you.
All eight mean the same, but the
4 the ’ forms a, b, c, & d, are idio¬
matically in order of merit. The
the in a means 4 thereby ’, or more
fully 4 for taking them ’, or more
fully still 4 than if I had not taken
them So a is better than b & c
because it does not say the same
thing twice, as they do. And b is
better, idiomatically, than c be¬
cause, though both are tautological,
b is at least as often said as a, & is
sanctioned by usage, while c is very
rare. Yet c, though it is rare, &
though nearly everyone who wished
to use than would prefer to it the
C form without the, is felt to be not
worse than clumsy, & less bad at
any. rate than d, which sounds
illogical. It would be hard to prove
its illogicality against a defender of
it, but there is no difficulty in seeing
how the impression comes : 4 but
I am none the better than vou *
THE, 5
means when expanded ‘ but I am
J 10 better than if 1 had not taken
them, than you ’ ; that is, the com-
panson indicated by better is mea¬
sured by two separate standards,
a than-clause imphed in the , & a
than-clause expressed. The upshot
is that the should never be used
with a comparative if than follows,
but that where the than-clause
comparison
different from that implicit in the
(as in d above), the departure from
idiom is much more glaring. In all
the following extracts the the form
should be got rid of by omission of
the, with any consequential change ;
but they are arranged in three sets,
the first of the c type (tautological &
unusual), the second of the d type
(prima facie illogical), & the third
of the type in which the is entirely
meaningless.
c type
1 do not believe that the New Royalty
productions would have pleased people
any the more than at present by
having money lavished upon scenery
(any the more = any more than if
money had not been lavished).///
we take the attitude of accepting her
theory of naval policy, we make it
so much the less probable that she
will change her law than if we enter
into violent contention (the less pro¬
bable = less probable than if we did
not take the attitude of accepting)./
A sentence in the courts of summary
jurisdiction has not any the less
effect upon the status & prospects of
a prisoner than a sentence in the
superior courts (any the less effect =
any less effect than if it were not in
courts of summary jurisdiction).
d type
Variety theatre audiences, however,
are well accustomed to foreign artists
speaking in strange tongues, to whom,
indeed, they often take surprisingly
kindly, in view of the linguistic diffi¬
culties involved ; db Madame R6jane
is not likely to be any the less heartiiy
appreciated during her present stay
than on the. nrr.nxi.nn. nf nn/ti nf her
thl™ i Tf^mances in London on
the legitimate stage (any the less
heartily = any less heartily than if
she did not speak in a strange
tongue )./But does that make Sophocles
more Greek than Aeschylus or Euri¬
pides ? Each of the latter may be
more akin to other poets ; but he is
none the less Greek than Sophocles
(none the less Greek = no less Greek
than if he were not more akin to
other poets).
Meaningless type
Meanwhile the intellectual release
had been none the less marked than
the physical (read no less marked)./
1 am the more disposed to rely on Mr
Austen Chamberlain's silence than
on Mr Anderson's attempt to resusci¬
tate a quotation which less adventurous
Tariff Reformers seemed disposed to
let drop (read I am more disposed)./
Herr von Kuhlmann, no doubt , is
defiant about Alsace-Lorraine & silent
about Belgium in the hope that the
Allies will be the less willing to go on
fighting for the one than for the other
(read will be less willing).
The more general question of when
the is appropriate & when it is out
of place before a comparative, with¬
out the complication of a following
than, is simpler. What is here sub¬
mitted is that a fashion has grown
up of inserting the where it is inde¬
fensible, in the false belief that it is
impressive or literary ; such fashions
are deplorable ; it is wisdom either
to abstain altogether from the ad¬
verbial the or to clear one’s ideas
upon what one means by it. The
function of this the is to remind or
acquaint the reader that by looking
about he may find indicated the
cause (or sometimes the amount,
when the means rather by so much
than thereby) of the excess stated by
the comparative. If no such in¬
dication is to be found earlier or
later in the passage, the has no
justification, & merely sets readers
searching for what they will not
find. Normal examples are : /
the more interested in his exploit be-
THE, 5
643
THE, 5
came he is my cousin, where the
anticipates because &c. ; Though he
is my cousin 1 am not the more likely
to agree with him, where the refers
back to though &c. ; As the hour
approached 1 grew the more nervous,
where the means by so much & refers
back to as &c. In the examples that
follow it will be found impossible to
point to such a cause or measure of
excess anticipated or recalled by
the, & moreover it will probably be
admitted at once that removal of the
does not weaken the sense, but
improves it. First will come a batch
of quotations each meant to convey
something of this sort: ‘ A says
so-&-so ; (that really does not much
concern us ;) what concerns us more
is so-&-so else ’ ; but in each the
has been gratuitously inserted, with
nothing for it to anticipate or recall ;
the bracketed sentence above is not
usually expressed, but it or an
equivalent is a necessary part of the
sense :—This reference to the Bonnet
Rouge & Turmel cases is said to have
been well received, but that, after all,
is a matter for France herself, db we
are the more concerned with M.
PainlevFs definition of what he called
France's ‘ noble war aims './But
whilst the origin of words is a very
fascinating study, we are at the
moment the more interested in some
of the language used at yesterday's
demonstrations./That was the prin¬
ciple asserted in the resolution, but
what the more interests us is the
reasons given for this advertised re¬
sistance./It would not be difficult to
preach a very effective sermon out of
the fact that Professor Dicey uses the
word 4 England' when he clearly
means, so far as we can see, the
United Kingdom, but we are the more
concerned to examine the Professor's
thesis./That is all very nice <&
pleasant, but what the more interests
us is what 4 A Peer ’ has to say as to
the political functions & actual work¬
ing of the Home of Lords./The gentle¬
man who pleads for a charitable
construction of their action is Mr
Richard Jebb, in a letter in today's
Morning Post. We confess to being
the more interested in the plan which
Mr Jebb for himself puts forward.
These are simple affairs ; the
reader is mystified for a moment by
the, but soon sees that all he has to
do is to neglect it. The next batch
is not quite so simple, because each
specimen contains some expression,
of a kind commonly associated with
this the, that nevertheless is not to be
associated with it here &, if it is so
taken, will spoil the sense :— It is
socially inexpedient that the diseased
should languish unattended became of
inability to provide skilled assistance,
& it is not the less inexpedient that
the prisoner should stand unaided
before justice because his means can¬
not secure legal representation. The
because clause does not explain the, as
one might guess, but belongs to stand
unaided./Signor Nitti, who kept the
Flume question out of the San Remo
programme, is the object of the live¬
liest criticism by the Italian Press,
& the British newspapers are also
none the less severe in their re¬
proaches of Mr Lloyd George for his
alleged attitude towards France. The
for phrase is of a form often corre¬
sponding to the, but is in fact to be
taken with reproaches, leaving the
inexplicable./if is gratifying to re¬
ceive such clear testimony to a wide¬
spread interest in an intelligent study
of the Bible ; & it is not the less
gratifying that yriany recent books
deal with the subject from a special
point of view. The that clause looks
like the explanation of the, but is
in fact the subject of 4 is not less
gratifying ’. In these examples the
use of the goes beyond mere inepti¬
tude, & amounts to the serious
offence of laying False scent.
It still remains to show how com¬
mon these superfluous the s are
becoming in the newspapers ; some
unsorted examples follow, all of
which would be better without the,
though in some a defence of it might
be attempted :— The shortest road to
peace is the destruction of the German
forces ; those forces arc jammed,
THE, 5
644
THE
day by day are being jammed the
more stringently./The British utility
car, if ever we get it, won't come from
any of the old-established houses ; it
will the more likely come from people
who are entirely new to the business./
Mr Chamberlain, in a letter, has said:
I think now on the Irish question
exactly as 1 thought in 18S6 ' ; that
would be the more informing if we
knew to what month in 1886 the
reference was./Here we have a whole
series of workmen, all of them day by
day rendering us service of inestimable
value; nor are we any the less
dependent upon those whose work is
like that of the miner./I said at the
election before last that 1 was in
favour of the railways being national¬
ized, but it would be all the more true
to say that they would have to be kept
running & that those employed on
them could not exercise their full
powers of collective bargaining if they
were nationalized than it is at the
present time./And for the calendar
year to date upwards of 9 millions
have been cancelled; this would be
the more significant had we not to
bear in mind that the increase in the
issue was considerably accelerated
during the latter weeks of 1918./This
praiseworthy humanity would move us
the more if there were not an obvious
way of meeting the case—viz by
making a grant.
It may even be thought that in the
vogue of this the more &c., where the
is an adverb, is to be found the
explanation of the wrong adjectival
the in :— This was by far the more
heroic course than that of the average
Tories who took the more obvious
party line to the last ditch./It is
curiously entertaining to see how, in
all essential things, the actor-play-
zvright is invariably the better crafts¬
man than the literary man who com¬
mences dramatist. Read a far more
heroic & a better craftsman. Choice
in such sentences lies between A is
a better man than B & Of the two A is
the better man ; the wrong form A is
the better man than B either confuses
those two or apes the adverbial use.
6. Double adverbial the with com-
paratives. lt has been stated in 5
that in this construction one the
means by how much & the other bv
so much. The most familiar ex¬
ample, ‘the more the merrier’ is
the short for ‘ by how much we are
more, by so much we shall be
merrier To keep this in mind is
useful in settling a doubt that often
arises & is illustrated in the three
quotations below—whether a rela¬
tive (that or which) is in order in the
4 by how much ’ or measure clause.
The better education a girl can re¬
ceive, & the more time which cm be
spent on her training, the belter./
Probably the less that is said by
outsiders the better./On shore the
slipper limpets can be sold for £1
a ton for use as manure, db the more
of them can be kept out of the sea the
better are the prospects of the oyster.
4 By how much better education
which a girl can receive * ? No, that
would be patent nonsense, with two
objects to the verb instead of one,
& the writer has not written which ;
but 6 by how much more time which
can be spent ’ is as bad, & he has
written which. It should be noted
that if a the had been inserted before
time the construction would have
been different, = <& the more the time
(is) which can; that would have been
correct, if needlessly long ; but the
extra the, which is indispensable to
it, is not there. The which of the first
quotation, & the that of the second,
must be omitted, while the third,
in which the writers of the others
would almost certainly have used
that or which again, is correct. Those
who can read Latin, with quo & eo, or
quanto & tanto, to take them right
with the & the, can appreciate the
point at once ; & the mistakes of the
first two pieces are due to the acci¬
dent that in English the adverbial
the is the same in form as the
adjectival the ; adjectival the & its
noun (& more, less, can be nouns) are
very commonly followed by that or
which, so that ‘ the more time which
& ‘ the less that ’ have a quite
THE, 6
645
THE, 6
natural sound though they happen
to be ungrammatical. This account
of the mistake finds support in : He
remarked that the opposition to them
increased with the more territory
that they occupied, where the really
is the adjective (or ‘ article ’) & that
is therefore not ungrammatical, but
where it is nevertheless plain that
the writer had in his head the double
the construction : the more territory
we occupy, the greater is the opposi¬
tion. Otherwise he would certainly
not have said ‘ with the more terri¬
tory but ‘ with the territory ’.
It may perhaps, then, safely be
laid down that when, in the measure
clause of a the . . . the construction,
the question arises whether a rela¬
tive pronoun should be inserted, the
answer is no. But the quotation
last used in reaching that result,
with its halting between the con¬
struction we are considering &
another, suggests the need of paying
proper respect to this exceedingly
neat idiom, of not confusing it with
other forms of expression, & of
using it in its most effective shape
& in the most suitable context. A
air of specimens, one good & one
ad in various ways, may serve as
text:—
A, good
The more the merrier.
B, bad
The economic welfare of a com¬
munity is likely to be greater (1) the
larger is the average volume of the
national dividend, (2) the larger is
the average share of the national
dividend that accrues to the poor,
& (3) the less variable are the annual
volume of the national dividend &
the annual share that accrues to the
poor.
The idiom may be described as a
sliding scale stating that one process
of increase or decrease varies with
the variation in another, & the two
parts are the measure & the thing
measured. Points of merit are:
brevity; close correspondence be¬
tween the two parts ; occurrence of
the in both parts ; measure first &
thing measured afterwards ; no in¬
version in measure clause ; no
inversion in thing measured if it
stands first, but inversion common
if it has its normal later place. All
these points are found in A, except
that its elliptical brevity leaves the
inversion question open ; but the
completion could only give The
more we are (not are we) the merrier
shall we (or we shall) be. B fails in
almost all of them ; it is long ; the
compound nature of the measure
prevents neat correspondence ; the
thing measured lacks its the ; the
thing measured stands first ; &
there is inversion in all three parts
of the measure. Most of these faults
are curable by some such rewriting
as this : The larger the average
volume of the national dividend is,
& the larger average share of this
accrues to the poor, & the less this
volume & this share vary from year
to year, the greater is the economic
welfare of the community likely to
be. But the fact is that this idiom
is suitable chiefly to short emphatic
pointed sentences, & should not
have been set to so elaborate a task.
A specimen or two may be added
with comments : —The wider was the
League the greater it would be. A
suitable case ; but read The wider
the League was, the greater would it
(or it would) be ; for the rights &
wrongs of inversion, see the article
so named, especially the section
After relatives & comparatives./The
less distinct was the message which he
felt impelled to deliver, the more
beautiful is often the speech in which
he proclaims it. A particularly suit¬
able case, in spite of its length,
because of the detailed correspon¬
dence of the two parts ; but read
the message was instead of was the
message./The less likely is the satis¬
faction of France's claims—morally
just, but practically impossible—the
more frantic grow these appeals to
force on the part of certain deputies.
An unsuitable case, because the
parenthesis, & the last phrase (on
THEATRE
r
&c.), disturb the correspondence.
It these two could be omitted, the
sentence would be well enough
except that the inversion should be
got nd of by either shifting is to
after claims or omitting it—the
latter for choice.
theatre, -ter. See -re & -er.
their, as the possessive of they, is
liable to the same kinds of misuse,
or discussion of which see they.
A mere specimen or two will here
suffice without further comment
than that in each their is wrong :_
Dr Hollander has brought within 200
pages a vast amount of evidence from
the medical literature of the entire
civilized world ’ ; this is arranged in
chapters according to their origin./
A Unionist journal, having discovered
a mare's nest in its attempt to show
.... is now trying to inflict a sort of
revenge upon Mr Lloyd George for
their own mistake by . . ./But each
knew the situation of their own
bosom, & could not but guess at that
of the other ./But does anyone in their
heart really believe that Ireland is
only that?/No one can be easy in
their minds about the present con¬
ditions of examination./But every one
of them must be present at the Durbar
to pledge their loyalty to their King-
Emperor.
theirs. See Absolute possessives.
theism. See deism for the differ¬
ence.
them. For misuses common to
them & they, see they. The reflexive
use of them = themselves is archaic, &
as such usually to be avoided ; but
the following quotation is enough to
show that with an archaic verb it is
not well to avoid the archaic re¬
flexive : Together the two — employee
& director —hied themselves to the
Great Central Company's loco, super¬
intendent's office. Read hied them to.
theoretic(al). Except that -ic, -ics,
are the noun forms, A that -ical is
probably more often used in all
adjective senses than -ic, the two
words are indifferent. See -ic(al).
THERKBf
there. In the well-known sneeta
First, the use is anticipatory, i •
there accompanies & announces in.
version of verb & subject, standing
in the place usually occupied before
the verb by the subject; come-
there is no inversion
this there is out of place, A should
be struck out, e. g., in : Bombay is
without a doubt the headquarters of
whatever cricket there exists t'n
India today. An exception must
however be made for the verb be
itself ; whatever cricket there is'
or ‘ who there was to see it ’, is'
English, though ‘ whatever cricket
there exists ’ & ‘ who there wit¬
nessed it ’ are not. The reason is
easy to see : there has become,
where there is inversion, so regular
an attendant on is, are, was, Ac., in
their very frequent use as parts of
the substantive verb or verb of
existence that even when there is no
inversion the need is felt of inserting
it as a sign of the particular sense
(i. e. as substantive verb) in which
is &c. is to be taken ; but with
other verbs, whose meaning is not
obscured by the doubt whether they
are here & now substantive or
auxiliary or copulative, no such sign
is wanted, A there is used only with
inversion.
Secondly, since in the there idiom
verb precedes subject, there is a
danger of the verb’s being hastily
put into the wrong number; for
examples see Number, 7.
thereafter, thereat, therein, thereof.
See remark under therefor.
thereanent is in the same kind of
use as anent.
thereby. 1. The use of t. after a
number Ac. (half a dozen or t .) is
Scotch, the English idiom being or
thereabouts or or so. 2. A special
tribunal will be constituted to try the
accused, thereby assuring him the
guarantees essential to the right of
defence. For this use of t. with an
Unattached participle ( assuring *■
THEREFOR
647
THEREFORE
noun is not tribunal , but an inferred
constitution ), see that article & thus,
which is more frequently resorted to
in similar difficulties. In the follow¬
ing example it is clear that thereby
means by the salary &c. ; but
whether affording agrees with salary
&c., so that the salary affords en¬
couragement by the salary, or with
‘ firm ’ looming in the distance, the
writer probably knows as little as
we :— The latter is usually the reci¬
pient of a liberal salary db expenses,
with periodical increments, holidays,
& security, thereby affording every
encouragement to promote the interests
of his firm.
therefor, therefore. The two are
now distinct in accent & meaning
as well as in spelling. Therefor is
accented on the second syllable,
therefore on the first ; & therefor is
to be used only where for that, for it,
for them, &c., could stand equally
well. In grammatical terms, there¬
fore is an adverbial conjunction, &
therefor an adverbial or adjectival
phrase (adverbial in He was punished
therefor, & adjectival in The penalty
therefor is death). The essential
function of therefore is to make clear
the relation of its sentence to what
has gone before ; that of therefor
is the same as that of thereafter,
thereat, therein , & thereof, to give
a touch of formality or archaism to
the sentence in which it is substi¬
tuted for the for it &c. of natural
speech.
therefore. Apart from the danger
of meaning therefor & writing there¬
fore, the only caution needed is that
commas should be used or not used
with discretion before & after the
class of words to which t. belongs.
Like then, accordingly, nevertheless,
consequently, & many others, it is
an adverb often (itself, indeed,
almost always) used as a conjunc¬
tion ; & it is a matter of taste
whether such adverbial conjunctions
shall or shall not be comma’d off
from the rest of the sentence in
which they stand. Light punc¬
tuators usually omit the commas
(or comma, if t. stands first), heavy
punctuators usually give them, &
both are within their rights. But
it must be remembered that the
putting of a comma before t. inevit¬
ably has the effect of throwing a
strong accent on the preceding word,
& that some preceding words are
equal to that burden, & some are
not. From the three following ex¬
amples it will be at once apparent
that although can bear the commas,
& the ands cannot :— Although,
therefore, the element of surprise could
not come into play on this occasion,
the Germans were forced to withdraw./
It would be impossible for the State to
pay such prices, and, therefore, we
must content ourselves with . . ./
Malaria was the cause of a very large
proportion of the sickness, and, there¬
fore, the disease deserves especial
study by . . .
Again, the word it is one that can
seldom be emphasized & conse¬
quently abhors a comma’d therefore
such as follows it in :— It, therefore,
comes rather as a shock to find simul¬
taneously in many papers this morn¬
ing articles declaring . . ./It, therefore,
behoves those who have made the pas¬
sage of the Bill possible to attend once
more. But where emphasis can
reasonably be laid on it, & it can
mean ‘ it more than others ’ or the
like, the commas become at least
tolerable ; so : It is a concrete &
definite idea, the embodiment of which
in practicable shape is by far the most
urgent constructive problem of inter¬
national statesmanship ; & it, there¬
fore, calls for the most careful ex¬
amination.
Many words, however, are neither
naturally emphatic like although nor
naturally unemphatic like and & it;
& after them care should be taken
not to use the commas with therefore
except when emphasis is intended.
The personal pronouns are good
examples ; in the following, we
ought to be able to conclude from
the commas that 6 we * are being
deliberately contrasted with otheif
THESIS
648
who believe otherwise : We, there¬
fore, find great comfort in believing
that Canadian loyalty depends not
on . . nor on . . but on . . . Pro¬
bably that is the case, & the commas
are justified ; but if the light punc¬
tuation were generally accepted as
the rule with these adverbial con¬
junctions, & commas used only
when emphasis on the preceding
word was desired, one of the num¬
berless small points that make for
lucidity would be gained.
A curious specimen may be added :
We therefore are brought again to the
study of symptoms. Here it is
obvious that We is unemphatic ;
but the writer, though he has rightly
abstained from commas, has been
perverse enough to throw an accent
on We by other means, viz by
putting therefore before instead of
after are ; see Position of adverbs
4.
thesis. PI. theses, see Latin
plurals. Pron. the- or the-. For
the metrical sense, see Technical
terms.
they, them, their. 1. One, anyone,
everybody, nobody, &c., followed by
their See. 2. Confusions with nouns
of multitude & personifications.
8. Unsatisfactory pronoun reference.
4. Case.
1. One See. followed by their Sec.
The grammar of the recently issued
appeal to the Unionists of Ireland,
signed by Sir Edward Carson, the
Duke of Abercorn, Lord Londonderry,
& others, is as shaky as its arguments.
The concluding sentence runs : ‘ And
we trust that everybody interested will
send a contribution, however small,
to this object, thereby demonstrating
their (sic) personal interest in the anti-
Home Rule campaign ’. Archbishop
Whately used to say that women were
more liable than men to fall into this
error, as they objected to identifying
‘ everybody ' with ‘ him ’. But no
such excuse is available in this case.
Their should be his ; & the origin
of the mistake is clearly reluctance
to recognize that the right shorten-
they
ing of the cumbersome he or gk.
*“ 0T *o., is he or him or M,
though the reference may be to hotfc
sexes Whether that rductanSh
less felt by the male is doubtful*
at any rate the OED quotes ex’
amples from Fielding (Everyone in
the house were in their beds). Gold¬
smith, Sydney Smith, Thackeray
(A person can't help their birth)
Bagehot (Nobody in their senses ), &
Bernard Shaw. It also says nothing
more severe of the use than that it is
‘Not favoured by grammarians’;
that the grammarians are likely,
nevertheless, to have their way on
the point is suggested by the old-
fashioned sound of the Fielding &
Thackeray sentences quoted; few
good modern writers would flout the
grammarians so conspicuously. The
question is discussed in Number, 11 ;
examples of the wrong their, in
addition to those that follow, will be
found under their ; & the article
one, 5, 6, 7, may be useful. The
lecturer said that everybody loved their
ideals./Nobody in their senses would
give sixpence on the strength of a
promissory note of that kind./Elsie
Lindtner belongs to the kind of person
who suddenly discovers the beauty of
the stars when they themselves are
dull & have no one to talk with. The
last is amusing by the number of the
emendations that hurry to the rescue:
E. L. is one of the people who dis-
. . . kind of people who
. ; . . . when he himself
when she herself is ;
* w
the kind of woman who dis-
when she herself is . . .
_when she herself is . . .’
without further change, it is need¬
less to remark that each, one, person,
&c., may be answered by her instead
of him & his when the reference,
though formally to both sexes, is
especially, as here, to the female.
2. Confusions with nouns of multi¬
tude & personifications. What is
meant appears from the quotation
following, with Government, is, &
them , in the first, & journal, its, is,
& their, in the second :—The Govern?
cover
discover
is
covers
As to 4
THEY, 3
THINKABLE
merit, with the Clarke award before
them, is yet unable to enforce it./A
widely circulated Unionist journal,
having discovered a mare's nest in its
attempt to show that an English¬
woman’s Drawing-room was to be
open to the Government Inspector, is
now trying to inflict a sort of revenge
upon Mr Lloyd George for their own
mistake by .. . Discussion, & other
examples, will be found in Personi¬
fication, 2.
3. Unsatisfactory reference. For
the many possibilities in this kind,
see Pronouns. A few flagrant
examples follow, the bracketed
numbers referring to sections in
Pronouns : —The Germans will argue
that, whatever they may undertake to
keep the French at bay, they will
still have no guarantee that they will
evacuate their territory or even refrain
from further occupations when they
prove unable to meet the enormous
demands still hanging over them (4)./
It must not repeat this history with
the Poles or fall into a sudden scep¬
ticism about the Minsk negotiations,
because they have succeeded in keep¬
ing the enemy from the capital (3)./
If the Paris Conference have to fight
the Bolshevists, it is because, by
attacking their decisions in advance,
by waging war against States which
they propose to set up, & by their
unscrupulous propaganda, they have
begun to fight the Conference (4)./
That the error in date, & the deduction,
are from Dr Garnett's preface, I am
well aware ; but that does not make
them either correct or accurate. In
this last, error in date is necessarily
part of the reference of them ; but,
since a fact cannot make an error
correct or accurate, it should have
been ‘ the date ’ or ‘ the erroneous
date ’.
4. Case. Like him & he (which see
for comment), them & they occasion¬
ally go wrong, as in :— The whole
foundation of our constitution depends
upon the King being faithfully served
by his advisers, <fc they taking com¬
plete responsibility for every act which
he does./ Several bodies of the tribesmen
then undertook to help Raid Maclean
to escape to the sacred oasis, to which
his captors had been careful to draw
near in the event of they themselves
being in danger. Observe that re¬
sponsibility for these two blunders
rests with the Fused participle ;
read, in the first piece, upon the
King's being . . . & their taking , &,
in the second, in the event of their
being in danger themselves.
thimbleful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
thin makes thinness ; see Spelling
POINTS, 2.
thine. See Absolute possessives.
thing. Things musical, things
canine, things Japanese, & the like,
are phrases sometimes serviceable &
businesslike, as at the head of a
newspaper column, but suggestive
of affectation where the only reason
for using them is that they are a
slightly out-of-the-way form of
expression.
thinguma j ig, thingumbob, thingum¬
my, are the chief survivors of a large
number of variants.
think. 1. After t., that is usually
omitted ; see that, conj., 2.
2. T. to do, = t. of doing or remem¬
ber to do, is at best colloquial,
though the OED does, without pro¬
ducing any quotations, recognize its
existence, thus : ‘ Mod. Did you
think to ask him how his father is ?
3. ^b Jo thmhin^ man. One of the
bluffing formulae, like It stands to
reason (see reason, 2), that put the
reader’s back up & incline him to
reject the view that is being forced
on him. In the following piece it
will be noticed that the writer by
implication rules out all Liberals
from rational humanity : No think¬
ing man can believe that, without
fairer conditions of internal competi¬
tion, without a broader basis of
revenue, without a league of commerce
& defence between the Mother country
& her colonies, the Imperial State can
continue to exist.
thinkable is a word of the same
unfortunate ambiguity as its much
more popular opposite unthink-
THIRTY
650
THOgg
able. Protection is only a thinkable
expedient on the assumption that
competition in the home market is to
be made unprofitable.
thirty. The thirties, ’thirties . See
TWENTIES.
thirty-twomo, 32mo. See folio.
PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
this. 1. This three weeks, this five
years, &c., are as good English as
these &c., the numeral & the plural
noun being taken as the singular
name of a period ; but the modern
grammatical conscience is some¬
times needlessly uneasy about it.
2. For 1 will not do &c. this thing,
see Novelese, & Stock pathos.
thistle. The -t- is silent; see
Pronunciation.
thither. See hither. An OED
quotation shows how the word is
still available, though rarely indeed,
when real ambiguity would result
from there ; it is from a guidebook :
The road thither leaves the main road
at right angles.
-TH NOUNS. The remarks made in
the article -al nouns apply also to
the invention of new or revival of
obsolete nouns in -th. There are
large numbers of well established
words such as truth, depth, growth ;
but the suffix is no longer a living
one (on this point see Hybrid de¬
rivatives), & the use of new or
revived - th nouns is chiefly a poe¬
tasters’ trick. Some specimens are :
greenth, gloomth, & blueth, all made
by Horace Walpole ; blowth (blos¬
som &c.), more or less obsolete ;
spilth, a revival ; & illth, made by
Ruskin as antithesis to wealth in its
older & wider sense.
those. 1. For those kind of, those
sort of, see kind, sort.
2. Those (adj.) + noun + adjective.
(The winner will be selected from)
those persons named ; persons is the
noun, & named the adjective. This
arrangement is now very common
in newspaper writing of the inferior
kind, but is so little warranted by
good literary usage that the OED,
which illustrates the construction,
of which this is a hybrid product
does not quote a single example of
it; cf. what is said of the same
construction under that, adj. 2.
The word adjective in the formula
above is to be taken as including
participles active or passive &
adjectival phrases, as well as simple
adjectives—whatever, in fact, is
equivalent to a defining relative
clause ( those persons following, those
persons named, those persons in the
list below, those persons present— all
equivalent to the persons that &c.).
Those named is a proper substitute
for (the) persons named, the pronoun
(not adjective) those taking the place
of the noun persons with or without
the ; & (the) persons named is itself
a shortening of the persons that are
named. But those persons named is
a mixture of the long form (the)
persons that are named & the short
form those named, in which mixture
what was gained by using the pro¬
noun those instead of the persons is
thrown away by reinserting the
noun & making those an adjective.
It is true that there is another
legitimate form in which those does
appear as an adjective, viz those
persons who are named ; but that is
a form in which not lightness &
brevity, but on the contrary for¬
mality & precision, are aimed at;
it is therefore not one that should be
abbreviated.
All this is offered not as a proof
that those persons named is impossi¬
ble grammar, but as a reasonable
explanation of what is believed to
be the fact, that good writers do not
say it, but say either (the) persons
named or those named. The following
quotation is useful as containing
samples both of the right & of the
wrong usage : It depends upon the
extent to which those in authority
understand their responsibility, & are
able so to make their influence felt as
' those
IV Of MID Ut'ICvv o «/ *
boys with most influence in Ms
school. Those in authority is right,
whereas those persons in authority
THOUGH
THOUGH, S
would have been wrong; & those
boys with most influence is wrong, &
should be either the boys, or those,
with &c. Several examples follow
with corrections :— Moreover, the
Valley of Kings lacks those conveni¬
ences & facilities essential to expedi¬
tious cfc efficient work (read lacks
the)./On several of those points con¬
cerned with the practical application
of the general principles there is room
for discussion (read the points)./The
best advice the Allies can give to those
peoples bordering on Russia is to .. .
(read the peoples)./For he possessed
just those qualities needed— courage,
energy, driving power , & . . . (read
just the)./The fitting of such a con¬
trivance must give to those people
employing it a considerable advantage
(read to people, to the people, or to
those , employing)./The Bishop of
Oxford combines a personal apprecia¬
tion of Dr Driver with a reply to those
recent charges made by Canon
Rashdall & Professor Bethune-Baker
of inconsistency in his own attitude
towards Biblical criticism (read to
the)./This simply expressed estimate
will be endorsed by all those friends
on this side of Mr Howells. This
means 4 by all those friends of Mr
Howells who are on this side (of the
Atlantic) ’ ; but this particular
development of the newfangled
those makes the sentence almost
unintelligible ; the friends is at least
better.
The following use of those is quite
another matter, & of no importance,
but worth giving as a curiosity : It
is impossible for the Ambassador to
issue invitations to those other than
Americans.
though. 1. Though) (altho ugh . 2. As
though. 3. {Although with participle
or adjective. 4. Illogical use.
1. Though){although. The definite
differences between the two hardly
need stating ; they are : first, that
though can & although cannot be used
as an adverb, placed last {He said he
would come ; he didn't, though) ; &
secondly that though is alone possible
in the as though idiom. In the use
common to both forms, i.e. as a
complete conjunction, no definite
line can be drawn between them, &
either is always admissible ; but it is
safe to say, in the first place, that
though is much commoner, & second¬
ly that the conditions in which
although is likely to occur are (a) in
the more formal style of writing
(b) in a clause that does not follow
but precedes the main sentence, &
(c) in stating an established fact
rather than a mere hypothesis : He
wouldn't take an umbrella though it
should rain cats & dogs ; Although
he attained the highest office, he was oj
mediocre ability.
2. As though. It is not as though
there has been cruelty & injustice.
Had, in place of has, is the only
right English ; see as, 4, for discus¬
sion & examples.
3. {Although with participle or
adjective. Like other conjunctions
{if, when, while, &c.), {although is
often followed by the significant
word only of its clause, the subject
& the auxiliary or copulative verb
being readily supplied ; so Though
annoyed, 1 consented. The conveni¬
ence of this is obvious, but care is
needed, as appears from the two
quotations that follow :— Though
new to mastership herself, a lady
master is not new to the pack, for she
follows Mrs Garvey in the position./
Though sympathizing as 1 do with
Poland, I cannot resist the impression
that it would be doing Poland an ill
service to . . . The point shown by
the first is that the omission must
not be made when it leaves the
participle or adjective apparently
attached to a wrong noun ; new in
fact belongs to she, but seems to
belong to a lady master ; if she is
had not been omitted after though ,
all would have been in order. In
the Poland sentence, the correction
really required is to omit though ,
4 sympathizing as I do * being self-
sufficient ; but, even if we suppose
as I do omitted, there is a wrong
sound about though sympathizing
THRAL(L)DOM
itssdf that suggests a restriction :
though, & other conjunctions, must
not be constructed with a participle
unless that participle would have
been used in the unabridged clause ;
but that would not have been
though 1 am sympathizing , but
though I sympathize ; contrast with
this the perfectly satisfactory Tho ugh
living he is no longer conscious, where
the full form would be not Though
he lives, but Though he is living.
4. Illogical use. The danger of using
adversative conjunctions where two
propositions are not strictly opposed,
but in harmony, is explained & illus¬
trated in but, 3. In the following
example, though would be right if the
words ‘ is the only country in Europe
that ’ were not there ; as it stands,
the sentence is nonsense : Though it
is only in recent times that in England
the Jewish civil disabilities were re¬
pealed, Turkey is the only country in
Europe that has throughout been free
of any anti-Jewish propaganda.
thral(l)dom. See -ll-, -l-, 4.
thrash, thresh. One word, with
two pronunciations & spellings dif¬
ferentiated. To separate grain is
almost always - esh ; to flog is
always - ash ; in figurative & trans¬
ferred use the spelling varies as the
user thinks of one or the other of
the two simple senses.
thrasonical. See Pedantic humour.
Threadneedle Street, Old Lady of.
See Sobriquets.
threaten. The Mass Vestments,
now threatened to be authoritatively
revived, have to be decided upon. See
Double passive.
652
three-quarter(s). The noun
pressing a fraction has the -s, &,
though usually hyphened, is better
written as two separate words ; see
Hyphens, 3 B. This noun is often
used attributively with another
noun, e. g. with back at football, or
with length or face in portraiture ;
in those conditions a hyphen is
required to show that the adjective
-f-noun has become one word ; but
further, it is usual, when a plural
_TH08
noun is used attributively or co^
pounded, to take its singular for the
purpose, even if that singular dm
not otherwise exist (shear steel, ^
shears steel; scissor-shaped, not
scissors-shaped; racket-court, not
rackets-court ; cf., however, fives-
court, breeches-maker, &c.); accord-
in g*y> three-quarter back & three-
quarter face are the normal forms.
But the nouns back, length, &c., are
often dropped when context allows,
& the attributive compound is
allowed to represent them as well as
itself; being then an elliptical noun,
it has a tendency to resume its -s, &
a three-quarters is perhaps more
often seen than a three-quarter ;
either is legitimate.
threnody, threnode. The OED
treats the first as the standard form,
thrive. The OED gives throve ,
thriven, as the past & p.p., but
allows thrived for either.
throat. For a lump in one’s t., see
Stock pathos.
throstle. The -t- is silent; see
Pronunciation.
thunderer. For the T. = The Times,
see Sobriquets.
Thursday. For the adverbial use,
see Friday.
thus. There is a particular use of
thus that should be carefully avoid¬
ed ; it is very common in the news¬
papers, & the fact that the OED
nevertheless does not quote a single
example of it probably indicates
that it is very uncommon elsewhere.
In this use thus is placed before a
present participle (thus enabling
&c.), & its function, when it is not
purely otiose, seems to be that of
apologizing for the writer’s not
being quite sure what noun the
participle belongs to, or whether
there is any noun to which it can
properly be attached (cf. Unat¬
tached participles) ; the exact
content of thus itself is often as
difficult to ascertain as the allegiance
of the participle. To each quotation
is appended (1) a guess at the noun
to which the participle belongs, A
THYME
653
TILTH
(2) a guess at the content of thus ;
the guesses are honestly aimed at
making the best of a bad job, but
readers may prefer other guesses of
their own :— -Our object can only be
successfully attained by the substantial
contributions of wealthy sympathizers,
thus enabling us to inaugurate an
active policy (contributions ? by
being substantial ?)./ Letters on the
constant stopping of omnibuses , thus
causing considerable suffering to the
horses (stopping ? by being con¬
stant ?). /But now a fresh anxiety has
arisen owing to the rising of the Seine,
thus making the river navigation
more difficult <& slow (rising ? by
occurring ?)./ The Prince was, by the
special command of his Majesty the
Emperor , made the guardian of
H.I.H. the Crown Prince, thus
necessitating the Prince's constant
presence in the capital of Japan (the
appointment as guardian ? by oc¬
curring 1)./This circumstance is due
to the sail innovation introduced at
the eleventh hour by Captain Burton,
thus necessitating a remeasurement
of some of Shamrock's sails (innova¬
tion ? by occurring ?). It should be
noticed that the resolution of the
participle into a relative clause, &
the omission of thus, gets rid of the
difficulty every time (which would
enable; which causes; which makes;
which necessitated ; which will
necessitate).
thyme. Pronounce txm ; before
the 17th c. the usual spelling was '
tyme or time.
tlara’d is preferable to tiaraed ; see
-ed & ’d.
tibia. PI. -ae ; see Latin plurals.
tic douloureux. The best pronun¬
ciation (pacfe OED, which says
‘ often mispronounced ’) is tik ddlo-
roo'; see French words, 2.
ticklish. So spelt; see Mute e.
tidal is a word badly formed, ac¬
cording to the views expressed in
Hybrid derivatives ; yet the
light-hearted suggestion of abandon¬
ment made about coastal cannot be
repeated for it; it has not the same
barbaric appearance, & it is not so
easily done without. Nevertheless,
since it is perhaps the only respect¬
able-looking & useful word in which
the rule against appending the ad¬
jectival -al to a Teutonic noun has
been disregarded, & since it is there¬
fore more likely than any other word
to be quoted in defence of new
hybrids in its own image, a protest
against its form, though not a pro¬
posal for its disuse, is called for.
It is of no hoary antiquity, the
earliest OED quotation being dated
1807 ; the objection to it need not
be set out again here ; see the
article already referred to. In case
it should occur to any reader that
the adjective bridal is comparable
with t., it should be mentioned that
that word is not a true adjective
from bride+ -al, but an attributive
use of the noun bridal, which =
bride + ale, = wedding feast; & bridal,
unlike t., is of hoary antiquity.
tidbit. See titbit.
tidy, v. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
tie, v. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 3.
tiers 6tat. See French words.
tigerish, tigress. So spelt.
tike. See tyke.
tilde (ti'ldS). The mark put over n
(n) in Spanish when it is to be follow¬
ed by a y sound, as in senor (sgnyor').
tile(r), tyle(r). The words used in
freemasonry are usually spelt with y,
but are not of different origin. See
y & i.
till, until. The first is the usual
form ; for what difference of usage
exists, see until ; & cf. (un)to,
(al)though, (up)on, in(to),(al)though,
amid(st), among(st), while & whilst,
toward(s),beside(s),(be)twixt,(with)-
in, with(al), (or) ere, whoso(ever),
th(o)rough.
tilth. A word not open to the
remarks made in -th nouns, being
very far indeed from a recent forma¬
tion. It differs, however, fiom the
really common nouns in -th, such as
truth & wealth & filth ; though still
TIMBALE
654
-TION
a business word in certain technical
senses, it has become archaic in its
general meaning of tillage or tilled
land ; &, being therefore a favourite
with those who affect poetic diction,
it has unfortunately begotten a pro¬
geny that has not its own claims to
respect; see -th nouns.
timbale. See French words.
timbre. See French words ; it has
been proposed to substitute the
spelling & pronunciation tamber.
time. Under this, as the most
general term, may be collected some
synonyms. Of the five following
words each is given a single defini¬
tion with a view merely to suggesting
the natural relation between them.
Though each is often used in senses
here assigned not to it but to
another (or not mentioned at all),
the words date, epoch, era, period,
cycle, form a series when they are
strictly interpreted, & to keep that
series in mind is helpful in choosing
the right word.
A date is the identifiable or in¬
telligibly stated point of time at
which something occurs.
An epoch is the date of an occur¬
rence that starts things going under
new conditions.
An era is the time during which the
conditions started at an epoch
continue.
A period is an era regarded as
destined to run its course & be
succeeded by another.
A cycle is a succession of periods
itself succeeded by a similar suc¬
cession.
A time, & an age, are words often
exchangeable with all or most of the
above, & less precise in meaning.
Cf. also the words term, span, spell,
season, duration, juncture, moment,
occasion.
time, v., makes -mable; see Mute e.
timeous. See timous.
timid makes -est ; see -er & -est, 4.
timous, timeous. Omit the -e-;
see Mute e. Whereas its sole func¬
tion is to preserve the i sound, the
OED states that it actually results
in the erroneous pronunciations
ti'miMs & tl'mltts.
tinge makes - geable , see -able l •
but tinging, see Mute e. 1
tinker, v. It was an undesirable
thing to be always tinkering with this
particular trade. The idiomatic pro-
position is at, not with ; the latter
is probably due to confusion with
tamper with ; see Analogy.
tinsel makes -lied, - tty ; see -ll-, -l-.
tint, shade, hue. All are available
as substitutes for the dominant word
colour. Different hues are, so far as
meaning goes, simply different col¬
ours, so called because for good or
bad reasons the everyday word is
held to be unworthy of the context.
Different tints & shades are properly
speaking not different colours but
varieties of any particular colour,
tints produced by its modification
with various amounts of white, &
shades by various admixtures of
black. These distinctions, however
little present to the mind, have a
growing influence in determining
the choice of a synonym for colour.
tintinnabulum. PI. -la.
-tion & other -ion endings. Turgid
flabby English of the kind common
in inferior leading articles is full of
abstract nouns; the commonest
ending of abstract nouns is - tion ;
& to count the -ion words in what
one has written, or, better, to
cultivate an ear that without special
orders challenges them as they come,
is one of the simplest & most effec¬
tive means of making oneself. less
unreadable. It is as an unfailing
sign of a nouny abstract style that
a cluster of -ion words is chiefly to be
dreaded ; but some nouny writers
are so far from being awake to that
aspect of it that they fall into a still
more obvious danger, & so stua
their sentences with -tons that tne
mere sound becomes an pffenc e -
These points are so simple that
quotations need not be multiplied:
Speculation on the subject of tne
constitution of the British J e Pj ‘
sentation at the Washington tnattg
TOADY
factors are the obvious necessity to put
an end once & for all to the Turkish
misrule over alien races , & the
To assert & to put should clearly be
of asserting & of putting. Discussion
will be found under Gerund 3 ; but
it may be added here that it is not
difficult to account for this very
common lapse, sequences apparently
similar being familiar enough. There
is, for instance, nothing against say¬
ing It was an impossibility to assert
himself, or It is an obvious necessity
to put an end ; the difference is that
to assert &c. & to put &c. are not
there, as in the examples, adjectival
appendages of impossibility & neces¬
sity, but the real subjects of the
sentences, which might have run
To assert himself was an impossi¬
bility, & To put an end to so-&-so
is a necessity.
toady, v. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
tobacco. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
tobacconist. For the form, see -ist.
toboggan makes -aner, -aning ; see
-N-, -NN-.
toco, -ko. Usually spelt with c ;
no plural.
today, tomorrow, tonight. The
lingering of the hyphen, which is
still usual after the to of these words,
is a very singular piece of conserva¬
tism ; it helps no-one to pronounce,
it distinguishes between no words
that without it might be confused,
&, as the to retains no vestige of its
original meaning, a reminder that
the words are compounds is useless.
Moreover, it is probably true that
few people in writing ever dream of
inserting the hyphen, its omission
being corrected every time by those
M ho profess the mystery of printing.
toffee. The successive forms seem
to have been taffy, toffy, toffee ; it
may be guessed that the last is due
to the influence of coffee, but it is
now established.
together. All t. must be carefully
distinguished from altogether,
often written instead of it.
toilet, -ette. The word should be
completely anglicized in spelling &
sound (not -e'lte, nor twahlg't). The
verb, = to wash, dress, &c., is chiefly
U.S. j adj. & p.p. - eted , see -t-, -tt*.
toilless. So written, but pronounc¬
ed with two separate Is ; see skill¬
less s.f.
token. For synonyms see sign.
By the same t., more by t., are phrases
that probably those who know most
about their meaning are least likely
to use ; the one thing clear is that,
when they were part of everyday
English, they did not mean what
they are usually made to by those
who now adorn their writings with
them. See Wardour Street.
toko. See toco.
Toledo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
toll. For synonyms see tax.
tomato. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
Tommy. See Sobriquets.
tomorrow, to-m-. See today.
ton (fashion). See French words.
ton (weight). Ton, the weight;
tun, the cask, vat, & wine-measure.
tondo. PI. tondos, see -o(e)s 6 ; or
tondi (-e).
tone, v., makes -noble ,* see Mute e.
tonight, to-n-. See today.
tonneau. See French words.
tonsil makes tonsillitis ; -ll-, -l-.
tonsorial. A word used almost
only in Pedantic humour.
tonsure, v., makes -ruble ; Mute e.
too. 1. With passive participle.
2. Illogical uses.
1. With passive participles t. is sub¬
ject to the same limitations, though
the point has been less noticed, as
very ; the line, however, between
the adjectival & the verbal p.p. is
often hard to draw ; in the following
two quotations the addition of wit
&c. & in &c. to the participles turns
the scale, & too much should have
been written instead of too: Bel¬
fast is too occupied with its own
affairs, too confident of itself , to &
readily stirred to any movement whicn
would endanger its prosperity./But ne
was too engrossed in Northern
Europe to realize his failure .
2. Illogical uses. These are very
TOOL
657
TOUSLE
common, so common as to deserve
a place among the Sturdy inde-
fensibhes & to be almost idiomatic.
They result from confusing two
logical ways of making a statement,
one with & the other without too,
& are better avoided. Praise which
perhaps was scarcely meant to be
taken too literally (a, which may
easily be taken too literally ; b,
which was not meant to be taken
literally)./ We need not attach too
much importance to the differences
between Liberal db Labour (a, We
may easily attach too much ; b, We
need not attach much)./// is yet far
too early to generalize too widely as to
origins & influences (a. If we general¬
ize too early we may generalize too
widely ; b. It is too early to general¬
ize widely).
tool. Of the forms edge-tool, edge
tool, & edged tool, it appears from the
OED that the last is the least
common, especially in the literal
carpenters’ use ; choice between the
others depends on whether tool re¬
tains its accent (edge tool), or parts
with it to edge (edge-tool) as it
naturally would with technical wear
& tear, but not in the proverb &
other metaphors ; see Hyphens 3 B.
toothful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
top, writing of compounds. In
topboots, topcoat, & topsawyer, the
accent is on the second part, & they
are therefore not qualified for the
hyphen (see Hyphens 3 B), but
should be either as printed above,
or each in two separate words. In
top hamper & top hat the same is
true of the accent, but the two-word
solution is best, because p & h un¬
separated are apt to coalesce, as in
Tophet. In topmast & topsail the
loss of the definite vowel sound in
the second part so disguises the fact
of their being compounds that
hyphens, though legitimate, are
clearly superfluous. In topgallant
accent again forbids the hyphen, &
the silence of the p forbids separate
words. In top-heavy (where the
question of accent does not arise as
in compounds of adjective followed
by noun), the hyphen is required to
separate p & h. See Hyphens.
topmost. See -most.
torchon. See French words.
tormentress. See Feminine de¬
signations.
tornado, torpedo. PI. -oes ; see
-o(e)s 1. For tornado , see also
wind, n.
torpid makes -est ; see -er & -est 4.
torpor. So spelt ; see -our & -or.
torso. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
tortoise. Pronounce tor'tws ; the
pronunciation -oiz or -ois is not even
given as an alternative by the OED.
torus. PI. -ri.
toss. For tossed & tost see -t & -ed.
total. The adjective makes -alest,
-ally, -alize(r), -alizator, -ality; &
the verb -ailed, -ailing. See -ll-, -l-.
tother, now only colloquial, was
formerly in good literary use, & was
then more often written tother than
t'other ; there is therefore no need
for the apostrophe.
toto caelo. Literally, 4 by the
whole sky’, i.e. by the greatest
possible distance. Properly used
only with differ, different, & words of
similar meaning ; the writer of the
following extract has guessed that it
is a high-class variant of totally :
• . . had the effect of habitually repeal¬
ing its own canon in part, during the
life-time of parties of repealing
it, toto caelo, after the death of either
of them. See Foreign danger.
touchy. See tetchy.
toupee, toupet. The first is the
form common in England in the
18th c., written without an accent
& pronounced toope' ; the second is
the French word, now used in Eng¬
land & pronounced too'pa. Adjec¬
tive toupeted , pronounced too'pad.
tour de force. See French words .
tourniquet. Pronounce toor'nikSt.
toumure. See French words.
tousle, tousy. The OED puts these
spellings first ; touz-, tows-, towz-,
also occur.
TOUT COURT
658
TRAGICO
tout court, tout ensemble.
French words.
tow- & towing-. There is perhaps
an impression that in the compounds
(e. g. -boat, -line, -net, -path, -post,
-rope) towing- is the correct form,
& tow- a slovenly modern abbrevia¬
tion. But it appears from the OED
that tow-boat & tow-line are the only
forms recorded for boat & line (the
latter 1719), & tow-rope is about a
century older than towing-rope ;
towing-path, however, is as much
older than tow-path. There is in fact
no reason for avoiding either form.
Cf. washing)-stand.
toward, towards, towardly. The
adjectives toward (including the pre¬
dicative use as in a storm, is toward ,
i.e. coming) & towardly are pro¬
nounced to / ard(li). The prepositions
are best pronounced tord(z), but in
recent use the influence of spelling
is forcing toowor'd(z) on the half
educated. The adjectives in all
senses are obsolescent, or at any
rate archaic. Of the prepositions
the -s form is the prevailing one, &
the other tends to become literary
on the one hand & provincial on the
other.
towel makes -lied, -lling; -ll-, -l-.
town. T. clerk, t. council, t. hall,
t. house, & t. talk, should all be
written as two separate words with¬
out hyphens ; see Hyphens 3 B.
For town-councillor, which should be
hyphened, see trade- wnionis/.
toy, n. A toyshop or toy-shop is
a shop where toys are sold ; a child’s
mock shop, on the other hand, is a
toy shop ; see Hyphens 3 B.
toy, v. For inflexions see Verbs in
-IE &c., 4.
trace, n. For synonyms see sign.
trace, v., makes -ceable; see Mute e.
trachea. Pronounce trake'a; pi.
tracheae. The derived word in -itis
is tracheitis (4 syl.), not trachitis.
But the reaction of the many de¬
rivatives, such as tracheotomy &
tracheoscopic, in which the relative
stress on the first two syllables is
reversed, has made tra'kla a popular
pronunciation.
QUANTITY.
trade.
also False
Writing of compounds.
Trade mark & trade union , no hy¬
phens, see Hyphens 3 B. fn
trades(-)union (cf. swordsman , toms-
folk, &c.) the question is not so
simple, but, as that form is dying
out, need not be answered. In
trade-unionist the hyphen, which
would be wrong in trade union , is
right, since -ist belongs not to union
alone, but to the compound; cf.
such words as bow-legged, never bom
legged. In trade-wind the hyphen,
though not obligatory (& not used
in several of the OED quotations),
is right if the stress is put, as the
OED marks it, on trade.
trade, v., makes -dable ; see Mute e.
trade-wind. See wind, n.
tradition(al)ism, -ist. For the
general question between such vari¬
ants, see -ist. In this case the
longer forms are usual, probably
because the words are often opposed
to rationalism, -ist, the form of
which is fixed by ration’s not having
the necessary meaning.
traduce makes -cible ; see -able 2.
traffic, v., makes -icked, -icker,
-icking ; see -c-, -ck-.
tragedienne. See comedian.
tragic(al). See -ic(al). It may
almost be said that the longer form
is, in serious use, dead ; though the
OED quotes it once or twice from
modern writers in senses that it does
not mark obsolete, in each of them
tragic would have been the natural
word. It survives, however, in
playful use, often with a memory of
the * very tragicall mirth ’ of Py*
ramus & Thisbe in Midsummer
Night's Dream . For tragic (or
dramatic) irony, see irony, 2.
tragicomedy, tragicomic, &c. The
forms are due to medieval Latin, ®
too old to be themselves corrected to
iragico-comic &c. But such syncopa¬
tions should be at least noted as
irregular when opportunity oners,
with a view to discouraging imita¬
tions. See pacifist in the article -ist.
TRAILERS
659
TRAIPSE
TRAILERS. Under this name a
few specimens are collected of the
sort of sentence that tires the reader
out by again & again disappointing
his hope of coming to an end. It is
noticeable that writers who produce
trailers produce little else, & that
where one fine example occurs there
are sure to be more in the neighbour¬
hood ; the explanation probably is
that these gentlemen have on the
one hand a copious pen, & on the
other a dislike (most natural, their
readers must agree) to reading over
what it may have set down. What¬
ever its cause, the trailer style is
perhaps of all styles the most
exasperating. Anyone who was
conscious of this weakness might
do much to cure himself by taking
a pledge to use no relative pronouns
for a year ; but perhaps most of
its victims are unconscious. ‘ This
type of wicket is always trappy, one
ball coming first on to the bat, with
another hanging fire, which so fre¬
quently causes a catch to be given
by the batsman playing too quickly,
as Hallows appeared to do when
caught & bowled by Macaulay, when
he promised a good innings, in spite
of being missed at fine leg from a
ball which certainly should have
been caught, since the ball was
played & not hit off the legs.’/ 1 For
instance, we conquered the Zulus &
by exercise of sovereign powers set
up a lot of chieftains in place of
Cetywayo ; then, under protest
from the Treasury, withdrew our
hand & let them stew until, in the
midst of their anarchy, Boer emis¬
saries & fillibusters found a fertile
soil for intrigues, that ended in a
cession to them of territory to be
called the New Republic, recogni¬
tion of which was first refused &
then, after a long period of acrimon¬
ious contention, assented to ; but
not before many fine Zulus had been
unnecessarily killed nor without
some of the best of their agricultural
land being lost to the tribe.’/ 1 It is
true that part of the traffic here is
heavy, but at least the surface might
be conditioned by modern methods,
even if the form of paving cannot
well be altered, though I think it
ought to be—e.g., if Sydney Smith’s
suggestion as to the wood pavement
problem perplexing an old vestry—
“ Gentlemen, put your heads to¬
gether, & the thing’s done ”—is
impracticable, there are now im¬
proved means open to a modern
City Council, both in surface dress¬
ing, in hard woods, & even in
macadam, by the use of slag—
locally called dross—from the iron
furnaces in Yorkshire, which makes
the hardest & smoothest surface.’/
‘ He deals also with Pemba Island,
infested by hereditary wizards who
are addicted to anthropophagy &
theriomorphosis in the intervals of
selling charms to natives to keep off
thieves & to thieves to enable them
to become invisible that they may
the better plunder the natives.’/
It may be that the modification of
our Free Trade principles to a suffi¬
cient form of Fair Trade will be all
that is necessary to prevent the final
decline, which probably the pinch
of the last few years has prevented
from setting in from a previous run
of prosperity, which, by causing the
easy realization of fine old businesses
under the seductive lines of Limited
Liability, has resulted in the “ Super
m an ” being eliminated in favour of
a joint control in which the diver¬
gence of opinion among Directors
with little personal interest has
prevented a uniformity & continuity
of policy absolutely essential in the
management of any business with
widespread interests.’/ 4 But, so far
as I could see, nobody carried away
burning candles to rekindle with
holy fire the lamp in front of the
ikon at home, which should burn
throughout the year except for the
short time it is extinguished in order
to receive anew the light that is
relit every year throughout the
Christian world by Christ’s victorv
over death.’ ^
traipse. See trapes.
TRAIT
trait. The final t is sounded in
America, but still usually silent in
England, b or synonyms, see sign.
traitress. Feminine designations.
trammel makes ’lied, - lling ;
tranquil makes -illest, -illity, -illize,
•illy ; see -ll-, -l-, 2. Mis-spellings
are very common, esp. tranquility,
wrong even on U.-S. principles.
transact makes transactor ; see -or.
transcendence, -cy. See -ce, -cy.
transcendent(al). These words,
with their many specialized applica¬
tions in philosophy, are for the most
part beyond the scope of this book ;
but there are popular uses in which
the right form should be chosen.
1. The word that means surpassing,
of supreme excellence or greatness,
&c., is transcendent, & the following
is wrong —The matter is of trans¬
cendental importance, especially in
the present disastrous state of the
world. See Long variants for
similar pairs. 2. The word applied
to God in contrast with immanent
is transcendent. 3. The word that
means visionary, idealistic, outside
of experience, &c., is transcendental.
4. The word applied to Emerson &
his ‘ religio-philosophical teaching ’
is transcendental.
transcribe makes -bable; Mute e.
transfer. Noun tra'nsfer , verb
transfer', see Noun & verb ; trans¬
ferred, - erring, -errer, see -r-, -rr- ;
but transferable, see confer(r)able ;
& transference, transferee, & trans¬
feror. Of transferrer & transferor,
the first is the general agent-noun,
a person or mechanism that passes
something on, & the second a legal
TRANSPARENT
with shipping. And they have at
r+ln r fu G justification, however
little they may be aware of it, that
there are no other words in which
trans is curtailed to Iran when it is
prefixed to a word of English & not
Latin origin like ship. The full &
indisputably better form trans-ship
is accordingly here recommended:
but the OED accepts tranship, say¬
ing only 4 less commonly trans-ship \
Generations of clerks have saved
themselves trouble & nearly made
away with the s & the hyphen; of
28 OED quotations, including those
for tran(s- )shipment, nine only show
s-s or ss—nine & the right against
nineteen & the wrong.
translate makes - table, see Mute e ;
& -tor, see -or.
transliterate makes -table, see -able
1 ; & -tor, see -or.
translucence, -cy. See -ce, -cy.
translucent. See transparent.
transmit makes -itted, -itter, -itting,
see -T-, -TT- ; & -issible or -ittable,
see -able 2.
transmogrify. For inflexions see
Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
transom makes transomed; -m-, -mm-.
transparence, -ency. The second is
the usual form. The first is marked
rare in the OED ; & indeed, in its
only two -ence quotations that are
as late as 1800 euphony plainly
accounts for the avoidance of -cy :—
Motive may be detected through the
transparence of tendency./Adaman¬
tine solidity, transparence, & bril¬
liancy.
transparent, & the synonyms dia¬
phanous, pellucid, translucent. Trans¬
parent is the general word for
term for the person who conveys his
property to another, the transferee.
_1-4.: 4.nrtir tllP
transfuse makes -sible ; see -able 2.
transgress makes transgressor ; -or.
tranship, transship, trans-ship. To
all who do not happen to have been
reconciled by familiarity to the
short form it presents itself as an
odd sort of monster, which they
start by pronouncing tr&'nshfp (cf.
transom), & do not at once connect
can be substituted for any of the
others unless there is some point of
precision or of rhetoric to be gained.
All three synonyms have the rhetori¬
cal value of being less common than
transparent, & therefore appear
more often in poetical writing. A*
regards precision, the following de¬
finitions of the words* narrower
TRANSPIRE
TREASURY
senses are offered, & to each are
appended some specially appro¬
priate nouns, & the adjective or
participle that seems most directly
opposed.
That is diaphanous which does not
preclude sight of what is behind it ;
garments, vapour, membrane ; opp.
shrouding.
That is transparent which does not
even obscure sight of what is behind
it; glass, candour, pretence ; opp.
obscuring.
That is pellucid which does not dis¬
tort images seen through it; water,
literary style ; opp. turbid.
That is translucent which does not
bar the passage of light; alabaster,
tortoise-shell ; opp. opaque.
transpire. The notorious misuse of
this word consists in making it mean
happen or turn out or go on ; & the
legitimate meaning that has been
misinterpreted into this is to emerge
from secrecy into knowledge, to leak
out, to become known by degrees.
It is needless to do more than give
a single example of the right use,
followed by several of the wrong :—
The conditions of the contract were
not allowed to t. (right )./That strike
has caused a not inconsiderable in¬
crease in the cost of production, while
nothing similar has transpired in
Germany within the past few years to
produce any such effect here./Abeken
• . . has a pretty fair idea, although no
very accurate information, of what
was transpiring in the inner circles
of Bismarck's mind./What they de¬
mand is that, after negotiations have
been carried through, a statement
should be made as to what has trans¬
pired./Both men opened in a subdued
mood in what transpired to be the last
game of this grand fight. The last of
these adds to the wrong meaning of
t. an unidiomatic construction after
it in the infinitive to be. That con¬
struction will not do even when t.
has its true sense ; that sense is
complete in itself, & transpired to be
is as little English as came to light
to be ; here is the right sense followed
by the wrong construction : They
must have been aware of the possi¬
bility that the facts might be as they
ultimately transpired to be.
In the literal sense, t. makes -rable,
see Mute e.
transport. Noun tra'nsport, verb
transport; see Noun & verb.
transposal. See -al.
transpose makes -sable ; see Mute e.
trans-ship(ment). The better spel¬
lings ; see tranship.
transubstantiation. The pronun¬
ciation -sia'shn, which is recognized
as an alternative by the OED, is
here recommended ; see -ciation.
trapes, traipse. The first seems to
be at present the orthodox spelling ;
but the word in this form has so
puzzling a look that it would surely
be better to use the second, which
is allowed by the OED as an alterna¬
tive, is quoted from Swift & Pope,
& can be pronounced only one way.
The objection to it is that, if the
supposed origin ( = French trapasser
= trespass) is correct, it is obscured
rather more by traipse than by trapes',
but then it may not be correct.
trapezium. PI. -ia, -ms ; see -um.
travail, travel. Distinguished in
pronunciation, but rather slightlv,
as tr&'vil & tr&'vel ; in the parts
with an extra syllable (-ing, -er,
-eth) the difference is plainer, travail
making trisyllables & travel disyl¬
lables (tra'vling &c.). Travel, but
not travail, makes -ller, -lied, -lling ;
see -LL-, -L-. For travelled adj. see
Intransitive p.p.
traverse, v., has -sable ; Mute e.
travesty. See burlesque ; &, for
verb inflexion, Verbs in -ie &c., 6.
trayful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
treacle makes -cly ; see Mute e.
treasonable, treasonous. The mean¬
ings are not distinguishable ; trea¬
sonous is now comparatively rare
& more likely to be met in verse.
treasure, v., makes - rable; see
Mute e.
Treasury. T. bench, T. note ; no
hyphens ; see Hyphens 3 B.
TREBLE
662
TRICOLOR
treble See triple.
trecento, -list. Pronounce tra-
chfi'nto, -tist. This & quattrocento ,
• ist , cinquecento, -ist , are words con¬
stantly used by writers on Italian
art. Though their true meaning is
300, 400, 500, they are used as
abbreviations for the centuries 1300-
1399 (1301-1400 is with us the 14th
c.), 1400-1499 (our 15th c.), & 1500-
1599 (our 16th). There is therefore
a double puzzle, Italian 300 for
Italian 1300, & Italian 13th c. for
English 14th c. The words in - ist
mean painters &c. of the century.
tree’d is perhaps preferable to
treed ; cf. fee’d & pedigree’d, &
see -ed & ’d.
trefoil. OED gives preference to
tie- over tr6-.
trellis makes -ised ; see -s-, -
trembly, not -ey ; see Mute e.
tremolo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
tremor. So spelt ; see -our & -or.
trend. A word that, whether as
noun or as verb, should be used by
no-one who is not sure of both its
meaning & its idiomatic habits.
There has unquestionably been a trend
of German policy to strengthen the
Empire's naval position by making
relations closer with Austria-Hun¬
gary, Italy, 6s Turkey./His chapter
on . . ., although it has little to do with
the rest of his volume, 6s trends very
closely upon the forbidden theme of
history, is interesting. 4 There is a
t. of German policy to do ’ is not
English, though ‘ The t. of German
policy is to do ’ would be. Trends
very closely upon is perhaps a con¬
fusion with trenches &c. ; the essen¬
tial idea in t. is direction, not
encroachment.
trente et quarante. French words.
trepan. Both verbs, that meaning
entrap, & the surgical, make tre¬
panned, -nning ; see -N-, -nn-.
trepan, trephine, nn. & w. The
first, the older term for the instru¬
ment & for operating with it, is
probably still the prevailing one in
lay use ; but in surgical books &c.
trephine, which as a noun is properly
the name of an improvement on the
trepan, is now the regular term.
Pronounce trifl'n or trife'n.
trestle. Pronounce -si; see Pro¬
nunciation, Silent t.
trial. T . heat , t. trip ; no hyphens •
see Hyphens 3 B. F
tribrach. See Technical TERMS.
Pronounce trl'brhk.
tribunal. Pronounce tribu'nal or
tribu'nal; the i is short in Latin,
but OED puts tri- first, & see False
quantity.
tributary. So spelt; cf. contribu¬
tory, & see mandatary.
tribute. 1. For synonymy see tax.
2. A Slipshod extension of the less
excusable kind—since the meaning
of t. is surely no mystery—is that
which nowadays sets ‘ a t. to ’ to do
the work of a proof (or illustration
&c.) of, as in :—The debate on the
whole was a tribute to the good taste
6s good form of the House of Com¬
mons./All these 6s many other pro¬
minent English works have been
fairly & critically analysed, 6s it is
a tribute to the modesty of the Ameri¬
can editors that the European works
receive first place .
tricentenary. See centenary.
triceps. For plural, see biceps.
tricksy)(tricky. Differentiation
is proceeding, in the direction of
restricting tricksy to contexts in
which the quality is regarded not
with condemnation or dislike or
apprehension (= dishonest, cunning,
difficult, &c.) but with amusement
or interest (= playful, ingenious,
&c.). It had formerly, to judge
from the OED record, all the mean¬
ings to itself, being more than two
centuries older than tricky.
triclinium. PI. -ia.
tricolor, tricolore, tricolour. The
first is a Latin adjective (trf'kolor)
used in botanical names ; the second
is the French adjective used m
describingthe French flag (le drapean
tricolore) ; the third is a badly
formed English noun (see colour,
& Hybrid derivatives) used o. v
TRIFORIUM
663
TRIX
itself as a name ( the tricolour) for the
French flag, & usually pronounced
tri'kuler. It would be better to use
tricolor (tri'kolor) in this sense also,
& drop the other two forms.
triforium. PI. -ia.
trigger makes -ered; see -r-, -rr-.
trill. For the phonetic sense see
Technical terms.
trillion. See billion.
trilogy, trimeter. Technical terms.
trio. Pron.tre'o. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 4.
triolet. See Technical terms.
Pronounce tri-.
triple)(treble. If the musical sense
of treble is put aside, there are per¬
haps no senses in which one is
possible & the other impossible ;
but they do tend to diverge. First,
though either can be adjective, verb,
or noun, treble is the more usual
verb & noun, & triple the more
usual adjective. Secondly, in the
adjectival use treble now refers
rather to amount (three times as
great &c.), & triple rather to plural¬
ity (of three kinds or parts). A few
phrases, in each of which the word
used is clearly preferable to the
other, will illustrate :—Newspaper
has trebled its circulation./Treble
the money would not buy it now./
This is quite treble what I expected./
Going at treble the pace./He offered
me treble wages./The fight was
resumed with treble fury./Treble
difficulty ( = three times the diffi¬
culty) ; a triple difficulty ( = a diffi¬
culty of three kinds)./Surrounded
with a triple wall./Triple-expansion
engines. /The classification is triple./
Triple alliance, contest, birth.
triplet. See -stich, & Technical
terms.
tripod. OED pronounces tri'pfid,
with no alternative (but tri'podal,
also without alternative). But
tri'pod is now certainly often heard,
& is not unlikely to prevail.
triptych. Pronounce -k.
tristlch. See -stich.
trisy llable. So spelt,
triturate makes -Table ; see -able 1.
triumphal, -phant. The meanings
are quite distinct, but to use the
first for the second is usually a worse
mistake than the converse, because
the idea it ought to convey is nar¬
rower & more definite. Triumphal
means only of or in the celebra¬
tion of a victory, & belongs to the
original 4 triumph ’ or victorious
general’s procession ; triumphant
belongs to triumph in any of its
senses, especially those of brilliant
success or exultation. In the follow¬
ing quotations each word is used
where the other was required. The
4 progress ’ of the first was not
almost, but quite, triumphant ; &
the 4 career ’ of the second, if it
lasted 66 years & was troubled, may
have been triumphant, but hardly
triumphal. . . . through the streets
of which he had almost a triumphant
progress, with women clinging about
his car , manifesting in every possible
way their delight at his presence ./
. . . the story he told us of the sixty-six
previous years of his troubled, trium¬
phal career. See also Malaprops, &
Pairs & snares.
triumvir. PI. -rs or less usu. -rl ;
see Latin plurals.
-TRIX. As any Latin agent-noun
in -tor could form a feminine in -trix,
some of these when taken into
English continue to do so, especially
such as are, like testator & prosecutor ,
in legal use. It is a serious incon¬
venience that the Latin plural is
-ices (-i'sez); if the Latin quantity
is preserved, the accent has to be
shifted in the plural, which makes
the word hardly recognizable. The
result is that it is sometimes given
up as a bad job; OED gives e. g.
prosecu'trices & ra'dices (radix is like
the -trix words, with Latin pi.
radi'ces), & allows matrix a popular
ma'trices by the side of a correct
matri'ces ; but for cicatrix &
mediatrix it allows only -tri'ces, &
for directrix, executrix , heritrix,
states only that the pi. is -ices &
leaves us to deal with quantity &
accent as we please.
This sort of confusion would be
TROCHE
664 TRUE & FALSE ETYMOLOGY
best cured by sinking the words’
latinity & giving them all the ordin¬
ary English plural— testa'trixes &c.
instead of testatri'ces or testa'trlces.
For some of them the further
anglicizing of -trix into - tress would
also be possible. For the other
escape of using the masculine form
& dropping the feminine, see Femin¬
ine DESIGNATIONS.
The chief words concerned are :
administratrix, cicatrix, directrix,
executrix, heritrix, inheritrix, ma¬
trix, mediatrix, prosecutrix, radix,
testatrix.
troche. A word that it requires
some ingenuity to pronounce wrong,
tr5sh, troch, & tr5k, being all recog¬
nized ; but the OED draws the line
at tro'ki, which is, it appears,
4 commercial & vulgar
trochee. See Technical teems.
trois-temps. See French words.
trolley. Usually so spelt; pi. -eys.
troop. Trooping the colour is the
orthodox modern phrase ; but in
the older quotations in the OED it
is colours.
trophy. OED pronounces tro-
without alternative,
trottoir. See French words.
troublous. 4 Now only literary or
archaic ’ says the OED ; & one of
its quotations shows well the bad
effect of diversifying commonplace
contexts with words of that sort ;
the ordinary troublesome was the
word wanted : Mr Walpole took on
himself the management of the Home
Office, little knowing what a troublous
business he had brought upon his
shoulders.
trounce makes -ceable ; see Mute e.
trousers. So spelt. Adjective
trousered, see -R-, -RR-. Compounds
best made without the -s, e. g.
trouser-button, -pocket, -stretcher.
trousseau. See French words, &,
for plural, -x.
trout. PI. usually the same, see
Collectives 1, 4.
trouvaille, trouvdre. See French
words. From time to time the rector
records the arrival in this bird sane*
tuary of redstarts, or still rarer
trouvailles (visitors ?).
trow, when still in ordinary use
was pronounced tro. *
trowel makes -lied, -lling ; -ll-, -l-.
truculence, -cy. See -ce, -cy ; &,
for pronunciation, foil.
truculent. OED gives preference
to troo'ku- over tru'ku- ; but the
latter is gaining, chiefly, no doubt,
owing to the much greater ease given
by the wider dissimilation of the two
vowels ; cf. the substitution of loo
for lu in the still more difficult lugu¬
brious & lucubration (see lu).
TRUE & FALSE ETYMOLOGY. Eng¬
lish being the one of all languages
that has gathered its material from
the most various sources, the study
of its etymology is naturally of
exceptional interest. It is a study,
however, worth undertaking for
that interest, & as an end in itself,
rather than as a means to the
acquiring either of a sound style or
even of a correct vocabulary. What
concerns a writer is much less a
word’s history than its present
meaning & idiomatic habits. The
etymologist is aware, & the person
who has paid no attention to the
subject is probably unaware, that
a fuse is so called not because it
fuses anything, but because it is
spindle-shaped ; that a belfry is not
named from its bell ; that a child s
cot & a sheep-co* come from different
languages ; that Welsh rabbit is
amusing & right, & Welsh rarebit
stupid & wrong ; that isle & island
have nothing in common ; & that
pygmy is a more significant spelling
than pigmy. But to know when l
is & when it is not well to call an
island an isle is worth more than to
know all these etymological facts.
Still, etymology has its uses, even
for those whose sole concern witn i
is as an aid to writing & a preventive
of blunders ; it may save us from
treating protagonist as the opposite
of antagonist, or from supposing
TRUE & FALSE ETYMOLOGY 665 TRUE & FALSE ETYMOLOGY
watershed to be a river-basin, or
from materializing the comity of
nations into either a committee or
a company of them, or from thinking
that to demean oneself is to lower
oneself or do a mean thing ; but it
must be added that the etymology
providing such stray scraps of useful
knowledge is much more that which
deals with the French & Latin ele¬
ments in our language than that
which deals with its native or Teu¬
tonic substratum. Those who start
with a knowledge of Latin & French
have in this way a very real if
not very calculable advantage over
writers who are without it; but to
advise the latter to acquire Latin &
French at a late stage with a view
to ridding themselves of the handi¬
cap, still more to incite them to a
course of pure English etymology,
would be foolish indeed.
After this much of warning, which
amounts to a confession that etymo¬
logical knowledge is of less impor¬
tance to writers than might be
supposed, a selection of words is
offered exemplifying the small sur¬
prises that reward or disappoint the
etymologist. They are arranged
alphabetically, but are a very low
percentage of what might have been
collected; with each word the
barest indication only is given of the
point, which to many readers will
be already known, & by others may
be easily verified in any good
dictionary ; the object of the list is
not to give etymologies, but to pro¬
vide anyone who is curious about
the value of such knowledge with
the means of testing it. The words
in small capitals are the few that
happen to have been treated in their
places in any way that at all bears
upon the present subject.
amuck, not E muck
anthem, not Gk anatithemi to offer
apparel, not L paro prepare
arbour, not L arbor tree
barberry, not E berry
bastard, not E base
beetle, several words
belfry, not E bell
blindfold, not E fold
bliss, not E bless
boon, a prayer, not its granting
bound (homeward &c.), not E bind
bourn, separate words
boxing-day, not pugilistic
bridal, not an adjective in -al
brier (pipe), not E brier
buckwheat, not E buck
buttonhole, not hole but hold
card (comb wool &c.), not from card
(paper)
carnival, not from L vale farewell
case, separate words
chevaux de frise,= Frisian cavalry
cinders, not L cineres
cockroach, not cock or roach
cocoa, coconut, unconnected
comity, not L comes companion
convey, not L veho carry
cookie (bun &c.), not E cook
cope, several words
core, not L cor heart
cot(e), separate words
country dance, not F contre-danse
court card, a corruption
crayfish, not E fish
curare, not L euro
curtail, not E tail
cutlet, not E cut
demean, not E mean
dispatch, not F dipiclier
egg on, not egg but edge
equerry, not L equus horse
errand, not L erro wander
farouche, not L ferox fierce
fetish, not of barbarian but L origin
fingering (wool), not E finger
forbears, = fore-beers
fuse, fusee, from L fusus spindle
gingerly, not E ginger
gipsy, source disguised by spelling
gloss, one word coloured by another
greyhound, not E grey
incentive, not L incendo to fire
ingenuity, stolen by ingenious from
ingenuous
island, mis-spelt from confusion
with isle
Jerusalem artichoke, not Jerusalem
litany, liturgy, first syllables un¬
connected
lutestring, not lute or string
mesembryanthemum, deceptive -y-
for -i-
TRUFFLE
666
TRY
mood (gram.), = mode, not mood
(temper)
mould, several words
pen, pencil, unconnected
pigmy, deceptive -i- for -y-
prot agonist, Gk protos first, not
pro for
recover, not E cover
repair, two separate verbs
river, not L rivus river
scale, several words
scarify, not E scare
scissors, not L scindo sciss - cleave
sorry, sorrow, unconnected
tuberose, not tube or rose
tureen, not Turin
vile, villain, unconnected
watershed, neither a store of water
nor a place that sheds water
Welsh rabbit, not rare bit.
truffle. OED gives precedence to
the pronunciation tru'fl, which is the
natural English ; but association
with French cookery leads many
people to partly assimilate the sound
to that of the differently spelt
French word, & say trdo'fi.
truism. The word’s two meanings
have been compared both with each
other & with some synonyms under
commonplace. It is not permissible
to be too sanguine of the outcome of
the Conference, & A leading personage
at the Conference declares that there is
no cause for undue alarm , are ex¬
amples of the sort of t. that writers
should not allow themselves ; mend
them by changing too into very &
undue into much, & see too 2. As
to the use of the word itself, the
temptation to say that a thing is
a truism when no more is meant
than that it is true, because it has
a smarter sound, should be resisted ;
so : It probably owes much to the
dialect in which it is played; but
that is a truism of almost every Irish
or Scotch play.
truly. See Letter forms.
trumpet makes -eting, -eted, - eter ;
see -T-, -TT-. T. major ; no hyphen ;
see Hyphens (Group *Court Mar¬
tial).
truncate. See -atable.
trunk. T. drawers, t. hose, t. road,
no hyphens, see Hyphens 3B.
trunkful. PI. - Is ; see -ful.
trunnion makes - oned ; -N-, -nn-.
trust. The OED’s definition of the
commercial sense is here given, for
comparison with cartel : A body
of producers or traders in some class
of business, organized to reduce or
defeat competition, lessen expenses,
& control production & distribution
for their common advantage ; spec.,
such a combination of commercial or
industrial companies, with a central
governing body of trustees which
holds a majority or the whole of the
stock of each of the combining firms,
thus having a controlling vote in the
conduct & operation of each.
trustworthy, -ily. The generation
is perhaps nearly extinct that held
it a duty to thrust this good word
into places where it was in obvious
discomfort in order that the naughty
reliable might be kept out. The
OED quotes from the Daily News of
1870 4 1 am trust worthily informed
that . . .’, with other specimens.
See reliable.
truth. PI. pron. -dhz ; -th & -dh.
try. The idiom t. & do something
s described as colloquial for t. to do.
ts use is almost confined to ex
lortations & promises : Do t. &
top coughing ; 1 will t. & have it
eady for you. And it is
Lpplicable to past time ; He tried <t
nade the best of it is not English m
he sense required, though He dia l.
fc make the best of it is conceivable.
:t is, therefore, colloquial, if tnai
neans specially appropriate to ac u
ipeech ; but not if colloquial, means
>elow the proper standard of htenuT
lignity. Though t. to do can a ways
ie substituted for t. & do, the latter
ias a shade of meaning that justmes
ts existence ; in exhortations it
mplies encouragement— the en
vi 11 succeed- ; in promises it un
dies assurance—the effort
ucceed. Itis anidiomthatsho
lot discountenanced, but Y>
t comes natural. See Ped
TRYSAIL
667
TURF
trysail. Pronounce tri'sl.
Tsar. ‘ The now prevalent spelling *
OED.
tsetse. So spelt; pron. tsS'tsI.
-T-, -TT-. Words ending in -t are
very numerous, <& there seems to be
some hesitation about making them
conform to the rules that prevail for
most consonants : forms like rivetter,
blanketty, docketted, are often seen,
though good usage is against them.
Monosyllables ending in -t double
it before suffixes beginning with
vowels if the sound preceding it is
a single vowel (a, e, i, o, u), but not
if it is a diphthong or a doubled
vowel or a vowel & r : pettish, potted,
cutter, but flouting, sooty, skirting.
Words of more than one syllable
follow the rule for monosyllables if
their last syllable is accented (co-
quettish, but repeater) ; but other¬
wise they do not double it : discom¬
fited, riveter, combatant, wainscoting,
snippety, pilotage, balloted.
tub. For the Tub in philosophic
slang, see Academy.
tube makes tubing ; see Mute e.
tuber is the darling of the lower
class of ELEGANT-VAKIATIONists -
the class that indulges in the prac¬
tice not as a troublesome duty but
for pleasure. A potato is a t., but
the fact should be left in the decent
obscurity of agricultural textbooks.
l here was no difficulty in getting
potatoes one day—the next, so to
speak, you could search Paris without
discovering a single tuber ./The potato
crop in South Lincolnshire is in grave
danger owing to the shortage of labour;
the tubers, which by this time should
be nearly all lifted, are still in the
ground./Sir Walter Raleigh popu-
the . m > & in all probability
£r Drake was the first to
bring the tuber that is ‘ doing its bit ’
m the war from the New World.
tSSk®! 0 ? 6, Pron °unce tu'beros (not
Ei. ,? ot from tube or rose, but
from ( Pohanthes) tuberosa =tuber-
°us, or grown from tubers.
tubful, PI. -Is • 8 ee -ful.
Tuesday. For {on) T ., see Friday.
tug. For t. at one’s heartstrings ,
see Stock pathos.
tulle. See French words.
tumblerful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
tumbrel, -bril. OED gives the two
spellings in this order.
tumefy. So spelt, not tumi-; for
inflexions see Verbs in -ie &c. 6.
tumidity, tumidness, -ty & -ness.
tumultuary) ( tumultuous. The dis¬
tinction between the two is not very
definite, & sentences may easily be
made in which either might be used
& give the same sense. But it may
first be said that -tuous is now the
much commoner word, which should
be chosen unless there is good reason
to prefer the other ; &, secondly,
what is emphasized by -tuous is
rather the violence & impetus &
force, while -tuary emphasizes the
irregularity & unorganized nature,
of the thing described : tumultuous
applause, seas, attack, joy, crowd ;
tumultuary forces (hastily levied),
thoughts (thronging confusedly), ris¬
ings (sporadic).
tumulus. PI. -li.
tun. See ton.
tune makes tunable & tuny ; see
Mute e, & -ey & -y.
tunnel makes -lied, -lling ; -ix-, -l-.
tu quoque. See Technical terms.
turban makes -aned ; see -n-, -nn-.
turbid makes -est ; see -er & -est 4.
turbidity, turbidness, -ty & -ness.
turbine. OED recognizes only the
pronunciation with -in ; & that
with -in, now often heard, & due
only, to misguided reverence for
spelling, will doubtless pass away.
Turc-. See Turk.
Turcoman (pi. -ans) is the form
accepted by the OED in preference
to Turkoman & Turkman ; cf. Turk.
tureen. The right pronunciation is
tere'n, in accordance with the de¬
rivation {terra earth) & the older
English spelling {terrene &c.) ; but
it is now more often said as ture'n, &
perhaps associated with Turin.
turf. PI. ; -fs & -ves appear an
equal number of times in the post-
TURGID
668
TWOPENCE COLOURED
18th-e. quotations of the OED,
which itself uses -fs. See -ve(d).
turgid makes - est ; see -er & -est 4.
For turgidity, -idness , see -ty & -ness.
Turk makes Turco, & Turco- (in
compounds, as Turcophil , - phobe ,
-mania), but Turkery, Turkic, Turk-
ism, & Turkize (as well as Turkey &
Turkish).
turkey. PI. - eys.
Turk(o)man. See Turcoman.
turn, v. In the age idiom three
constructions are recognized : I have
turned 20, 1 am turned of 20, & I am
turned 20 ; the last (see for the con¬
struction Intransitive p.p.) is ap¬
parently of more recent origin than
the second, but is said by the OED
to be now more usual in England ;
the ‘ of ’ has certainly an old-
fashioned or provincial sound.
turnip makes - ipy ; see -p-, -pp-.
turn-over. See Technical terms.
turps. See Curtailed words.
turquoise. Pronunciation debat¬
able. With Ben Jonson, Shakspere,
Milton, & Tennyson, all for ter'kiz
(or something like it), it is a pity
that we cannot return to that ; but
the adoption of the later French
spelling has corrupted us, & the
OED labels ter'kiz archaic ; it re¬
fuses, on the other hand, to recog¬
nize the kw sound for the -qu- &
complete the triumph of spelling ;
ter'koiz seems the best solution.
turret makes - eted ; see -t-, -tt-.
tusser, tussore. The first, though
now the less used, is preferable not
only as keeping the sound of the
last syllable closer to the original,
but also as preventing a shift of the
accent from the tus-. T. is a suffi¬
cient name for the material without
the addition of silk.
tutoress. Feminine designations.
tuyere. Pronounce twer.
twelvemo, 12mo. See folio, pi.
-os ; see -o(e)s, 6.
twenties, thirties, &c. These words
do not require an apostrophe {tne
* twenties &c.) when used for the
vears 20-29 &c. of a century, & still
less for those of a person’s life.
twentymo, twenty-fourmo, 20mo,
24mo. See folio. PI. -os; see
-o(e)s 6.
twilit. The earliest OED quotation
for the word is 1869, so that it is,
whatever its merits may be, not
venerable. Its formation implies
a verb to twilight made from the
noun ; & that verb, though un¬
known to most of us, is recorded to
have been used ; it also implies that
to twilight has p.p. twilit rather than
twilighted , which is not impossible.
But, though twilit can therefore not
be absolutely ruled out, it is better
to use twilight attributively where,
as usually, that does the work as well,
& elsewhere to do without. In the
two following quotations, twilight
would have served at least as well
He found himself free of a fanciful
world where things happened as he
preferred—a twilit world in which
substance melted into shadow./The
years of the war were a clear a
brilliantly lit passage between two
periods of twilit entanglement.
twine, v., makes -noble ; see Mute e.
TWOPENCE COLOURED. The inser¬
tion of irrelevant details, resort to
needless rhetoric, & such devices for
the heightening of effect, move the
reader (as Mr Burchell ‘ at the con¬
clusion of every sentence would cry
out “ Fudge ” ’) to exclaim in more
modern phrase ‘twopence colour-
ed! ’. A couple of specimens of
us every day must
dll be noticed tnat
what meets
suffice; it will — — .
cantons & heights & P lal “ ^
that the rhetoric of the second ex^
tract has a very factitious sound .
Again, I look around & see i
Protestants <fe Roman Catholics Iwnfr
as a rule, in harmony &
arrogance & of the Vienna a
diplomacy, has formulas on
Ja,j uith me packed
TY & -NESS
669
-TY & -NESS
-TY & -NESS. The number of
legitimate words in -ness is limited
only by that of the adjectives that
exist in English ; but, though any
adjective may be formed into a noun
on occasion by the addition of -ness,
the nouns of that pattern actually
current are much fewer, there being
hundreds, usually preferred to the
-ness forms, that are made from
Latin adjectives with -ty, -ety, or
-ity, as their ending. Thus from one
& loyal & various we can make for
special purposes oneness, loyalness,
& variousness ; but ordinarily we
prefer unity, loyalty, & variety. Of
the -ty words that exist, a very
large majority are for all purposes
commoner & better than the corre¬
sponding-ness words, usage & not
anti-latinism being the right arbiter.
Scores of words could be named,
such as ability, honesty, notoriety,
prosperity, sanity, stupidity, for
which it is hard to imagine any good
reason for substituting ableness,
notoriousness, &c. On the other
hand words in -ness that are better
than existent forms in -ty are rare ;
perhaps acuteness & conspicuousness
have the advantage of acuity & con -
spicuity ; & if perspicuousness could
be established in place of perspicuity
it nught help to obviate the common
confusion with perspicacity ; but in
general a -ty word that exists is to
be preferred to its rival in -ness,
unless total or partial differentiation
has been established, or is designed
tor the occasion. Total differentia¬
tion has taken place between in¬
genuity & ingenuousness, casualty &
casualness, sensibility & sensibleness,
enormity & enormousness ; the use of
either form instead of the other
necessarily changes or destroys the
meaning. Partial differentiation re-
from the more frequent use
made of the -ty words ; both ter¬
minations have, to start with, the
abstract sense of the quality for
Wnch the adjective stands ; but
K+fri mo t ^ ie -ness words, being
Jl2J^ USed \. remain abstract & still
denote quality only, many of the -ty
words acquire by much use various
concrete meanings in addition ; e.g.,
humanity , curiosity , variety , beside
the senses * being human, curious,
various ’, acquire those of ‘ all
human beings ’, ‘ a curious object %
& ‘ a sub-species ’. Or again they
are so habitually applied in a limited
way that the full sense of the adjec¬
tive is no longer naturally suggested
by them ; preciosity is limited to
literary or artistic style, maturity
suggests the moment of reaching
rather than the state of matureness,
purity & frailty take a sexual tinge
that pureness & frailness are with¬
out, poverty is more nearly confined
to lack of money than poorness. It
is when lucidity requires the ex¬
cluding of some such meaning or
implication attached only to the -ty
form that a -ness word may reason¬
ably be substituted.
One or two articles under which
special remarks will be found are
BARBARISM &C., ENORMOUS, OBLI¬
QUENESS, OPACITY, POVERTY, PRE¬
CIOSITY, sensibility. For similar
distinctions between other nearly
equivalent terminations, see -ce,
-CY, -IC(al), -ION & -NESS, -ION &
-MENT, -ISM & -ITY.
A few specimens may be added &
classified that have not been cited
above, but are notable in some way.
A. Some words in -ty for which, the
Latin adjective not having been
taken into English, there is no com¬
panion in -ness: celerity, cupidity,
debility, fidelity, integrity, lenity,
utility. B. Some more in which the
-ty word has a marked concrete or
limited sense not shared by the
other : capacity, commodity, fatal¬
ity, festivity, monstrosity, nicety,
novelty, speciality, subtlety. C.
Some of the few in -ness that are
as much used as those in -ty, or
more, though the -ty words exist :
clearness (clarity), crudeness, false-
ness, graciousness, inevitableness,
jocoseness, literalness, litigiousness,
morbidness, moroseness, passive¬
ness, ponderousness, positiveness,
punctiliousness, spaciousness, sub-
TYCOON
670
limeness, tenseness, unctuousness.
D. Some -ness words that have no
corresponding form in -ty, though
the adjective is of Latin origin &
might have been expected to produce
one : crispness, facetiousness, firm¬
ness, largeness, massiveness, natural¬
ness, obsequiousness, pensiveness,
proneness, robustness, rudeness, ser¬
iousness, tardiness, tediousness, ten¬
derness (tenerity), vastness, vileness.
tycoon, shogun. Two separate
titles of different meanings, describ¬
ing the same person ; f. = great
prince, s. — army-leader. The official
so named was the military ruler of
Japan in the times (before 1867)
when the Mikado’s temporal power
was usurped ; & the title tycoon was
substituted in diplomatic dealings
for that of shogun, used at home, in
order to represent him to foreigners
as the real sovereign.
tyke, tike. The earliest quotations
show y, & in modern use (from 1800)
it is, in the OED, six times as com¬
mon as i ; see y & i.
tyle(r). See tile(r).
tympanum. PI. -na.
type. 1 • For some synonyms of the
noun, see sign. 2. The verb makes
-pablc ; see Mute e. 3 (below).
Sizes of printing-type. 4. (below).
Type, prototype, &c. 5. (below).
T//pe-writer)(typisl.
3. Sizes of printing-type. The
following list of size-names, in order
from small to large, may be useful :
brilliant, diamond, pearl, ruby,
nonpareil, emerald, minion, brevier
(l)iiver'), bourgeois (berjoi's), long
pri'mer, small pi'ea, pi'ea, English,
great pri'mer, canon.
4. Type, prototype, antitype, ante-
tape. There is much confusion &
other misuse of these words, as in all
the following extracts & in some
others given under prototype —
Foremost among them is the aged
Wu Ting Fang, an Oriental Proto¬
type of the Vicar of Bray (should be
antitype, or better parallel). /People
may wonder whether he always Jcnows
the meaning of the words he uses
when they find him calling a wooim
copy of the Queen Elizabeth put up to
deceive the Germans her ‘ prototype ‘
{antitype, if any type, but better
counterfeit)./The fees of the mo*
successful barristers in France do not
amount to more than a fraction of
those earned by their prototypes in
England (should be fellows or con¬
freres or likes)./The type of mini
which prompted that policy finds it)
modern prototype in Unionist Ulster
(should be antitype or manifesta¬
tion)./ 1 ' I presume you bring this war
figure into dramatic contrast with his
anti-type.’— ‘ Yes ; db with the other
types of the . . .’ (should be opposite).
The word antetype may be set aside
as one that should hardly ever be
used, first because its similarity in
sound & opposition in sense to the
established antitype is inconvenient,
secondly as being liable to confusion
with prototype also from their close¬
ness in meaning, & thirdly because
forerunner & anticipation are ready
to take its place when it really does
not mean prototype. Even with
that ruled out, the relations between
the other three are such as to make
mistakes likely, but not pardonable.
Prototype & antitype both owe their
existence to type, & have no meaning
except with reference to it; but
type has many meanings besides that
in which alone it has anything to do
with prototype & antitype; that
meaning is symbol or emblem or
presage or pattern or model con
bidered with regard to the person or
object or fact or event in the sphere
of reality that answers to its •P ec f r
fications ; this answering realitv. or
thing symbolized &c., is called
antitype, anti (against) conveying
the notion of match or answer ®
correspondence. Type & an/uyp t
then, are a complementary pair, ™
correlatives & opposites, it i» vej
different with type & prototype* a
from being opposed to a type ,
prototype is a type, & jtb
a synonym for it, tnougw
limitation, ; it i. P/eferrcd to
TYPE, 5
671
U
priority in time of a particular type
over its antitype, such priority not
being essential to the notion of type
& antitype; secondly when type,
which has other senses than that to
which antitype is opposed, might be
ambiguous ; & thirdly when typi-
fication itself is of no great conse¬
quence, & the sense wanted is no
more than ‘ the earliest form ’ of
something. For those who feel a
temptation to use the word prototype
without being sure that they know
the difference between the three
words, it is well to remember that
antitype is much more likely to be
safe than prototype, but that real
safety lies in abstaining from so
tricky a set of words altogether.
5. Type-writer)(typist. It is of
practical importance that, as the
two words exist, the first should be
restricted to the machine & not
extended, at the risk of ambiguity,
to the operator.
typhoid. See enteric.
typhoon. See wind for synonymy.
typic(al). Typic survives only as
a form occasionally useful to verse-
writers in metrical straits, & as a
(now rare) epithet of fevers, = inter-
mUtent &c., in which use typical
would be ambiguous. See -ic(al).
typify. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
typist. See type 5.
typo, = typographer. PI. -os, see
-o(e)s 5. A Curtailed word.
typographical). Both forms are in
use, & no shade of difference seems
in the OED quotations,
except that those for -al are more
numerous. See -ic(al).
tyrannie(al). Tyrannic is now not
at Rome outside verse. See -ic(al).
tyrannize. This attempt to coerce &
mETI? Jf 3 WiU Produce results
th * Government will have good
to regret./They were ‘ the
***&&€&* God-fearing people 9
ho were to be tyrannized db oppressed
Moat r J^A Cked « Liberal Government.
™ have the familiar slight shnJ
incident to meeting a solecism &
want to insert ‘ over \ But the
OED’s comment on the transitive
use is merely ‘ now rare & it pro¬
duces abundant examples from
older writers ; still, the present
idiom is to tyrannize over , not to
tyrannize, one’s subjects.
tyrant. The original Greek sense
of the word is so far alive still that
readers must be prepared for it.
Neither cruel nor despotic conduct
was essential to the Greek notion of
a tyrant, who was merely one who,
or whose ancestors, had seized a
sovereignty that was not his or
theirs by hereditary right. Despotic
or tyrannical use of the usurped
position was natural & common, but
incidental only.
tyre, tyro. See tire, tiro.
Tyrrhene, Tyrrhenian. So spelt.
Tzar, tzetze. See Tsar, tsetse.
u
_u. N.B. In this article the symbol
u stands for the sounds yoo or yoo.
The_pronunciation of long u (as u,
or oo) is a point that has been dis¬
cussed at length for the special case
in which practical doubts arise, i.e.
when 1 precedes the u ; see lu. The
same question presents itself, but
the answers are less doubtful, when
the preceding letter is not I. 1.
When it is the other liquid, r, at¬
tempts at u are difficult ; few people
make them, & 65 (or 66) being
generally accepted should be made
universal (see Pronunciation) ; so
rool (rule), krood (crude), introo'zhn
(intrusion), kwS'roolws & ga Tool ms
(querulous, garrulous), groo (grew),
froot (fruit). 2. When no letter pre¬
cedes, u is invariable (unit, ubiquity,
&c.) except in foreign words such as
uhlan , Ural, unberufen, umlaut. 3.
After the sounds ch, j, sh, zh,
attempts at u are as ill advised as
after r ; so choo, joon, joot, joos,
shoot, shoor, u'zhdoal, for chew,
June, jute, juice, chute , sure, usual ;
not chu, jun, jut, jus, shut, shur.
UGLILY
672 ULUIAft
u'zhual. 4. After s & z there is a
tendency to convert the orthodox
u to oo or do, e.g. in superior , Susan ,
supreme, suzerain, suicide, suet , suit ,
presume , Zulu ; this class is com¬
parable to the lu words, but the
decline of u is far less marked. 5.
Outside the positions stated, u rarely
changes to bo ; dobs {deuce), st oo'ard
{steward), loo'ard {leeward), are often
heard, but these & others are
generally regarded as carelessnesses
or vulgarities.
uglily is less rare than most adverbs
in -lily.
uhlan. So spelt ; pronounce oo'lan
or u'lrtn.
ukase. Pronounce uka's.
••ULAR. Adjectives ending thus are
something of a trap to those who
like words to mean what they seem
to say. They are made from
diminutive nouns, but no diminutive
sense can be reckoned upon in them ;
a glandule is necessarily a small
gland ; but glandular is as likely to
mean ‘ of glands ’ as ‘of small
glands ’. The ending -ular has be¬
come a favourite with adjective-
makers, & such an adjective is often
preferred to one that is or might be
made directly from the simple noun
instead of from the diminutive.
So auricular for aural, glandular for
glandal, globular for globose, granular
for grancous or granose, tubular for
tubal, valvular for valvar.
Ulema. Pronounce ob'llma or
oblimah'.
ulna. PI. -nae.
ultima. See Technical terms.
ultimatum. PI. -ta, -turns ; see
Latin plurals. Considering that
-turns is about 200 years old (Swift
is quoted in OED), it is strange that
anglicization is still delayed, & that
-ta is in a large enough majority to
justify OED in presenting it alone as
the plural ; -turns is here recom¬
mended.
ultimo, ult. See instant.
ultra, originally a Latin preposition
& adverb meaning beyond, is now
used in English as a noun (pi.
meaning a person who goes beyond
others in opinion or action of the
kind in question. This is no doubt
a development of the use as a prefix
in such adjectives (& nouns) u
ultra-fashionable{s ), ultra-revolution-
ary {-ries). Such compounds were
curtailed into ultra adj. & n.; but
it is no longer felt to be, like raft
when used for subaltern or subscrip¬
tion, a Curtailed word ; it hiss
rather won independence of any
second element, its own meaning
being sufficient, & is a synonym for
extremist.
ultramontane. With the full or
exact meaning of ultramontanism as
now understood we need not concern
ourselves, beyond defining it roughly
as the policy of raising the authority
of the Pope in all matters to the
highest possible level. But to those
who are not content to accept words
as arbitrary tokens, & do not see
why a papal zealot should be an
‘ over-the-hills ’ man, an explana*
tion may be welcome. The moun¬
tains are the Alps, & beyond the
mountains means, to an Italian,
outside Italy, &, to others, in Italy.
So, when there were differences in
the Church about the right relation
between the Italian bishops & the
extra-Italian, each party could
describe the other as the Ultru-
montanes, w r hich makes the histori¬
cal use of the word confusing; in
modern use it is applied, chiefly bj
opponents, to the party of ^taliM
predominance, whose principle is the
absolute supremacy of the Pope, «
the denial of independence to
national Churches.
ultra vires. Pronounce -ir'6z.
ululate, -ation. OED gives pre¬
cedence to ulu- over G10-, & J t
know that it is stating the prevalent
usage ; but the pronunciation o
words seldom heard is hard to
sure of ; &, unless there are reason*
against it, it seem* plain that
imitative effect got by repeat !I ? R.,
same sound should not be sacrificed •
-UM
673
UN-
ulul- suggests howling much more
vividly than iilul-.
-UM. For general remarks on the
plural of Latin nouns adopted in
English, see Latin plurals. Those
in -um are numerous & demand
special treatment. The Latin plural
being -a, & the English -urns, three
selections follow of nouns (1) that
now always use -ums, either as
having completed their naturaliza¬
tion (as it is to be hoped that the
rest may do in time), or for special
reasons ; (2) that show no signs at
present of conversion, but always
use -a ; (3) that vacillate, sometimes
with a differentiation of meaning,
sometimes in harmony with the
style of writing, & sometimes un¬
accountably. In deciding between
the two forms for words in the third
list, it should be borne in mind that,
while anglicization is to be desired,
violent attempts to hurry the pro¬
cess actually retard it by provoking
ridicule.
1* Plural in -ums only : albums ;
antirrhinums (& plant names) ;
asylums ; decorums ; delphiniums ;
Elysiums ; factotums* ; forums ;
harmoniums ; laburnums; lyceums;
museums; nasturtiums; nostrums ;
pendulums; petroleums ; pomat-
ums ; premiums ; quantums* ;
quorums*; targums* ; vellums*;
the -a plural for these would
violate grammar as well as usage ;
tney are included here not as Latin
nouns, but as words that might be
£' ve ?., Wro i n g plurals by mistake.
, P\ ur als in -a only : agendat ;
bacteria (& many scientific terms) ;
corrigenda,; curricula; desideratat;
errataf ; memorandaf ; scholia (&
?2 r , such learned words); strataf ;
edanea. fLatin gerundives &
S3US* icipIes often resist na -
' Vords —ith either plural ; some
notes are inserted as suggestions
®nJy: aquarium (usu. -ms); corn¬
er hearhA cranium .(’ um s in joc. use
' ^~ ms ) * exordium ; interregnum
(usu. -ms) ; medium (-ms in spirit¬
ualism) ; millennium (usu. -ms) ;
rostrum (usu. -a) ; spectrum (usu.
-a) ; trapezium (usu. -a) ; ultima¬
tum (-ms better) ; vacuum (usu.
-a) ; viaticum (-a in eccl. sense).
umbilicus, -ical. The OED recog¬
nizes only umbi'likal for the adjec¬
tive, but for the noun gives prece¬
dence to umbili'kws over umbi'likws.
See False quantity for the ques¬
tion involved.
umbo. PI. -os or -o'nes ; see
Latin plurals.
umbra. PI. -rae.
umbrella makes umbrella'd ; see
-ed & -’d.
umlaut. Pronounce oo'mlowt or
bo'mlowt.
un, ’un, = one, as in that un, young
un, old un, game un, & such phrases,
needs no apostrophe or hyphen.
UN-. 1. Danger of ellipsis after un-
words. 2. Un-)(in-.
1. Danger of ellipsis after un-.
Untouched means not touched, but
with the difference that it is one
word & not two, a difference that in
some circumstances is important.
In I was not touched, cfc you were the
word touched is understood to be
repeated, & not to carry the not
with it ; but 1 was untouched, & you
were cannot be substituted with the
same effect ; if it means anything,
it means that both were untouched,
the un- having to be understood as
well as the touched. Needless as
such a statement may sound in a
simple case like the above, where
there is nothing to distract attention
from the wording, blunders essen¬
tially similar are frequent; a couple
of examples follow, & the state of
mind that produces them is fully
illustrated in the articles Negative
& AFFIRMATIVE, & NEGATIVES I-
Dr RashdalVs scholarship is unques¬
tioned ; most of his writings &
opinions on ecclesiastical matters are.
What is meant is that most of them
are questioned, not unquestioned./
When I sat in the square of Oudenarde,
opposite the old H6tel de Ville. which
Z
UN-, 2
674
UNATTACHED PARTICIPLE!
happily has come through the war
untouched by Vandal hands , me-
thought, if it had been, who in Belgium
could, have built the like of it ? That
is, had been touched, not untouched;
correct untouched into without being
touched.
2. Un-)(in-. When positive adjec¬
tives, including participles, are to
be converted into negative, it is
usually done by prefixing one of
these ; which of the two it should
be is a question that most people
can answer without difficulty for
most words, & the laying down of
exhaustive rules would be both
tedious & useless ; some of the
tendencies have been shown in the
article in- & un-. One or two
quotations are here given to prove
that the wrong decision is some¬
times made : The Government let
loose their ‘ Black & Tans ’ to deal
out summary dh indiscriminating
punishment./Olrig, of whose incom-
pleted labours we spoke lately in these
columns./It was inevitable that many
men of instable nervous organization
should be included. /Read undis¬
criminating, uncompleted, & unstable.
All three lapses result from the
commonest cause of error, the exist¬
ence of a familiar allied word begin¬
ning rightly with the prefix that, in
the word used, is wrong—here
indiscriminate, incomplete, & insta¬
bility. One other point is perhaps
worth stressing. It is a general
truth that, while it is legitimate to
prefix un-, but not in-, to any
adjective of whatever form, those
negative adjectives in in- that exist
are normally preferred to the corre¬
sponding un- forms ; but when an
in- (or il- or im- or ir-) adjective has
developed a sense that is something
more than the negation of the posi¬
tive adjective, an un- form is often
used to discharge that function
without risk of ambiguity ; immoral
having come to mean offending
against morality or wicked, unmoral
is called in to mean not moral or
outside the sphere of morality ;
others are ir-, & un-, religious;
in.
—» & un, -human; in, & tm.
-artistic ; in, & un, -artificial ; in &
un, -sanitary', inept & unapt •
insoluble & unsolvable : im. & un
-material. ’
unabashedly. Five syllables, if
used ; see -edly.
unaccountable. Occurrences that
are for the time being, db to the
spiritualist, unaccountable by natural
causes. U. itself belongs to the
class of words, including reliable,
whose legitimacy is upheld in -able
4 ; but to use by after it, compelling
the reader to resolve it into its
elements ( not to be accounted for), &
so discover that for is missing, is
very indiscreet.
unadomedly, unadvisedly. As un¬
abashedly.
unapt, inapt, inept. Inept repre¬
sents the normal Latin negative of
aptus, &, like many such negatives
in in-, has developed a special sense.
We have therefore made in English,
also normally, the new negative of
apt, free of the special sense, unapt \
& this, not the hybrid inapt, should
be used when inept is not meant.
unartificial, in-. The differentia¬
tion is now generally recognized by
which the first means free from
artifice or artless or natural, & the
second lacking art or unskilful or
rude ; see un- 2.
unartistic. In-. The second is the
usual word ; but since it has
acquired a sort of positive sense,
‘ outraging the canons of art * &c>,
the other has been introduced for
contexts in which such condemna¬
tion is not desired ; the unartislu
are those who are not concerned
with art. See un- 2.
unashamedly. As unabashedly
UNATTACHED PARTICIPLES & ad "
jectives (or wrongly attached). A
firm sent in its bill with the following
letter :— Dear Sir,—We beg to en¬
close herewith statement of y° u J‘P C ‘
count for goods supplied, & being
desirous of clearing our Books to
UNATTACHED PARTICIPLES C75 UNATTACHED PARTICIPLES
May will you kindly favour us with
cheque in settlement per return, &
much oblige. The reply ran :—•
Sirs,—You have been misinformed.
I have no wish to clear your books.
It may be hoped that the desire on
which they based their demand was
ultimately (though not per return)
satisfied, but they had certainly
imputed it to the wrong person by
attaching being desirous not to the
noun it belonged to (we), but to
another (you). The duty of so
arranging one’s sentences that they
will stand grammatical analysis is
much more generally recognized
than it formerly was, & it is now not
a sufficient defence for looseness of
this kind to produce parallels, as
can very easily be done, even from
great writers of past generations ;
on this see Illogicalities. On the
other hand it is to be remembered
that there is a continual change
going on by which certain participles
or adjectives acquire the character
of prepositions or adverbs, no longer
needing the prop of a noun to cling
to; we can say Considering the
circumstances you were justified, or
Roughly speaking they are identical,
f need not correct into I acquit you
~ 1 should call them identical in order
to regularize the participles. The
difficulty is to know when this
development is complete ; may I
wnte Referring to your letter, you do
not state ..., or must it be I find
you do not state . . . ? i.e., is referring
still undeveloped? In all such
cases, it is best to put off recognition.
good example of what may prove
® “?y e . been such a development
caught m the act is the phrase due
nL,? Vei ? llhter ate in the land is
now treating due to as though due
n^- paSSed lnt0 an adverb not
S o«$L a - n ° Un - to a S ree ™ th > Just
asking, m owing to, has actually
? he prepositional use of
but * • h?! 016 than a cen tury old ;
but of a similar use of due to there is
"»7 V D? 86 tI“ the OED < dated
aa nar»°Lr L ^ ls now as common
0an though only, if the view
taken in due is correct, among the
illiterate ; that term is here to be
taken as including all who are
unfamiliar with good writers, & who
consequently are unaware of any
idiomatic difference between Owing
to his age he was unable to compete,
& Due to his age he was &c. Perhaps
the illiterates will beat idiom ; per¬
haps idiom will beat the illiterates ;
our grandsons will know.
The conscious or unconscious as¬
sumption that a participle or adjec¬
tive has acquired the powers of
preposition or adverb when it has in
fact not done so perhaps accounts
for most of the unattached &
wrongly attached ; but there are
many for which no such excuse is
possible. Before proceeding to
them, let us make a few sentences
containing undoubtedly converted
participles, sentences in which the
seeming participle is not felt to need
a noun ’.—Talking of test matches,
who won the last ? ; Coming to de¬
tails, the spoilt ballot-papers were 17 ;
They are illiterate (using the word
in its widest sense) ; Granting his
honesty, he may be mistaken ; Failing
you, there is no chance left; Twelve
were saved, not counting the dog ;
Allowing for exceptions, the rule may
stand. It is natural, & perhaps
right, to explain this common type
as originally not a participle at all,
but a shortening of the gerund
preceded by the old preposition a ;
talking of= a-talking of, i.e. in talking
or while there is talk of. However
that may be, it is only fanatical
purists who will condemn such
sentences ; & a clear acknowledge¬
ment of their legitimacy should
strengthen rather than weaken the
necessary protest against the sloven¬
ly uses now to be illustrated. After
each extract will be given in brackets
first the noun, whether present or
not, to which the participle or
adjective ought to be attached, &
secondly the noun, if any, to which
careless grammar has in fact attach¬
ed it :—Unlike the other great Euro¬
pean capitals which lay themselves out
UNAVOWEDLY
676
UNDIGESTED
to cater for the tourist, Russian is the
only language spoken (the capital in
question ; Russian)./^ belief that a
Committee of Inquiry is merely an
evasion, dfc that, if accepted, the men
will be caught out (Committee; men)./
Experiments have shown that, while
affording protection against shrapnel,
the direct bullet at moderate range
would carry fragments of the plate
into the body (plate ; bullet)./Based
on your figures of membership, you
suggest that the Middle Classes Union
has failed (suggestion ; you).//
would also suggest that, while admit¬
ting the modernity , the proofs offered
by him as to the recent date of the loss
of aspiration are not very convincing
(I ; proofs)./^! girl fell on a pen,
which pierced her eye, db, causing
meningitis, she died (which ; she)./
Having muzzled the House of Lords
it is difficult to see at the moment any
real obstacle to the successful passage
of the Bill (the Government ; -)./
Whilst placing little hope in the pre¬
sent dynasty, it is ahoays possible in
the East for some official to rise to
power who may change the destinies
of his people (we ; official).
unavowedly. As unabashedly.
unbeknown(st). Both forms are
now out of use except in dialect or
uneducated speech or in imitations
of these. The -st form is more
exclusively adverbial ; cf. unawares
as the adv. of unaware, & whiles,
whilst.
unbending, as participle of to un¬
bend, means throwing off stiffness,
but as a compound of un- & bending
it means never throwing off stiffness;
contrasts, not usually so diametrical
as this, often result from the pre¬
fixing of un- at different stages ;
e. g., in ‘ lessons learnt & unlearnt ’,
unlearnt may mean either of two
very different things.
unberufen. Pronounce oonblroo'fn.
It means ‘unchallenged’, i.e. with¬
out defying Fate.
unbias(s)ed. The spelling varies ;
-S-, -SS-.
uncia. PI. -ae.
uncial. See Technical terms.
Uncle Sam. See Sobriquets.
un-come-at-able. The word had
doubtless, two or three centuries
a jolly daredevil hang-the-
ago
~ . i wuu. has
long evaporated ; it serves no pur¬
pose that inaccessible does not; it
requires a writer to choose between
five forms ( uncomatable is the other
extreme) ; & it surely deserves a
place among Superfluous words.
uncommon. The old slang use as
an adverb = remarkably (an u. fine
girl &c.) has nearly died out, & is no
longer in place outside the dialogue
of historical novels.
unconcernedly, unconstralnedly. As
UNABASHEDLY.
uncontrollable. Better than in-;
see in- & un-.
uncontrolledly. As unabashedly.
undeceived. Two words of different
meaning, like unbending.
undependable. For the legitimacy
of this & similar words, see -able 4.
under, prep. See below for dis¬
tinctions ; & UNDERNEATH.
underlay, -lie, vbs. The confusion
noticed in lay & lie is worse con¬
founded for the compounds; see
the remarks on overlay.
undermost. See -most.
underneath (prep.), compared with
below & under, is not, like be¬
neath, a word that tends to become
archaic ; on the contrary, it is still
in full colloquial as well as literary
use ; its range is much narrower
than that of under, being almost
confined to the physical relation of
material things (cf. * underneath the
bed ’ with 4 under the stimulus of
competition ’), but within that range
it is often preferred as expressing
more emphatically the notion of
bei ng covered over, & carrying a step
further the difference pointed out
between below & under.
undeservedly, undeslgnedly. As
UNABASHEDLY. .
undigested, undisciplined, und** -
criminating. All better than the in*
UNDISGUISEDLY
677
UNEQUAL YOKEFELLOWS
forms; see in- & un-. The in-, which
is at variance with the prevalent
modem usage, owes its escape to the
protection afforded by indigestion,
indiscipline, & indiscriminate.
undisguisedly. As unabashedly.
undistinguishable . The in- form is
better ; see in- & un-.
undistributed middle. See Tech¬
nical TERMS.
undisturbedly. As unabashedly.
undue, -duly. There is no need for
undue alarm. Well, no ; that seems
likely. See truism ; in the making
of truisms u. is at present the
favourite ingredient.
uneconomic(al). For the distinc¬
tion see economic(al).
unedited. Better than the in- form,
which those who are literary by pro¬
fession seem to prefer; see in- & un-.
unequal. She has been compelled to
undertake an offensive for which , as
events have proved, she was wholly
unequal./A simplicity that seems
quite unequal to treat the large ques¬
tions involved. The preposition after
**• ** not for ; but if a verbal
phrase with to is used it must be to
with the gerund, not with the in¬
finitive ; see Gerund 3 C.
Unequal yokefellows. The
phrase is here used in a comprehen¬
sive sense enabling a number of
faults, most of them treated at
j *fi other articles, to be ex¬
hibited side by side as varieties of
one species. They are all such as
hot to obstruct seriously the under¬
standing of the passage in which
they occur, but to inflict a passing
discomfort on fastidious readers ;
to a wnter who is not fastidious it
w an irksome task to keep in mind
. Coders who are, & he inclines
to treat symmetry as troublesome
. eve h obtrusive formalism; he
mechanically regular if
gj... ou ^> but he is not going to be
aJ^«.?° I ! fon ? lty with niceties that
tare a5 °Ll° » i»
grateful task ; but there must be
something wrong with a writer who
is not free, by the time he is through
his apprenticeship, of the need for
this sort of revision ; to shape one’s
sentences aright as one puts them
down, instinctively avoiding lop¬
sidedness & checking all details of
the framework, is not the final
crown of an accomplished writer,
but part of the rudiments ; if one
has neglected to acquire that habit
in early days, one has no right to
grumble at the choice that later
confronts one between slovenliness
& revision.
Conspicuous among the slights
commonly inflicted upon the minor
symmetries are those illustrated
below :—
Between demands and, but— The
nine employees whose record of service
ranged between 61 down to 50 years.
See BETWEEN.
Both demands and, but— The enemy
despairs both of victory on land or of
such success as will give him a com¬
promise peace. See both.
Neither demands nor, but— Diderot
presented a bouquet which was neither
well or ill received. See neither 6.
Neither this nor that demands a
singular verb, but— Neither John
nor Richard were English. See
neither 4.
Scarcely (temporal) demands when
or before, but— Scarcely was the drain
finished than several sickened with
diphtheria. See scarcely.
Each demands a singular verb, but
— The opportunities which each are
capable of turning to account. See
each.
Has & does as auxiliaries demand
different continuations, but— The
Government has never <Ss does not
now close the door to overtures. See
Ellipsis.
A subjunctive in one of two
parallel clauses demands a subjunc¬
tive in the other, but— If the appeal
be made <& results in . . . See Sub¬
junctives (arrivals).
Similarly with inversion in parallel
clauses, but— Even were this tract of
UNESCAPABLE
678
UNIDIOMATIC 4tY
country level plain & the roads lent
themselves to the manoe
Inversion.
Hermetic sealing up of a subject
within its verb demands repetition
of the subject if it is to serve again,
but— Does he dislike its methods , cfc
will only mention ...? See Parallel-
sentence DANGERS.
One or two other types may be
added without quotations :— Either
he did not know or was lying (read
He either) ; The old one was as good
if not better than this (read as good
as this if not better) ; One of the
worst kings that has ever reigned
(read have) ; It is all more than
I expected (read all I expected , &
more); He was young, rich, handsome,
& enjoyed life (read & handsome;
see and 2).
unescapable, unessential. Better
than in- ; see in- & un-.
unexceptionable)(-al.
TIONABLE.
unfeignedly. Four syllables ; -edly.
unfortunate. For ‘ one more u.’,
see Stock pathos.
lingula. PI. -lae.
unhuman. For the use of this by
the side of inhuman, see un- 2.
unidea'd. Best so written ; -ed & ’d.
UNIDIOMATIC -LY. As the lapses
from idiom here to be illustrated
probably owe their origin to the
modern wider extension of gram¬
matical knowledge, it may be
prudent to start by conciliating the
sticklers for grammar & admitting
that a -ly is sometimes missing
where it is wanted. So :—The
Carholme course, shaped very similar
to the Doncaster Town Moor, is one
of the best in England./Proceedings
instituted by the local Education
Committee against the mother for
neglecting to send her girl to school
regular./// the Government is going
to nationalize the coal, we believe it
would do wiser to leave its hands free
to . . . (more wisely).// hope that
most teachers in the present day have
learnt to read the Old Testament
(thanks to the higher critics) different
from the way I was taught to read it
in my youth./Surely no
man or woman will deny that it
be advisable to prevent strikes <fc
lock-outs consistent with the prin¬
ciples of liberty as set forth by John
Stuart Mill.
But, if grammar is inexorable
against consistent & different & the
rest, it would in the following sen¬
tences allow contrary & irrespective
without a frown, while idiom for its
part would welcome them :— The
provision is quite inadequate A very
grudgingly granted, & often , con-
trarily to the spirit of the Act, totally
denied./Loyal obedience is due to the
‘ powers that be ’, as such , irres
tively of their historical origin,
method is to whitewash them ah
vigorously with the same brush, irre¬
spectively of differences in the careers
& characters of his heroes. Contrary
& irrespective are among the adjec¬
tives that have, with others men¬
tioned in Unattached &c. & in
Quasi-adverbs, developed adverbial
force ; to ignore that development
is bad literary judgement, but,
among the mistakes made with -ly,
one of the least.
A degree worse is the use of a -ly
adverb where idiom requires not an
adverb at all, but a predicative
adjective. See large(ly) for the
phrases bulk & loom large, & sub¬
stitute adjectives for adverbs in the
four following quotations :— Butooer
the rival claims of the Marquess Cunon
& Mr Baldwin controversy waxed
vigorously. /In neither direction can
we fix our hopes very highly. /This
country was brought much more
closely to disaster at sea than ever the
Allies were on land (much closer)./
It is a gigantic labour before which the
labours of Westphalia, of Utrecht, oj
Vienna, pale insignificantly. ,
Yet a little worse is the officious
bringing up to date of
honoured phrases as mighty ksnu
sure enough : — Still, it is mightuy
kind of the Morning Post to «
anxious to shield the Labour “a y
from the wrath to come./We begin
UNIDIOMATIC -LY
679
UNIQUE
remember the story of the detective who
died murmuring to himself 4 More
clues l 1 & towards the end of the
book , surely enough , more clues there
are .
But much more to be deprecated
than all the particular departures
from idiom already mentioned is the
growing notion that every monosyl¬
labic adjective, if an adverb is to be
made of it, must have a -ly clapped
on to it to proclaim the fact. Of
very many that is not true ; see
MOST, RIGHT, & STRAIGHT, for Wrong
or needless uses of mostly, rightly, &
straightly. Two such words may
here be taken for special treatment,
mueh(ly) as the least, & hard(ly) as
the most, important of all. We do
all know that much can be an
adverb, & probably most of us would
g iess that muchly was a modern
cetious formation, perhaps meant
to burlesque the ultra-grammatical,
& at any rate always used jocosely.
\Ve should be wrong ; it is 300 years
old, its earliest use was serious, &
even now it may rarely be met in
contexts where the point of the joke
is not apparent: Many players who
were in the habit of relying muchly
ttpow the advice of their caddies found
themselves completely at sea . Never¬
theless, as it seems from the OED
to have lain dormant for over 200
years, our £
& its revival
the belief that adverbs must end in
:?y* Muchly does not often make
its way into print, except in dialogue
as a recognized symbol of the mildly
jocose- talker, & has been worth
S tl0n ° nI Y in contrast with
mihui^i- 4 . as appear, is
m P rint for the idio¬
tic hard neither seldom nor with
S*r£ r ? sque in tention, but seem-
haul n! 1 8 aorance * Ignorance that
ke an adverb seems in-
^edible when one thinks of It froze
fzj? Hit him hard ,, Work hard. Try
must hL B °f ; the ignorance
Neglect of idiom is, in
case » aggravated hv
that hardly, written as meaning
hard, may be read as meaning
scarcely ; for some proofs that that
danger is real, see the article hard¬
ly. The examples that here follow
are free from such ambiguity, but in
each of them idiom demands expul¬
sion of the -ly :— How hardly put to
it the Tories are for argument is
shown by . . ./Another sign of how
hardly the great families are pressed
in these times./The invasion of Henley
by the fashionable world bears very
hardly on those who go only for the
sport./But what about the agricul¬
turist, who is so hardly hit by our
present system?/They have been as
hardly hit as any class in the com¬
munity by the present state of trade./
If there is a man more hardly hit by
existing conditions than the average
holder of a season ticket he is hard
to find (harder hit).
Other such adverbs are wide, late,
deuced, high, each spoilt in the ap¬
pended extracts by an unidiomatic
-ly — And then he'd know that betting
& insurance were widely apart./
Several drawings in the new volume
are dated as lately as August db
September, 1922. /1 bite it—it is
deucedly big—1 light it & inhale./
M. Miller and has played highly, but
he has lost his stake. Middling, soft,
& sharp, are specimens of the many
others that might be named.
unify. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
unimpassionedly. A bad form;
see -edly.
unique. A watertight definition or
paraphrase of the word, securing it
against confusion with all synonyms
that might be suggested, is difficult
to frame. In the first place, it is
applicable only to what is in some
respect the sole existing specimen,
the precise like of which may be
sought in vain. That gives a clean
line of division between it & the
many adjectives for which the
illiterate tend to substitute it—
remarkable, exceptional, rare, mar¬
vellous , & the like. In the qualities
UNITY
680
represented by those epithets there
are degrees ; but uniqueness is a
matter of yes or no only j no unique
thing is more or less unique than
another unique thing, as it may be
rarer or less rare ; the adverbs that
«. can tolerate are e.g. quite, almost,
nearly, really, surely, perhaps, abso¬
lutely, or in some respects ; & it is
nonsense to call anything more,
most, very, somewhat, rather, or com¬
paratively u. Such nonsense, how¬
ever, is often written :— M. Georges
Buisson, in recognition of his valuable
services as shorthand writer to the
Chamber of Deputies, has been made
an Officer of the Legion of Honour ;
this is a rather unique distinction./
1 have just come across the production
of a boy aged seven which is, in my
experience, somewhat unique. /Sir ,—
1 venture to send you a copy of a
rather unique inscription on a tomb¬
stone. /A very unique child, thought 1.
But, secondly, there is another set
of synonyms— sole, single, peculiar
to, &c.—from which u. is divided not
by a clear difference of meaning, but
by an idiomatic limitation of the
contexts to which it is suited. It
will be admitted that we improve
the two following sentences if we
change u. in the first into sole, & in
the second into peculiar :—In the
always delicate db difficult domain of
diplomatic relations the Foreign Min¬
ister must be the unique medium of
communication with foreign Powers./
He relates Christianity to other re¬
ligions, & notes what is unique to the
former db what is common to all of
them. The emendations are easy to
make or accept ; to explain the need
of them is more difficult ; but the
reason why u. is unsuitable is perhaps
that it belongs to the class of epithets
discussed in Positive words.
unity. The unities, or dramatic
unities, are the u. of time, the u.
of place, & the u. of action. The first
has been observed if all that happens
in a play can be conceived as
sufficiently continuous to fill only
something like the same time
_ UN LIKE
(stretched by generous reckoning to
a day) as the performance/ The
second is observed when chances of
scene, if any, are slight enough to
spare an audience the sensation of
bemg transported from one place to
another. The third is observed
when nothing is introduced that has
no bearing upon the central action
of the play. The last only is univer-
sally recognized as among the essen-
tials of good drama.
unlearned, -nt. See learn.
unless & until. See Pleonasm, 2
for other such duplications ; one of
the conjunctions is always super¬
fluous, as in the still commoner
if & when, the discussion in which
article may serve for this pair also;
but a few quotations will allow the
reader to j udge whether ‘ unless & *
might not in each be left out with
advantage :—Unless & until it is
made possible for a builder or house¬
holder to obtain an economic rent, so
long will building be at a standstill.!
Speaking for himself he said that
unless & until the Second Chamber
was reformed db the constituencies
were given some constitutional means
of expressing their opinion , he treated
every measure that proceeded from the
House of Commons as at present
constituted as coming from a tainted
source./Provided further that any Bill
shall not be presented to his Majesty
nor receive the Royal Assent under the
provisions of this section unless &
until it has been submitted to db
approved by the electors./Sir Albert
Stanley assured some alarmed manu¬
facturers that a certain embargo which
he had temporarily removed should be
speedily reimposed db not remooed
again unless & until they had been
consulted.
i/Tf u ai c u* 9 w »■* —
that % to * unlike you, I feel the
cold * & further developments, is
subject to the complications set out
in like, though occasions for it are
much fewer. In addition to what ie
UNMATERIAL
UNTHINKABLE
681
there said, two special warnings
may be given. 1 counted eighty-nine
rows of men standing, & unlike in
London, only occasionally could
women be distinguished. U. is there
treated as though it had developed
the adverbial power described in the
article Unattached &c. as acquired
by owing (to) but not by due (to) ;
it has not, & something adverbial
(in contrast with London ways ?)
must be substituted.
M. Berger, however, does not appear
to have—unlike his Russian masters —-
the gift of presenting female char¬
acters. As with many negatives, the
placing of u. is important ; standing
where it does, it must be changed to
like ; unlike would be right if the
phrase were shifted to before 4 does
not appear ’.
immaterial, if chosen instead of the
ordinary im-, confines the meaning
to 4 not consisting of matter ’, &
excludes the other common meaning
of immaterial, viz ‘ that does not
matter ’, ‘ not important or essen¬
tial *; see un- 2.
unmentionables. Worn-out hu¬
mour.
unmoral. For this & im-, see un- 2.
unnavigable. Better so ; in- & un-.
unparalleled. Not -lied ; see
parallel for the irregularity,
unperturbedly. As unabashedly.
unpractical. Better so ; in- & un-.
unrecognizable. Better so ; in- &
UN-.
unreligious, chosen instead of the
usual ir-, excludes the latter’s im¬
plications of sin &c., & means out¬
side the sphere of religion; see un- 2.
unreservedly. As unabashedly.
unresponsive. Betterso; in-&un-.
unrestrainedly. As unabashedly.
unretentive. Ir- is better; in-& un-.
unsanitary, in-. In- is the estab¬
lished form ; but it would not be
used, as^ un - might, of a place &c.
that neither had nor needed pro¬
visions for sanitation : a primitive db
unsanitary but entirely healthy life or
SeeuN insanitary implies danger.
unsolvable differs from insoluble in
having its reference limited to the
sense of the English verb solve, & not
covering, as insoluble does, various
senses (dissolve as well as solve) of
the Latin verb solvere ; it is there¬
fore sometimes useful in avoiding
ambiguity ; see un- 2. d
unstable. Better than in-, in spite
of instability ; see un- 2.
unstringed)(unstrung. See string-
unthinkable is now a sort of ex¬
pletive. When we say damn, it
relieves us because it is a strong
word & yet means nothing ; we do
not intend the person or thing or
event that we damn to be burnt in
hell fire; far from it; but the faint
aroma of brimstone that hangs
for ever about the word is savoury
in wrathful nostrils. So it is
with unthinkable, ‘ that cannot be
thought ’. That a thing at once
exists & does not exist, or 4 the
things which God hath prepared for
them that love him ’, are unthink¬
able, i.e., the constitution of the
human mind bars us from conceiving
or apprehending them ; but we do
not mean all that with our Vogue-
word unthinkable at present ; any¬
thing is now unthinkable from what
reason declares impossible or what
imagination is helpless to conceive
down to what seems against the
odds (as that Oxford should win the
boat-race), or what is slightly dis¬
tasteful to the speaker (as that the
Labour Party should ever form a
Government). The word is so
attractive because the uncompro¬
mising intensity of its proper sense
in metaphysics & philosophy lingers
around it, like the brimstone of
damn, even when it is transferred to
ordinary regions ; & this recom¬
mends it to all who like to combine
the most forcible sound with the
haziest meaning. The haziness is
easily accounted for; the un- &
•able meaning 4 that cannot be
:d ’ are regarded as affixed to
(1) think in the philosophic sense
UNTHINKABLE
682
UNTHINKABLE
* frame a conception of ’, (2) think
in the everyday sense ‘ believe ’ or
‘ be of opinion (3) think of, in the
sense ‘ consider advisable ’ or ‘ con¬
template doing (4) think likely.
To attach to so protean a verb-
notion the affixes that make it mean
‘ that cannot be which-you-please-
of-four-different-things-ed ’ does re¬
sult & could not but result in
haziness. Here is a quotation from
yesterday’s paper ( Westm. Gaz.,
31/1/24) that comes pat to show it :
What Conservatives are trying to de¬
cide is whether they are Protectionists
or not; ... to abandon Protection is
unthinkable, because the majority of
Conservatives have Protection in their
bones. To abandon Protection can¬
not be thought ? if that has a
meaning, it is that the mind cannot
form an idea of it, which is obviously
untrue. Then, cannot be thought of ?
that means that Conservatives can¬
not consider its advisability, which
it is plain from the sentence before
that some of them are doing. Then,
cannot be thought likely ? to that
we seem to be brought, & it amounts
merely to saying that abandonment
is unlikely (which may be true) &
adding: that no-one can think other-
o
wise (which is false).
It is probable that even now no
really clear thinker ever uses the
word out of its severely limited
philosophic sense, or applies it to
anything but what the mind is
incapable of conceiving ; & at any
rate that is the only sense in which
it is likely to live long ; its present
vogue will last only till the necessity
of confining it to one clear meaning
has forced itself on the general
consciousness. A few quotations,
beginning with the philosophic use,
but chiefly of the bad trivial kinds,
are added, not because anyone can¬
not find such things for himself, but
because their massed variety may
have a chance of disgusting those
who do not reckon shiftiness a virtue
in the words they use :—‘ Ultimate ’
scientific ideas may be unthinkable
without prejudice to the ‘ thinkable¬
ness ’ of ‘ proximate ’ scientific ideas /
Yet we do not know how plastic tiL
Wl/ltl// 40 • Ira's* sIa I.
mind is ; we do not know what
thoughts are thinkable by man., jit the
reformers of our time, generously
impatient as they are, could count
upon the wisdom, the devotion, & the
caution of this ‘ older school, as near
an ideal combination as is thinkable
would be effected. A cross between
the philosophic sense, which the
writer is aiming at, & the popular;
for an ideal combination of generous
impatience & caution is itself not
unthinkable, however unlikely./if is
unthinkable that we should continue
a policy under which a given locality
may be allowed to commit a crime
against a friendly nation. In this &
the next, each with a that- clause as
the unthinkable thing, the defence
is possible that think has its ordinary
meaning, the one numbered 2 above,
& that unthinkable cannot be de¬
prived of its right to embody this;
the answer is that the defence is, for
the particular construction, sound,
but that abstention would never¬
theless be better. / The Arbitration
Treaty is going through ; about that
1 have no manner of doubt; that it
may be altered in some details is
possible; that it will be rejected
altogether is unthinkable. See the
preceding ; & read incredible./A
tariff, having regard to its effects upon
the textile industries of the country, is
unthinkable. Impracticable 7/With
all respect to the advocates of a third
reading amendment, such a course
appears to us to be simply unthink¬
able. A course that has advocates
unthinkable ! /A popular vote , en¬
tailing no adverse consequences to a
Government on its chief constructive
policies, is unthinkable under our
system. Yet the referendum has
been thought of; read inconsistent
with./He said that he would welcome
any improvement in our relations
with Germany, & described a war
with Germany as unthinkable. Out
of the question ?/It is unthinkable
that hundreds upon hundreds of P eo P”'
should be getting their freedom on tM
UNTIL
683
URINAL
ground of adultery, whilst thousands
of innocent sufferers under desertion,
drink, cruelty, & insanity, are left
outside any relief. He is plainly
stating what he takes to be the
existing position ; how can that be
unthinkable ? read flagrant injus¬
tice./He said we were apt to forget the
lessons of the war; some people he
met said ‘ 1 want to forget ’ ; that
was, to his mind, a wrong dt un¬
thinkable attitude to adopt. Un¬
thinking ?
until. 1. Until)(iill. 2. U. or till)
(before or when. 3. Unless <fc u.
1. Until has very little of the
archaic effect as compared with till
that distinguishes unto from to, &
substitution of it for till would
seldom be noticeable, except in any
such stereotyped phrase as true till
death. Nevertheless, till is now the
usual form, & until gives a certain
leisurely or deliberate or pompous
air; when the clause or phrase
precedes the main sentence, until is
perhaps actually the commoner
(until his accession he had been
unpopular).
2. Neither until nor till is idiomatic
in sentences of a certain type, which
require when or before : In one of the
city parks he was seated at one end
of a bench, & had not been there long
until a sparrow alighted at the other
end. The reason is that till & until,
strictly defined, mean (if there is no
negative) ‘ throughout the interval
between the starting-point (i.e.,
here, his sitting down) & the goal
(here, the sparrow’s arrival) ’ ; or
(if there is a negative) ‘ at any point
in that interval ’ ; & to say that it
was not long at any point in that
interval is meaningless. The OED
calls the misuse dial. & U.S.
3. For unless & until, see unless.
The writer of the following has
evidently a praiseworthy antipathy
to «. & which would have given,
however verbosely, his meaning;
but in struggling to escape he has
made nonsense, which is worse than
verbosity* He will still be able to
supply his front & to be in touch with
Jerusalem by two avenues of supply,
the road & the railway, until, or if,
the critical point of Nablous is lost
to him.
untoward. Pronounce unto'ard.
unvoiced. See Technical terms.
unwieldy. So spelt, not -Idly.
Up. 1. The phrase up to date is
three words unhyphened, except
when it is used as an attributive
adjective ; then, it is hyphened :
^4n up-to-date bungalow ; but You
are not up to date. Bring the ledger
up to date. See Hyphens, group
♦From hand to mouth.
2. Up against (faced or confronted
with), & up to (incumbent upon),
are good examples of the rapidity
with which in modern English new
slang phrases make their way
through the newspapers into literary
respectability.
upon. 1. For (up)on all fours, see
FOUR.
2. Upon)(on. For a list of other
such pairs, see till. The difference
is much the same as between until
& till ; but euphony plays a con¬
siderable part in the choice, upon
being usually rejected when its
position would cause it to be pro¬
nounced as two unaccented syl¬
lables instead of with a clear -6- :
compare upon my word with on no
account, & that depends on who it
was with depend upon it ; at the end
of a sentence, consequently, upon
is often preferred : There is very little
to go upon.
upper. For u. case , see lower 1 .
uppermost. See -most.
upright, accent. Stand upri'ght ;
u'pright people ; one of the u'p-
rights gave way.
upstair(s). Come upstair's; an
u'pstair room.
urinal. The natural pronunciation
(see Recessive accent) is ur'inal;
uri'nal accords better with the
imaginary sanctity of Latin quan¬
tities ; but how little that comes
to is shown in False quantity.
US
684
USB
US. 1. Case mistakes. 2. His, our,
&c., after of us.
1. Case. The roman-type uses &
we in the following examples are
ungrammatical :— 2'hey are as com¬
petent as us as regards manufacture,
& so why not serve them the same as
they serve us?/The Germans are
involved like ourselves in a blind
struggle of forces, & no more than us
to be blamed or praised./Age & ex¬
perience bestow the skill to recognize
in a book only what we require ; that
we not only read db mark, but inwardly
digest ; it becomes ns./Let us be con¬
tent —we Liberals, at any rate—to go
on in the possession of our old prin¬
ciples. In the first two, after as &
than, there can be no objection to
letting grammar have its rights,
with the correct we. In the third,
if becomes we is thought pedantic,
becomes ourself or ourselves is an easy
way out ; & in the last, if it is
obtrusively formal to keep the
required case in mind for the dura¬
tion of a dash & repeat it on the
other side, Let us Liberals at any
rate be content would not have been
unbearably ordinary.
2. Our, or his &c., after of us.
Types, it must be admitted, under
which each of us can classify a good,
many of his acquaintances. That is
the logical arrangement, which, as
the quotation shows, is free from
any taint of over-precision ; but
much more commonly our acquain¬
tances is substituted owing to the
attraction of us.
-US. The plurals of nouns in -us
are troublesome. 1. Most are from
Latin second-declension words,
whose Latin plural is -i (pronounced
i) ; but when that should be used,
& when the English plural -uses is
better, has to be decided for each
separately ; see Latin plurals,
-i, & the individual words. 2. Many
are from Latin fourth-declension
words, whose Latin plural is -us
(pronounced us) ; but the English
plural -uses is almost always pre¬
ferred, as prospectuses ; hiatus (-us)
is occasionally seen as a plural;
words of this class, which must never
have plural in -i, are afflatus, ap¬
paratus, conspectus, hiatus, impetus,
lusus, meatus, nexus, plexus, pro¬
spectus, saltus, senatus, status. 8.
Some are from Latin third-declen¬
sion neuters, whose plurals are of
various forms in -a ; so corpus,
genus, opus, make corpora, genera,
opera, which are almost always pre¬
ferred in English to -uses. 4. Callus ,
octopus, polypus, & virus, nouns
variously abnormal in Latin, can all
have plural -uses ; for any alterna¬
tives see the words. 5. Some Eng¬
lish nouns in -us are in Latin not
nouns, but verbs &c. ; so ignoramus,
mandamus, mittimus, non possumus,
omnibus ; for these the only possible
plural is the English -uses.
use, n. The forms What is the use
of complaining ?, & There is no use
in complaining, are current & un¬
criticized. The forms It is no use
complaining (or to complain ), &
Complaining (or To complain) is no
use, are still more current, but much
criticized, & the critics would have
us correct them by inserting of
(is of no use). General adoption of
their of is at this time of dav past
praying for ; we should all take
refuge instead in useless, which
would do well enough if we could
remember to say it. Still, on the
assumption that use in these idioms
means utility or usefulness, they are
justified in their objection, if not m
their remedy ; & they will probably
refuse to be pacified by the admit¬
tedly imperfect analogy of It is no
good , It is no harm. Perhaps the
OED, which when this was written
had not reached use, may find us a
better defence ; at any rate most of u*
would like to be allowed our It is
no use , if it is but on the footing of
a Sturdy indefensible ; we should
welcome the rites of the church, but,
if they are withheld, we mean, ukc
Touchstone, to live in bawdry, in
so full-dress a sentence as the follow¬
ing, however, the writer might have
685
VALVE
been wise to defer to strict eti*
quette : If the Government yields to
these counsels, it will simply take us
back into the worst period of Anglo-
Irish contention, <& its voluntary
recruiting campaign will be no more
use than its threat of conscription.
use, v., makes - sable ; see Mute e.
Pronounce uz ; but used, which is
uzd in general senses, is ust in the
senses was accustomed, & (as adj.)
accustomed.
useful. See -er & -est, 4.
user. The words meaning (1) per¬
son who uses, & (2) right or act of
using, as a legal term, are not one,
but two of distinct formation.
usual. Of the pronunciations,
u'zhl is slipshod, u'zual pedantic, &
u'zhooal the inoffensive ; see u.
usufruct. Pronounce u/zu-.
uterus. PI. -rl.
utilitarian. See hedonist.
Utilize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
uti possidetis. Pronounce u't!
pSslde'tls.
utmost, uttermost. See -most.
uvula. Pronounce u'vu-. PI. -lac.
V
vacant. For vacantest, see -er &
-est, 4.
vacate makes -table ; see -atable.
vaccinate makes -noble, see -able 1;
& -tor, see -or.
vacillate. So spelt, not -cc- ; pron.
v&'sl-. V. makes -tor, see -or.
vacuity, -uousness. The first is the
usual word ; the second may
reasonably be chosen when a noun
is wanted for vacuous as applied to
the face, eyes, expression, &c. ; see
-TY & -NESS.
vacuum. PI. -ua or -ms ; see -um.
V. brake & v. cleaner need no hy¬
phens ; see Hyphens 3 B.
vade-mecum. Four syllables,
vagary. Pronounce vagar'I; the
OED gives this pronunciation only,
® among its verse quotations re¬
quiring it are lines from Milton, Gay,
«the Ingoldsby Legends.
vagina. Always pronounced va-
jl'na; but the adjective either
vajl'nal or v&'jinal ; see False
QUANTITY.
vainglory. Best written as one
word without hyphen.
vainness. So spelt ; sometimes
preferred to vanity when the notion
of conceit is to be excluded.
valance, drapery. The OED gives
this, not -ence or -U-, the preference.
Valenciennes. The pronunciation
v&lense'nz is recommended ; but
OED gives only the French, for
which see French words.
valet. Pronounce both noun &
verb v&'lit ; the verb makes - eled,
-eting, see -T-, -tt-.
valiant. See Formal words.
valid makes -est ; see -er & -est, 4.
validate makes -dable ; see -able 1.
valise. Except in military use as
the official term for a soldier’s knap¬
sack, the word is now archaic in
England, but survives in America ;
cf. BAGGAGE.
Valkyrie. This is the prevailing
spelling in modern English ; pi. -s,
or (after the Old Norse) Valkyriur.
The pronunciation shown in verse,
& suggested by the formerly com¬
mon spelling Valkery, is v&'lkirl ;
but v&lkl'ri is often heard.
valley. PI. -eys.
valour, valorous. For spelling see
-OUR & -OR, & -OUR- & -OR-.
value, n. What value will our Second
Chamber be to us if it is not to exercise
such control ? An interesting speci¬
men of Analogy. What good will it
be ? is unexceptionable ; What use
will it be ? is not, but a plea has
been put in for it in use, n. ; What
value will it be ? is ruled out, because
no instinct tells us, as about Of
what use, that Of what value is a
piece of pedantry. Is no good is both
grammatical & idiomatic ; is no use
is idiomatic but not grammatical ;
& is no value is neither.
valve. For the preference of val¬
vular as the adjective over valval &
valvar . see -ular.
VANDALISH
686
VARIOUS
vandalish, vandalism. Not -ll- ;
see -ll-, -L-, 2.
Van Dyck, Vandyke, Vandyke. The
painter’s name, originally Van Dyck,
was anglicized into (Sir Anthony)
Vandyke ; the derived noun & verb
should be, & usually is, Vandyke ;
the painter or a picture of his may
properly be called by either the
first or preferably the second form,
each written as above.
vanity. The Catechism phrase is
The pomps <& vanity of this wicked
world (not vanities) ; see Mis¬
quotation.
vapid makes -est ; see -er & -est, 4.
Of its nouns, vapidness is usually
better than vapidity (in strong con¬
trast with the nouns of rapid), ex¬
cept when the sense is a vapid
remark ; then -ity prevails, & still
more the plural -ities ; -ty & -ness.
vapour & its belongings. For the
word itself see -our & -or. Allied
words are best spelt : vapourer,
vapourish, vapourless, vapoury ; but
vaporific, vaporize (-zation, -zer),
vaporous (-osity) ; for the principle
see -our- & -or-.
vapulation. Pedantic humour.
variability, -bleness. Both are in
constant use, without any clear
difference of sense or application.
This is unusual (see -ty & -ness) ;
but, while -ity would be expected to
prevail, -ness probably persists ow¬
ing to the familiar 4 with whom is
no variableness, neither shadow of
turning ’ (James i. 17).
varia lectio. PI. variae lectiones.
variant, n., as compared with
variation & variety, is the least
ambiguous name for a thing that
varies or differs from others of its
kind ; for it is concrete only, while
the others are much more often
abstract ; variation is seldom con¬
crete except in the musical sense,
& variety seldom except as. the
classifying name for a plant, animal,
mineral, &c., that diverges from the
characteristics of its species. It is
worth while to help on the differen¬
tiation by preferring variant in all
suitable contexts.
VARIATION. The friendship be¬
tween France & ourselves is rooted
deep in mutual sacrifice, mutual
suffering , & a common victory . There
is no change of meaning in passing
from mutual to common ; the latter
should have been used three times.
The superstition that leads to foolish
variations of this sort is disc uss ed
fully in Elegant variation.
varicose. Pronounce v&'rikos.
variegated. Five syllables (-riig-).
variorum, when used as a noun, has
pi. -ms ; see -um.
various as a pronoun. Analogy
has lately been playing tricks with
the word & persuading many people
that they can turn it at will, as
several, few, many, divers, certain,
some, & other words are turned,
from an adjective into a pronoun.
In the OED article, published in
1916, there is no hint of such a use,
which was apparently thought too
illiterate to be even worth con¬
demnation ; but the following quo¬
tations will show that it cannot
safely be passed by without a warn¬
ing. To write various of them &c.
is no better than to write different of
them, diverse of them, or numerous or
innumerable of them. Mr William
Watson is only the latest of many
poets—various of them Poets Laureate
— who have . . ./A like series of con¬
flagrations in various of our towns &
villages./That is not so easy as at one
time appeared, because various of the
subsidies which were to disappear
may come again into the national
accounts./The fearsome noise these
instruments emit when set in motion
in various of the rooms within the
precincts of the House./Various of
those who had been prominent m her
at the outset suggested .. ./In various
of the territories under the control oj
the Colonial Powers the minimum has
been exceeded./The Queen has caused
large hampers of the choicest blooms
to be forwarded to various of the
hospitals. For subsidies, rooms,
VARLET
687
territories, & hospitals, mere omis¬
sion of of the y without the trouble of
finding substitutes for v. &c., suffices.
varlet. Now, outside the historical
novel, a Pedantic-humour word.
varmint, besides its reputed use as
a rustic variant of vermin in the
sense of rascal &c., is an established
Sobriquet for the fox that is being
hunted.
varsity is perilous stuff for those
who are not familiar with univer¬
sities to deal in ; it plays them just
the tricks that any English slang
plays the foreigner ; thinking that
to say the word shows intimacy
with the undergraduate’s (or the
Englishman’s) characteristic lan¬
guage, they naturally put it into
places where it would never occur
to him, & reveal themselves not as
natives, but as foreigners. Natur¬
ally also, they sometimes use it in
the right places ; but it is perilous,
for all that ; such trifles as Varsity
Extension Lectures, Varsity College,
or at Cambridge Varsity (as a cor¬
rection, perhaps, of at Cambridge
College), will sooner or later tempt
& betray.
vary. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
vasculum. PI. -la ; see -um.
vase. So spelt (not vause), & pron.
vahz (not vawz).
vaseful. PI. -Is ; see -ful.
vastly. In contexts of measure or
comparison, where it means by
much, by a great deal, as is vastly
improved, a vastly larger audience,
v. is still in regular use. Where the
notion of measure is wanting, & it
means no more than much or to a
great degree, as in I should vastly
like to know, is vastly popular , it is an
affectation; see Wardour Street.
vaticinate makes - tor ; see -or.
The verb, formerly equivalent to
prophesy , now usually connotes
contempt, & means rather to play
the prophet, to be a Cassandra :
vaticination is similarly limited.
vaudeville. See French words.
-VE(D), -VES
vedette, not vi-.
-ve(d), -ves, &c., from words in -f
& -fe. Corresponding to the change
of sound discussed in -th & -dh that
takes place in the plural &c. of words
ending in -th, like truth, there is one
both of sound & of spelling in many
words ending in -f or -fe, which
become -ves, -ved, -vish, &c. As
the change is far from regular, &
sometimes in doubt, an alphabetical
list of the chief words concerned
follows ; with each are given those
parts in which / is changed to u ;
if the verb is stated to be -ve, it is
to be understood that all parts of
the verb (including the agent noun
in -er) have v & not f; the state¬
ments (or omissions, implying reten¬
tion of/) cover (a) the noun’s plural,
(b) the corresponding verb, (c) the
adjective in -ed, & (d) miscellaneous
derivatives. Where no v form is
given, the change to v does not take
place, but forms in / are not men¬
tioned except in the (d) or miscel¬
laneous place, unless there is an
alternative form in v. When alterna¬
tives are given, the first, if either,
is better.
beef. PI. beeves oxen, beefs kinds of
beef; (d) beefy.
belief. Vb believe.
calf. PI. calves ; vb calve ; -ed
plump-calved (legs) &c. ; (d) catf¬
ish, calves-foot or calfs-foot.
elf. PI. elves ; (d) elvish, elfish.
grief. Vb grieve ; (d) grievous.
half. PI. halves ; vb halve.
hoof. PI. hoofs, hooves ; vb hoof ; -ed
hoofed, hooved ; (d) hoofy.
knife. PI. knives ; vb knife, knive ;
-ed knived.
leaf. PI. leaves ; vb leaf, leave ; -ed
leaved, leafed; (d) leafy, leavy.
life. PI. lives ; vb live ; -ed -lived ;
(d) liven, lifer.
loaf. PI. loaves ; vb loaf, loave ; -ed
loafed, loaved ; (d) loafy.
mischief, (d) mischievous.
oaf. PI. oafs, oaves ; (d) oafish.
proof. Vb prove.
relief. Vb relieve ; (d) rilievo, relievo.
roof. No v forms,
safe. Vb save.
VEHEMENT
688
VERANDA(H)
-ed
scarf. PI. scarfs , scarves ;
scarfed, scarved.
scurf. (d) scurfy having scurf,
scurvy contemptible &c.
self. PI. selves ; (d) selfish, selvedge.
sheaf. PI. sheaves ; vb sheave, sheaf ;
-ed sheaved ; (d) sheaf age, sheafy.
shelf. PI. shelves ; vb shelve ; -ed
shelved ; (d) shelfy, shelvy.
staff. PI. staffs, (arch. & mus.) staves.
strife. Vb strive.
thief. PI. thieves ; vb thieve ; (d)
thievery, thievish.
turf. PI. turfs, turves ; vb turf ; (d)
turfen (adj.), turfite, turfy.
wharf. PI. wharfs, (U.S.) wharves ;
(d) wharfage, wharfinger.
wife. PI. wives ; vb wive ; -ed
-wifed, -wived ; (d) - wifery.
vehement, vehicle.
ve'hi-, in
Pronounce
both ; but
ve'i-, not
vihi'kfilar.
veiledly. Three syllables, if used ;
see -
veilleuse.
velamen.
See French words.
velamentum. Plurals
- amina, -amenta.
velar. See Technical terms.
velarium. PI. -aria.
veld(t). The modern form is veld,
but the -dt still prevails in English
use, & has the advantage of not dis¬
guising the sound, which is vSlt.
velleity)(volition. The first is chiefly
used either in direct opposition to
the second, or (when volition has its
widest sense) as expressing a par¬
ticular form of it that is sometimes
described as ‘ mere volition ’. Voli-
tion meaning in the wide sense will¬
power or the exercise of it, & in
a narrower but more usual sense
such an exercise of it as shall if not
baffled take effect, a choice or resolu¬
tion or determination, velleity is i an
abstract & passive preference. The
man in Browning— And I think 1
rather ... woe is me !
Yes, rather
IdUlCi • • • - fo
should see him than not see, it
lifting a hand would seat him there
Before me in the empty chair to¬
night ’—is expressing a velleity, but
not in the ordinary sense a volition.
And the OED quotes from Bentham:
‘ In your Lordship will is volition,
clothed & armed with power—in me,
it is bare inert velleity ’
adj.
vellum. PI. -ms, see -um ;
vellumy, see -M-, -mm-.
velum. PI. -la.
velvet makes velvety ; see -T-, -tt-.
vend makes vendible ; see -able 2.
Vendor & vender are both in frequent
use, with a tendency to Differen¬
tiation ; -or is better when the
contrast or relation between seller &
buyer is prominent, & -er when pur¬
veyor or dealer is all that is meant.
venerate makes -tor ; see -or.
venery. The existence of homo¬
nyms, one synonymous with hunt¬
ing, the other with sexual indul¬
gence, makes it necessary to provide
against ambiguity in using either—
the more that neither of them is now
an everyday expression.
vengeance. See avenge.
venison. Pronounce vS'nzn.
ventilate makes -table, -tor ; see
-ABLE 1, -OR.
ventre & terre. See French words.
venturesome, venturous. See ad¬
venturous.
venue. Pronounce ve'nu. A term
formerly common in fencing (obs.
OED), still used in law as the place
appointed for a jury trial (esp. lay,
& change, the v.), & lately become
something of a Vogue-word for
what used to be called a rendezvous
or meeting-place, e. g. for races &c.
The following quotation, in which it
means merely place ^wdhout the
going the loss of character to wh.eh
vogue-words are liable : One of our
most distinguished actresses awarei
Ze of these coastal landmarks [a
lighthouse] a good many
provided a much appreciated venue
for her dramatic work.
Venus. PI. Venuses, see -s-, - ss '-
For Venus' & Venus's, see s.
veranda(h). OED gives the -aa
form first, & there is no reason
the -h ; the adjective is best written
veranda'd, see -ed & d*
689
VERITABLE
VERBAL
verbal. Misuse of the word in the
sense proper to oral, as in the
quotation, is very common, & is to
be deprecated : The Attorney General
said it was really a point of no sub¬
stance; the object of the provision
was to apply it to all contracts,
whether in writing or verbal. Verbal
meaning of or in words, oral meaning
of or with the mouth, & words being
as much used in writing as in
speaking, it is obviously foolish to
say * in words ’ ( verbal) when the
sense wanted is 4 in spoken words ’
(oral) ; &, though ambiguity may
not result in a particular case, &
Mr Attorney may be acquitted of it,
each use of the wrong word makes
ambiguity more likely in the ordin¬
ary layman’s talk.
VERBS IN -IE, -Y, & -YE, some¬
times give trouble in the spelling of
inflexions & derivatives. The fol¬
lowing rules apply to the normally
formed parts only, & are merely
concerned with the question whether
-y-, -ie-, or -ye-, is to be used in the
part wanted ; they do not imply
that a part of entirely different
formation such as flew, lay, applic¬
able, liar, may not exclude flied,
lied, appliable, or Her, but merely
that e. g. paid & not payed, deniable
& not deny able, are right.
1. -ay: plays, played, playing,
player, playable, is the form for all
except lay, pay, & say, & their
compounds (inlay, repay, gainsay,
&c.), which use - aid instead of -ayed.
Allay, assay, belay, delay, & essay, do
not follow lay & say, but use -ayed.
2. -ey : conveys, conveyed, conveying,
conveyer, conveyable. All follow this
type* except that purvey, survey,
have purveyor, surveyor.
3. -ie : ties, tied, tying, tier, tiable ;
ail except hie follow the type, but -er
& -able are hardly in use.
4. -oy ; destroys, destroyed, destroy¬
ing, ' destroyer, destroy able ; no ex¬
ceptions.
o. -uy s buys, guyed, buying , buyer,
ouyable.
®* -y after consonant : tries, tried.
trying, trier, triable ; denies, denied,
denying, denier, deniable ; copies,
copied, copying, copier, copiable.
Neither number of syllables, place
of accent, nor diffe'irence between y
& y, affects the spelling.
7. -ye : dyes, dyed, dyeing, dyer,
dyable ; dyeing is so spelt merely to
avoid confusion with dying from die
(cf. singeing) ; abye accordingly
would make abying, & so eying (5
quotations in OED) rather than
eyeing (2 in OED).
verbum sap. (soil, sapienti sat est).
a word is enough to the wise. Also
verb, sap., verbum sat, sat verbum, or
at full length. Ostensibly an apology
for not explaining at greater length,
or a hint that the less said the better,
but more often in fact a way of
soliciting attention to what has been
said as weightier than it seems.
verdigris. The orthodox pronun¬
ciation is -is, the popular -es ; -gris
is derived not from grease, though
the notion that it is probably ac¬
counts for the prevalent -es, but
from Greece (green of Greece) ; but
as the true origin no more requires
-Is than the false, there seems no
reason why the -es of the majority
should not be accepted by the
minority.
veridical. Apart from a modern
technical use in psychology, mostly
a Pedantic-humour word,
verify. For inflexions, see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
verily. Apart from its occasional
appearances as a stylistic ornament,
& its legitimate use in the dialogue
of historical novels, u. is now perhaps
confined to one single phrase—/
verily believe, which has the special
meaning. It is almost incredible, yet
facts surprise me into the belief.
veritable, in its modern use, is pro¬
bably to be classed as a journalistic
Gallicism, & its function is, when
one contemplates an exaggeration,
to say compendiously, but seldom
truthfully, 4 1 assure you I am not
exaggerating ’: a veritable hail oj
VERMEIL
690
VERY
slates &c. It is a pity that the early
19th c. could not leave well alone ;
for the OED records that by about
1650 the word was dead, but the
early 19th c. revived it. Would it
had not! its appearance in a descrip¬
tion has always the effect of taking
down the reader’s interest a peg or
two, both as being a Formal word,
& as the now familiar herald of
a strained top note. The adverb,
which could equally well be spared,
does the same service, or disservice,
to adjectives as the adjective to
nouns ( veritably portentous &c.) ; it
is also used with verbs as a supposed
improvement on the various natural
adverbs, as in : If this is to he the
last word, we shall find ourselves
thrown back into a hopeless impasse,
db there will veritably be no way of
reforming our Parliamentary institu¬
tions (actually ? really ? positively ?
absolutely ? in very truth ?).
vermeil. Pronounce ver'mfl ; the
verb makes vermeiled, see -ll-, -l-.
vermilion makes -oned ; -N-, -nn*.
vermin. The plural form -ns is now
hardly used ; the word is a collective
(see collectives F in Technical
terms) meaning either all the crea¬
tures entitled to the name, or any
particular species or set of them, or
some of them ; it is treated usually
as a plural ( these v. ; the v. are an
incessant torment ; v. infest every¬
thing), but sometimes as singular
( this v. — these rascals &c.), & occa¬
sionally has a both in the collective
sense (a v. that I hope to reduce the
numbers of) & as denoting an
individual ( such a v. as you).
vermouth. So spelt ; pronounce
var'moot.
vernacular. For v., idiom, slang,
&c., see Jargon. For the use of the
word in apologies, see Superiority.
verruca. PI. -cae (-se).
versatile. Adverb versatilely.
vers libre. For the nature of it,
see vers libre in Technical terms.
The French phrase is still in general
use ; but there seems to be no good
reason why 4 free verse ’ should not
be preferred. For the writers we
have to choose between ‘ free-verse-
writer * (since the handier 4 foee-
verser * would probably be thought
unduly familiar by the designated!
& 4 verslibrist * (as queer a fish for
English waters as bellettrist) or its
jocose anglicization here quoted:
Scholarly elaboration is, we are
aware, out of fashion with the modem
verse-librettists. A 4 verse-librettist ’
can only be one who writes librettos
in verse ; as to the other forms, if
the free-versers will let us call them
so, we shall take it kindly of them,
& if not, had better fall back on
4 free-verse-writers ’.
versify. For inflexions, see Verbs
in -ie &c., 6.
verso. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3, 6.
vert. A Curtailed word.
vertebra. PI. -brae.
vertex. For plural, see -ex, -ix, 4.
vertigo. PI. -os, see -o(e)s 3. The
correct pronunciation in accordance
with the Latin quantity is verti'go,
but the OED gives ver'tlg5 prece¬
dence, & see False quantity. It
is worth remark, however, that all
the OED verse quotations (Jonson,
Swift, Fletcher, Wither) show ver¬
ti'go (or -e'go).
vertu. See virtu.
verve. See French words.
very with passive participles,
legitimacy of this, or at least the
line limiting its idiomatic use, is an
old & not very easy puzzle. It will at
once be admitted that I was much
tired is improved by the substitution
of very for much, whereas, in 1 was
very inconvenienced, much has un¬
doubtedly to be substituted for ve W"
And it may be said generally that
the critics of very have a way of
going too far & damning the lau -
able ; they fail to recognize that
very & much are complementary,
each being suited to places in which
the other is unnatural or wrong.
Here is part of a newspaper letter:
Sir,—When the Westminster Gazette
can write & publish ‘ the “ Common
Cause ” is very affronted , it seems
The
VESSEL
692
the derived words vg'sikl (vesical &
vesicle), vS'sikat, &c. ; cf. doctrinal
in False quantity.
vessel. See Formal words.
vest. The older meanings robe,
tunic, or collectively clothes ( =
vesture ), are still in poetic or archaic
use ; as a synonym for a man’s
waistcoat it is chiefly a shop word,
but is more generally applied to the
corresponding partly visible femin¬
ine garment ; & it is now the usual
name (singlet being another) for the
woven piece of underlinen formerly
called jersey.
vesta. Chiefly a shop word, but
occasionally used elsewhere of the
kinds of match carried in the pocket;
formerly wax, now of wood also.
vet. A Curtailed word.
veto. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
vexedly. A bad form ; see -edly.
vexillum. PI. -la.
via, via. In via media, via is the
Latin nominative, & must not have
■ d . In the use as a preposition
meaning 4 by way of ’ or 4 passing
through ’ it is the Latin ablative, the
distinguishing of which by a cir¬
cumflex accent is optional. As both
forms are pronounced vi'a, & there
is never any risk of confusion, it
seems idle to retain the accent, but
accent & italics are still usual.
viable (-bility). A word apt to
puzzle an Englishman. Formed in
French from vie life (see -able 4),
it means capable of living, & its
special application is to newborn
children (e. g. in contrast with still¬
born), but there is some tendency to
widen its use. The two words of the
same form applied to a road, a pass,
&c., & obviously associated with
Latin via way, are of recent origin ;
they mean ‘ that can be passed
through ’, 4 passability & it may
be conjectured that they owe their
existence to a misconception of the
older viable; they are certainly
better avoided.
viaticum. PI. -ms, -ca, see -um ;
but the plural is rare, & e. g. in the
Pedantic-humour uses one 1 !
visions &c. are one’s viaticum.
vibrate makes -tnhu
V.
m
t
waxes -tame, -tor
-ATABLE, -OR.
vibrato. Pronounce
pi. -os, see -o(e)s 6.
vicar. Vicar & rector, as parish
pnests, are distinguished by the
rector’s retaining the tithes, which
are lost to the vicar by having been
appropriated to a monastery or
other religious corporation or im-
propriated to a lay person or cor¬
poration.
vice, prep., prefix, & abbreviated
noun. The preposition is pro-
nounced vi'si, & means in the place
of (esp. in the sense succeeding to),
being, like pace, the ablative of a
Latin noun followed by an English
noun regarded as in thegenitive
Jones
(appoimea secretary vice
deceased).
The prefix is the same word treated
as an adverb compounded with
English nouns such as chancellor,
president, chairman, admiral, but
meaning rather deputy, & pro¬
nounced vis.
The noun is the prefix used without
its second element, but with the aid
of context, as a Curtailed wobd
for some of its compounds, e. g. for
vice-chairman & vice-chancellor, but
not for vice-admiral. Cf. sub,
super, PRO.
vicegerent)(vlceregent. The first is
a word of very wide application,
including anyone who exercises
authority committed or supposed to
be committed to him by another,
from the Pope as the Vicar of
Christ on earth or the regent of a
sovereign State to the clerk running
an office during his employer’s holi¬
day. Viceregent, on the other hand,
is defined in the OED as 4 One who
acts in the place of a regent *; but
from the quotations given it would
appear that that is rather what it
ought to mean than what it does.
A regent is a particular kind of
vicegerent, viz a sovereign’s. Pvt
vicereaent is sometimes used in error
VICE-QUEEN
VIEW
for vicegerent, & sometimes used
pleonastically for regent (which word
includes the notion of vice-), so that
it seems to have no right to exist,
& may be classed among Super¬
fluous words.
vice-queen)(vicereine . The first is
recorded from the 16th c., the second
(in English) from the 19th only.
Vicereine is now the regular word for
viceroy’s wife, & vice-queen , in much
less frequent use, is now reserved for
a woman ruling as a queen’s represen¬
tative—a useful Differentiation.
viceregal)(viceroyal. There being no
distinction of meaning, it would be
better if there were one word only ;
viceregal is the better, & viceroyal may
fairly be called a Superfluous word.
vicinage is now, compared with
neighbourhood, a Formal word, &,
compared with vicinity, a dying one.
vicious circle. See under Tech¬
nical terms. There is a vicious
circle in which starvation produces
Bolshevism, & Bolshevism in its turn
feeds on starvation. What, then,
produces starvation, & on what does
starvation feed ? The writer can no
doubt retort with truth that nothing
(i.e. no food) produces starvation, &
that starvation feeds on nothing ;
but he will have proved his wit at
the expense of his logic. Such
blunders in stating the elements of
a vicious circle are not uncommon.
victimize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
victress. Feminine designations.
Victual. The verb makes -ller,
-lling, see -ll-, -l- ; pronounce vl'tl,
vi tier, vi'tllng.
4 ^de. Pronounce vi'di; literally
se ®* (imperative). It is properly
used in referring readers to a passage
in which they will find a proof or
illustration of what has been stated,
& saould be followed by something
*n the nature of chapter & verse,
or at least by the name of a book or
author. But it has, like re, been
token over by the illiterate, & is
used by them in extended
I
senses with an incongruity of which
the following is a comparatively mild
specimen : Numbers count for no¬
thing—vide the Coalition—it is the
principles that tell.
videlicet in its full form is now rare
except in Pedantic humour, the
abbreviation viz being used instead ;
see viz for meaning.
vidimus. PI. -uses ; see -us. Pro¬
nounce vi'di-.
vie. For inflexions, see Verbs in
-ie &c., 3.
view forms part of three well
established idioms each equivalent
to a preposition, & each liable to be
confused in meaning or in form with
the others. These are in v. of, with
a v. to, & with the v. of. In view of
means taking into account, or not
forgetting, or considering, & is
followed by a noun expressing ex¬
ternal circumstances that exist or
must be expected : In u. of these
facts, we have no alternative ; In v.
of his having promised amendment ;
In v. of the Judgement to come. With
a view to means calculating upon or
contemplating as a desired result,
& is followed by a verbal noun or
a gerund or less idiomatically an
infinitive : With a v. to diminution
of waste, or to diminishing waste, or
(less well) to diminish waste. With
the view of has the same meaning as
with a v. to, but is both less usual &
less flexible, being naturally followed
only by a gerund : With the v. of
proving his sanity. It will be ob¬
served that in the first phrase v.
means sight, in the second eye, & in
the third purpose. The forms of
confusion are giving the first the
meaning of the others or vice versa,
& neglecting the correspondences
a & to, the & of, in the second &
third. After each of the following
quotations a correction, or a state¬
ment that it is right, is bracketed :—
There was very little likelihood in the
report of disaster to a Turkish
destroyer in harbour at Preveza, in
view of the fact that no Turkish
destroyer was stationed there (right)./
VIEW-POINT
694
VIOLA
This may be interesting in view of
the fact that the atmosphere has been
reeking with pugilism for some time
(right)./i will ask your readers to
accept a few further criticisms on
matters of detail, in view of ultimately
finding a workable solution (read with
a v. to)./The Sultan will seek to
obtain money in view of beginning for
himself the preliminary reforms (read
with a v. to)./If Germany has any¬
thing to propose in view of the safe¬
guarding of her own interests, it will
certainly meet with courteous con¬
sideration (read with the v. of, or
with a v. to)./My company has been
approached by several firms with
a view of overcoming the difficulty
(read to for of)./Dr Keane was
educated with a view of becoming
a priest (read to for of)./The time
has come when it ought to be tackled
effectively with a view of giving some
relief (read to for of)./They have been
selected with a view to illustrate both
the thought & action of the writer's
life (read illustrating for illustrate)./
The question of reducing the cost of
bread production, with the view both
to preventing the price of the loaf from
rising & of arresting any increase
in the subsidy, is under consideration
(Elegant variation again ? read of
for to).
view-point. See point.
vignette. Pronounce venyfi't.
vigour, -gorous. For spellings, see
-OUR & -OR, -OUR- & -OR-.
viking. Pronounce vi-.
vilayet. Pronounce vilah'yfit.
vilify. For inflexions see Verbs in
-ie &c., 6.
vilipend. A Literary word only,
villain &c. 1. Villain)(villein. 2.
Villain-){villan -. 1. Villain)(villein.
The retention of the second form for
the word meaning serf is a useful
piece of Differentiation, & the
OED accordingly gives it in a
separate article, though it states
that ‘ the tendency to use the form
villain [in this sense] has increased
in recent years This tendency
looks like Pride of knowledge,
the man in the street who is famii; nr
with the two forms having to be
shown that he has been under a
delusion all this time.
2. Villain-)(mllan-. The OED makes
villainous & villainy the standard
forms. Villanous & villany are &
have been common also, & are not
open to the objection that prevents
mountain (perhaps the only ana¬
logous case) from forming motm-
tanous instead of mountainous, i.e.
that moun- precludes (see Hybrid
derivatives) direct formation from
Latin montanus; Latin villanus
could fairly result in villanous &
villany ; but, while the de jure
claims are equal, -ainous & - ainy
seem to have established themselves
de facto in the 19th c.
villanelle* See Technical terms.
villeggiatura. Pronounce vllg'ja-
toor'a.
ville lumi&re. See Sobriquets.
villus. PI. -li.
vinaigrette. See French words.
vinculum. PI. -la.
vindicate makes -cable, -lor; see
-able 1 , -OR.
vindicatress. See Feminine de¬
signations.
vindictive has become so generally
restricted to the notion of personal
thirst for revenge or desire to hurt
that the phrases in which it means
punitive & not revengeful or cruel
are apt to mislead ; these are v.
damages (designed to punish the
offender & not, or not only, to
indemnify the injured party), & v.
(now more often retributive) justice.
vine makes viny ; see -ey & -y.
vingt-et-un. See French words.
vin ordinaire. See French words.
viola. The flower is vi'ola, the
instrument veola.
violate makes -lable, -tor ; see
-able 1 , -OR.
violet makes -etish, -ety; -t-» -tt-.
violin. The victory of this over
fiddle, to which it should have borne
the same relation as, say, gourmet to
epicure , or savant to scientist , o
belles lettres to literature, or porceUtm
VIOLONCELLO
605
VISION
to china, or parasol to sunshade, or
robe de chambre to dressing-gown—
the relation, that is, of refined
journalese to ordinary plain lan¬
guage—, may be deplored, but
hardly now reversed. Already to
talk of fiddles & fiddlers & fiddling,
unless with contempt or condescen¬
sion, is to be suspected of eccen¬
tricity.
violoncello. So spelt (not - lin -);
pi. -os, see -o(e)s 6. For pronuncia¬
tion, veolonchfi'lo is the approxima¬
tion to the Italian ; vlolonsS'lo,
which the OED puts first, is the
complete anglicization ; & violon-
chS'ld is the usual compromise,
which, having in its favour both
violin & ’cello (chfilo), is here recom¬
mended.
virago. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
Virgil & Virgilian gain or lose as
much by being corrected into Ver¬
as Mahomet by the change to
Muhammad.
virgin. V.Queen', see Sobriquets.
Virginia(n). The noun used attri-
butively ( Virginia creeper, tobacco,
&c.) has maintained itself by the
side of the adjective ( Virginian
creeper &c.) from the early 17th c.
till now in spite of a modern ten¬
dency (like that noticed under Un-
idiomatic -ly) to insist on an adjec¬
tival form where one is available.
virile. The pronunciation of both
ts vanes between i & I ; accent on
first syllable ; OED puts first vi'ril.
1 he proper sense is ‘having the
qualities of a male adult ’, but the
emp asis is on male, &, though
wgorous can often be substituted
• without affecting the required
meaning, v. must not be substituted
in m* 0 ™? 8 , where the notion male
a T qo of P la ?e, as in : VIRILE
T y °\ : Despite her great age. Mrs
^rUe, & performs all
wspwrta ^ociates v . with
thinkinf r nf n5 DOt Wr man » & was
uunJang of a green old age.
pro-
virtu. So spelt (not ver-) :
nounce vertoo'.
virtue. To make a p. of necessity is
one of the maltreated phrases illus¬
trated in Irrelevant allusion,
being often applied to the simple
doing of what one must, irrespective
of the grace with which one does it.
virtuoso. PI. -si (-se).
virulent. The OED pronounces
vl ryoolent ; in view of the difficulty
ol this, see u.
virus. Pi. -uses.
visa. See visis.
visage. See countenance.
vis-4-vis. See French words.
The French situation viz-d-viz Mus-
tapha Kemal is uncertain is probably
the result of spelling a foreign word
by v ea 5 ». see Foreign danger ;
viz-a-viz is, however, recorded as an
obsolete form.
viscount. For V. Smith & Lord
Smith, see Titles. Of the two forms
of the rank-name, viscounty & vis-
countcy, the first is both much older
& of better formation.
vis6 (ve'za), in French a p.p.=
examined ’ or ‘ endorsed % is used
in English with regard to passports
(1) as a noun —endorsement, for
which the French noun visa is
sometimes preferred, (2) as a verb =
endorse, with inflexions visis, visid,
visiing, & (3) as a p.p. = endorsed,
sometimes preferred to visid.
visibility)(visibleness. See -ty &
-ness. The second has always been
in more frequent use than most
-ness words with predominant part-
n ? r . s .*? "ty» & the special sense of
visibility that became so familiar in
the war may be expected to throw
more general work on the other.
vision, in the sense of statesmanlike
foresight or political sagacity, is
enjoying a noticeable vogue ; ‘ .
in those days : there was no open
vision * (2 Sam., iii. 1) is perhaps
what makes the word tempting to
politicians who wish to be mys¬
teriously impressive ; at any rate
VISIT
they are much given to imputing
lack of v. to their opponents & im¬
plying possession of it by themselves
when they are at a loss for more
definite matter ; see Vogue-words.
visit, vb, makes -tor ; see -or.
visor &c. Visor & vizor pronounced
viz- ; vizard & visard pronounced
viz-. The -ard forms are not etymo¬
logically significant, being merely
corruptions, but they differ in mean¬
ing by being restricted to the sense
mask (lit. & fig.), whereas the -or
forms have also, & chiefly, the sense
movable helmet-front.
vista’d is preferable to vistaed ; see
-ed & ’d.
visual. For the pronunciation
vl'zual there is a much better case
than for u'zual (see usual), because
it is a word used chiefly by the
educated ; for the principle, see
Pronunciation ; the OED, how¬
ever, puts vl'zhual first.
visualize, vitalize, make -zable ; see
Mute e.
vitellus. PI. -ll.
vitiate makes vitiable, -tor ; see
-able 1, -or.
vitrify. For inflexions, see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
vitriolize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
vitta. PI. -tac.
vituperate makes - ruble , -tor ;
-able 1, -OR.
viva 1 . See viva voce.
viva 2 , vivat, vive, (pronounce ve'-
vah, vi'v&t, vev) are the Italian,
Latin, & French, for ‘ long live
--! ’ ; they can all be used as
nouns also, with plural -s. The
verbs have, like exit, plurals ( vivano,
vivant, vivent) for use with plural
subjects—a fact forgotten in :—
Cries of ‘ Vive les Anglais ’ attended
us till we were inside the hotel./
Triumphal arches were prepared;
‘ Bienvenue d. nos libiratcurs ’—
1 Vive les Allies ’—such were the
words variously devised in illumina¬
tions db in posters.
vivace. Pronounce vevah'cha.
vivandier, -6re. See French words.
vivarium. PI. - ia .
vivat. See viva*.
viva voce. Pronounce vivavo'sl.
Often shortened colloquially into the
Curtailed word viva, which is used
both as noun & especially as v. t.
(past & p.p. viva'd) =examine in
viva voce.
vive. See viva*.
vivid makes -est ; see -er & -est 4.
vividity. A theme worthy of poetry
. . . / here it is handled with occa¬
sional vividity db general inconse¬
quence. F.’s ugliness is no doubt its
misfortune rather than its fault;
but it is as natural to prefer vividness
to it as to choose the one of two
otherwise equal applicants who does
not squint.
vivify. For inflexions, see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
vivisect makes -tor ; see -or.
viz, sc(il)., i. e. Full forms videlicet,
scilicet, id est. The meanings are so
close to one another that a less
instead of the most appropriate is
often chosen. Viz, as is suggested
by its usual spoken representative
namely, introduces especially the
items that compose what has been
expressed as a whole ( For three good
reasons, viz 1 . . ., 2 . . ., 3 . . .) or
a more particular statement of what
has been vaguely described (My
only means of earning, viz my fiddle).
Sc. or scil. is in learned rather than
popular use, is for instance com¬
moner in notes on classical texts
than elsewhere, & has as its most
characteristic function the intro¬
ducing of some word that has been
not expressed, but left to be
‘ understood ’ ; so His performance
failed to satisfy (sc. himself), = not,
as might be guessed, other people.
What i. e. does is not so much to
particularize like viz, or supply
omissions like scil., as to interpret
by paraphrasing a previous expres¬
sion that may mislead or be obscure:
Now you are for it, i. e. punishment;
The answer is in the negative, i.e.
is No ; Than that he should ofjena
(i.e. harm) one of these little ones.
VIZARD
Even the above examples suffice
to show that choice may sometimes
be difficult; it does not follow that
it is not worth making rightly. The
writing of viz rather than viz.
depends partly on the principle
stated in Period in abbreviations,
but partly also on the fact that z
is not the letter, but the old symbol
of contraction for the -et of vide¬
licet ; but viz. is the prevalent form.
vizard. See visor.
vizier, vizierate, are the established
forms, variously pedanticized as
toazir-, vizir-, vezir -, &c. ; see
Mahomet.
vizor. See visor.
vocabulary. See glossary.
vocalize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
VOGUE-WORDS. Every now & then
a word emerges from obscurity, or
even from nothingness or a merely
potential & not actual existence,
into sudden popularity. It is often,
but not necessarily, one that by no
means explains itself to the average
man, who has to find out its meaning
as best he can ; his wrestlings with
it have usually some effect upon it ;
it does not mean quite what it ought
to, but in compensation it means
some things that it ought not to,
before he has done with it. Ready
acceptance of vogue-words seems
to some people the sign of an alert
™nd ; to others it stands for the
herd instinct & lack of individuality ;
the title of this article is perhaps
enough to show that the second
view is here taken ; on the whole,
tne better the writer, or at any rate
the sounder his style, the less will
6 if I° u nd to indulge in the vogue-
word. It is unnecessary here to
8cuss in detail the specimens that
mu be given ; most of them are to
be found m their dictionary places,
they will here be slightly classified
T he reason for collecting
tho* 1 un< ^ er a common heading is
that young writers may not even be
JS"®* about some of them, that
a f e n °t part of the normal
cahulary, but still repulsive to
697
VOTARESS
the old & the well-read. Many, it
should be added, are vogue-words
in particular senses only, & are
unobjectionable, though liable now
to ambiguity, in the senses that
belonged to them before they
attained their vogue.
1. Old vogue-words. Individual &
nice may be instanced ; the first
now past its vogue but lingering in
its vogue sense as a nuisance ; the
second established in a loose &
general sense instead of its earlier &
now infrequent precise one.
2. Words owing their vogue to the
ease with which they can be sub¬
stituted for any of several different
& more precise words, saving the
trouble of choosing the right: annexe
asset ; intensive ; mentality ; optim¬
ism ; unthinkable.
3. Words owing their vogue to the
joy of showing that one has acquired
them : conservative ; feasible ; hectic ;
idiosyncrasy ; meticulous ; percent¬
age ; protagonist; psychological mo¬
ment ; slogan ; venue.
4. Words taken up merely as novel
variants on their predecessors :
forceful for forcible ; frock for dress ;
happening for event; intrigue vb for
interest.
5. Words made or revived to suit a
literary theory : foreword ; english
vb.
6. Words owing their vogue to
some occasion : acid test; gesture =
beau geste.
7. Words of rhetorical appeal :
far-flung ; vision.
volatilize makes -zable; see Mute e.
vol-au-vent. See French words.
volcano. PI. -oes ; see -o(e)s 1.
volition. See velleity.
Volkslied. Pronounce fo'kslet.
volley. PI. -eys. For verb inflex¬
ions, see Verbs in -ie &c., 2.
volte-face. See French words.
voluminous. See lu.
voluntaryism, -ist. See -ist.
volute. See lu.
vomit makes -ited, - iting; -T-, -tt-.
vortex. For plural see -ex, -ix, 4.
votaress. Feminine designations.
VOTE
vote, vb, makes -table ; see Mute e.
vouch. See avouch.
voussoir, vraisemblable, -emblance.
See French words.
698
WAIVE
vulcanize makes -zable; see Mute e. wade makes -dable ; see Mute e.
vulgarity). For the use in apologies wadi,-dy. Pronounce wah'di. The
for slang, see Superiority. form (pi. -dis) is recommended;
but -dy & -dies are also common.
Vulgarization. Many words
depend for their legitimate effect
upon rarity ; when blundering
hands are laid upon them & they are
exhibited in unsuitable places, they
are vulgarized. Save (prep.) & ere
were in the days of our youth seldom
seen in prose, & they then consorted
well with any passage of definitely
elevated style, lending to it & receiv¬
ing from it the dignity that was
proper to them. Things are now so
different that the elevated style
shuns them as tawdry ornament ; it
says what the man in the street says,
before & except, & leaves ere & save
to the journalists who have not yet
ceased to find them beautiful—
which is naturally confusing, & an
injury to the language. The fate
of awful is of rather earlier date,
but is still remembered, & weird
has, almost in our own century,
been robbed of all its weirdness.
One would like to represent to the
makers of fountain pens that the
wafer has -ery, -ered, &c.; -r-,-rr-,
wag(g)on. The OED gives pre¬
cedence to wagon, but concludes its
note on the two forms with : ‘ In
Great Britain waggon is still very
commonly used ; in the U.S. it is
rare’. Counting its post-18th-c.
quotations we find 35 waggon to
11 wagon, & it is clear that waggon
is the British form.
wagon-lit. See French words.
wainscot has -oted, -oting ; -t-, -tt-.
waistcoat. The pronunciation wS's-
kwt is recommended; see Pro¬
nunciation.
wait. The transitive use, as in
w. one’s opportunity, w. the result,
w. another’s convenience or arrival,
is good English, but is described by
the OED as * now rare ’ & as being
‘ superseded ’ by await & wait for ;
the assignment of the intransitive
uses to wait & of the transitive to
await is a natural Differentiation,
& may be expected to continue;
see also await.
word fount, which some of them are
desecrating, is sacrosanct ; but they
would probably be as indignant at
the notion that their touch pollutes
as the writer who should be told that
he was injuring faerie & evanish &
mystic & optimistic & unthinkable &
replica by selecting them in honour¬
able preference to fairy & vanish &
mysterious & hopeful & incredible
& copy. Vulgarization of words that
should not be in common use robs
some of their aroma, others of their
substance, others again of their
precision ; but nobody likes to be
told that the best service he can do
to a favourite word is to leave it
alone, & perhaps the less said here
on this matter the better,
vulgarize makes -zable ; see Mute e.
vulpicide. See Pedantic humour.
waitress.
waive.
Feminine designations.
The broad distinction be¬
tween wave & waive , viz that to
wave is, & to waive is not, proper to
physical motion, is now generally
observed ; but confusion, & especial¬
ly the assumption that the two
forms are mere spelling variants,
still occurs, & is confirmed by the
fact that till recently senses cer¬
tainly belonging to waive were at
least as often as not spelt wave.
The following example shows the
form often taken by this confusion :
The problem of feeding the peoples oj
the Central Empires is a very scnous
db anxious one, & we cannot waive
it aside as though it were no concern
of ours. To waive is not a derivative,
confined to certain senses, ot to
wave, but a derivative of waif,
meaning to make waif or abandon ;
to wave aside or away is one method
of waiving; but to waive aside or
away is no better than to abandon
aside or to relinquish away.
wake. See a)wake(n.
Walach, Walachian, not Wall-, is
the OED preferred spelling.
wale, weal, wheal. For the mark
left on flesh by a cane &c., the right
word appears to be wale ; this was
confused with wheal, properly a
pimple or pustule, & weal was a
wrong correction of the mistake.
Walhalla. Var. of Valhalla—
Walkyrie. See Valkyrie.
Wallach(ian). See Walach.
OED.
Walled-up object, l shut &
locked him in is permissible English ;
I scolded db sent him to bed is not!
In the first, in is common to shut &
locked; him is therefore not walled
up between locked & a word that is
the private property of locked. In
the second, to bed is peculiar to sent,
& therefore him, enclosed between
sent & sent's appurtenance to bed,
is not available as object to scolded ;
it is necessary to say I scolded him
& sent him to bed, though I scolded
punished him requires only one
Am. If it is said that the agitated
cusciphnanan cannot be expected
to decide when her boy is two hims,
hp W A en the Plea may at once
be admitted, it is not in hasty
SR + ^ e ^at such lapses are
wicked, & the examples chosen were
the simplest possible in order that
unmi!ITu, atical point might be
unmistakaWc ; but in print it is
matter. The string of
comm tl0n fu- Allowing shows how
mrn^IL k S sl . ove nliness is, & no
for nenri^ 11 them than that
3L»SP n °un, place it as
K emnS C ° mes first )’ & AH its
•JPjtTJg'i pronoun,
brackets after the Bm. JZl™
699_ WALLED-UP OBJECT
not according to this simple formula
is shown for later ones : —An earnest
agitation for increasing db rendering
that force more efficient (read for
increasing that force db rendering
it . . ,)./It is for its spirited recon¬
structions of various marches db
battles that we counsel the reader to
buy <& make the book his own./The
Czar, who must ‘ truly conserve db
( keep the peasantry living simply db
sweetly on the land'./1 hope the
Ministry will also avail itself of the
same effective machinery if not to
reform, then to make the Church of
England a free Church in a free
country ./He had to count, trim,
press, & pack the furs into bales (read
& press the furs, db pack them ; or,
of course, the omission of into bales
would put all right). /It is not
deterring, but is exasperating women
to ever more dangerous acts of violence./
The efforts which the French are now
making to interest db attract the
Rhinelanders to French civilization./
He urged that Allenby should attack
dc drive the Turks out of Palestine./
They had definitely beaten db knocked
one of their opponents out of the
war./Ruby Ayres knows well how to
spin out & yet keep the story
thoroughly alive./A season in Opposi¬
tion will invigorate db restore them
to health (read invigorate them &
. . .)./There is no means of defence
against submarines, db no means of
fighting, attacking, or driving them
from certain waters (read of fighting
or attacking them, or of . . .)./The
wish to hear a sermon which will
soothe or * buck you up ’, according
to the needs of the moment (read
soothe you or . . .).
The great majority of such mis¬
takes are of that form ; one or two
are added in which the principle
infringed is the same, but some
slight variation of detail occurs :—
We were not a little proud of the
manner in which we transported to
db maintained our Army in South
Africa. This is the old type, com¬
plicated by the well-meant but
disastrous to; read in which we
WALL-EYE
700
WARDOUR STREET
transported, our army to S.A. db
maintained it there.
1 trust you will kindly grant me
a little space to express, in my own
db in the name of those elements in
Russia whom I have the honour to
represent, our indignation at . . .
The walled-up noun here (name) is
governed not by a verb, but by
a preposition ; read in my own name
db in that of the elements. . . .
The fourteen chapters explore the
belief in immortality in primitive &
in the various civilizations of anti¬
quity taken in order. Like the
preceding ; read in primitive civiliza¬
tions & in those of antiquity.
wall-eye should be so written, not
as separate words ; its proper mean¬
ing is the state of being wall-eyed,
i.e. of having both eyes, or one,
abnormally light-coloured, whether
because the iris is very pale, or
because the whites are dispropor¬
tionately large, or because a squint
exposes one white excessively. Wall¬
eye is formed from wall-eyed, not
vice versa.
wall-less. Write so ; see skill-less.
wallop makes -oped, -oping, -oper ;
see -p-, -pp-.
walnut. So spelt ; unconnected
with wall.
waltz, valse. The first is the form
that has established itself as the
ordinary English, the other being
confined to programmes & the like.
wampum. Pronounce wo-.
want. No man can say what is
wanted to be done in regard to the
military affairs of a nation till . . .
For this ugly construction, see
Double passive.
wanton makes - oned, -oning, -onest
(adj.), see -N-, -nn- ; but wantonness.
wapiti. Pronounce wo'piti.
wap(ping). Whop(ping) is now the
established spelling.
war. 1. Wars db rumours of wars
is the correct quotation (Matt.
xxiv. 6) ; see Misquotation. 2.
Secretary of War, Secretary at War,
Secretary for War. The first two are
obsolete titles that belonged to
officials whose duties have been
rearranged ; Secretary for War (or
War Secretary) is the current abbre¬
viation of the present Minister’s
title— The Secretary of State for War .
WAR DO UR STREET. * The name
of a street in London mainly occu¬
pied by dealers in antique & imita¬
tion-antique furniture ’—OED. As
Wardour Street itself offers to those
who live in modern houses the
opportunity of picking up an
antique or two that will be con¬
spicuous for good or ill among their
surroundings, so this article offers
to those who write modern English
a selection of oddments calculated
to establish (in the eyes of some
readers) their claim to be persons
of taste & writers of beautiful
English. And even as it is said of
some dealers in the rare & exquisite
that they have a secret joy when
their treasures find no purchaser &
are left on their hands, so the present
collector, though he has himself no
practical use for his articles of virtu,
yet shows them without commenda¬
tion for fear they should be carried
off & unworthily housed.
albeit* ; anent* ; aught* ; belike;
ere ; erst(while) ; ethic dative
with me & you ; forebears, n.;
haply ; howbeit ; inverted protasis
with had*, should, & were ; maugre ;
more by token ; oft; perchance ;
p.p. in -en, as knitten, litten, proven ;
rede ; sans ; save, prep, or conj.;
shall (6) as in You shall find ; Sub¬
junctive as in If it be; there-
compounds such as therefor, there¬
of, thereto ; thither ; to wit* ;
trow ; varlet ; well-nigh ; where-
compounds such as wherein, whereof ;
whit* ; withal; wot. .
*A book that in the mam is bright,
chatty, db readable , albeit rather too
kindly in its lamsh distribution oj
praise./So much has been written
about the selfishness & stupidity of
women anent the servant clause oj tne
Insurance Bill that . . ./I have never
written aught conflicting with that
WARDRESS
theory of Stale function. /Had the
eighteenth century bishops more vision
there would have been no Wesleyan
schism./Like many other eminent
scientific men—Huxley , to wit— Sir
Ray Lankester has a cultivated taste./
The platform, the golf club, the bridge
table, in no whit less than the factory
& the workshop , must relax their
claims.
The words in small capitals are
further commented upon in their
dictionary places.
wardress. Feminine designations.
-WARD(S). Words ending with
-ward(s) may most of them be used
as adverbs, adjectives, or nouns.
j C " S * s usuall y present in the
adverb, & absent in the adjective ;
the noun, which is rather an absolute
use of the adjective, tends to follow
it m being without -s ; moving
eastwards ; the eastward position ;
looking to the eastward(s). This
usage prevails especially with the
words made of a noun + -«jard(s),
hut is also generally true of the
older words in which the first part
is adverbial, such as downward.
ome words, however, have pecu¬
liarities ; see afterwards, for¬
ward, ONWARD, TOWARDS.
Ware, in the warning cry w. wire !
<*c., is usually pronounced wor.
warehouse. For the verb the pro¬
nunciation -z is recommended ; see
Noun & verb 2.
warp, n. See woof.
b ’ . makes - {or ? see -or.
rhe nvals wash-hand-stand,
washing-stand, & wash-stand, are all
woiddEf^n justifiable, but it
them to . be rid of two of
broiiQ ?! brst I s obviously cum-
Dreferri*i ber f * s no reas on for
short^ lon 8 er second to the
if third ’especially with (Moab
washtuh wash-house, &
stand w’hiV^ mg to welcom « wash-
nana, which is recommended.
n^^see^Wr. r iafce ln one another's
°wl° UT HUMOUR.
WaSSaU * The pronunciation pre¬
701
WATERSHED
ferred by OED is w6'sl. W. makes
-ailing ; see -el-, -l-.
wast)(wert. See be 7.
wastage. It is possible that sen¬
tences may be constructed in which
this word is for some reason better
than waste ; what is certain is that
in nearly all the places in which it
nowadays appears it is not better ;
see Long variants.
waste. 1. W. makes -table ; see
Mute e. 2. Waste paper. No
hyphen ; see Hyphens 3 B.
wastrel. The sense spendthrift
(adj. & n.), now the most frequent
one, is a recent development, the
older senses being a piece of waste
land, & a flawed or spoilt piece of
workmanship ; but there is no need
to object to the new sense.
Watchword. For synonymysee sign.
watershed. The original meaning
of the word, whether or not it is an
anglicization of German Wasser-
scheide (lit. waterparting), was the
line of high land dividing the waters
that flow in one direction from those
that flow in the other. The older
of us were taught that that was its
meaning, & that the senses river-
basin & area of collection & drain¬
age-slope were mere ignorant guesses
due to confusion with the familiar
word shed. Such classics as Lyell &
Darwin & Geikie are all quoted for
the correct sense ; & that being so
it is lamentable that the mistaken
senses should have found acceptance
with those who could appreciate the
risks of ambiguity; yet Huxley
proposed that water-parting should
be introduced to do watershed's
work, & watershed be allowed to
mean what the ignorant thought it
meant. The inevitable result is that
now one has no idea, unless context
happens to suffice without aid from
the word itself, which meaning it has
in any particular place. Tne old
sense should be restored & rigidly
maintained. OED quotations from
Lyell & Geikie follow to make the
old use clear, & an extract from a
newspaper shows the modern mis*
WATERSPOUT
702
WEFT
use :—(Lyell) The crests or water¬
sheds of the Alps & Jura are about
eighty miles apart./ (Geiki e)The
watershed of a country or continent is
thus a line which divides the flow of
the brooks <& rivers on two opposite
slopes./ (Newspaper) The Seine, be¬
tween its source in the C6te d'Or & the
capital, has many tributaries, & when
there is bad weather in the watershed
of each of these an excessive flow is
bound to be the result.
waterspout. See wind, n.
wave makes -vable, -vy ; see Mute e.
wax. Wax doll, & wax candle ; no
hyphen ; Hyphens 3 B.
waxen. See -en adjectives.
way. 1. For ‘at the parting of
the ways ’ see parting. 2. Under
way (not weigh) is the right phrase
for in motion. 3. See one’s way to.
We hope that the Government will see
their way of giving effect to this
suggestion. What has happened ?
The writer doubtless knows the
idiomatic phrase as well as the rest
of us, but finding himself saying
4 will see their way to give effect to ’
this nation, or several other things.
The newspaper editor occasionally
forgets that he must not mix up Ms
editorial with his national we. But
still, we are distrusted by Germany ,
& we are loth, by explaining how our
acts ought to be interpreted , to put her
in a more invidious position. The
first we is certainly England, the
second is probably the newspaper.
See i 2, & our 2, for similar con¬
fusions of different senses that are
legitimate apart, but not together.
weak. For w. ending, see Tech¬
nical terms. For weaker sex, see
Sobriquets.
weal. For the word meaning
stripe, see wale.
wear. For the word meaning dam,
see weir.
weariless. See -less.
weasand. Pronounce wg'znd.
weather gage. So spelt (OED) in
the nautical phrase have the to. g. of,
though gage is the same word as that
spelt gauge ; no hyphen, see Hy¬
phens 3 B.
weave. Ordinary p.p. woven ; see
has shied at the two tos ; but he
should have abandoned instead of
mutilating his phrase ; see Out
OF THE FRYING-PAN, & CAST-IRON
IDIOM.
waylay. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 1.
-ways. See -wise.
wazir. See vizier.
we. 1. Case. 2. National, editorial,
generic, & personal uses.
1. Case. Use of us for we has been
illustrated under us 1 ; the con¬
verse is seen in :— The Turk in his
harem, this man who was entitled to
have four wives if he liked for chattels
— which to we Western people, with
our ideas about women, is almost
unintelligible./ Whether the Commit¬
tee's suggestions are dictated by
Patriotism, Political expediency, or
. . ., is not for we outside mortals to
decide.
2. National &c. uses : We may
mean I & another or others, or the
average man, or this newspaper, or
also wove.
weazen. See wizened.
web. See woof.
wed is a poetic or rhetorical
synonym for marry ; & the estab¬
lished past & p.p. is wedded ; but
it is noticeable that the need of
brevity in newspaper headings is
bringing into trivial use both the
verb instead of marry (DUKE
WEDS ACTRESS), & the short
instead of the long p.p. (SUICIDE
OF WED PAIR); see Incongruous
vocabulary ; here is a chance for
sub-editors to do the language a
service, if they will. For the effect
of headlines, cf. workless.
wedge makes wedgeable ; Mute e.
Wedgwood. So spelt.
Wednesday. For the adverbial use
{Can you come W. ?)’, see Friday.
weekly, adv. See -lily 2.
ween. A Wardour-street word.
Weevil makes -lied, -lly ; see -ll-,
-l-, 2 ; pronounce we'vld, we vll.
weft. See woof.
WEIGH
703
WELL-NIGH
weigh. For under w., see way.
weir, wear, n. The first form is
recommended as obviating doubts
both of identity & of pronunciation,
weird. A word ruined by becoming
a Vogue-word.
Welch. See Welsh.
well, adv. It is time for someone
to come to the rescue of the phrase
as well as, which is being cruelly
treated. Grammatically, the point
is that as well as is a conjunction &
not a preposition ; or, to put it in
a less abstract way, its strict mean¬
ing is not besides, but & not only ;
or, to proceed by illustration, Eng-
lish requires not You wctc thevc us
well as me (as it would if the phrase
were a preposition & meant besides),
but You were there as well as I (since
the phrase is a conjunction & means
not only). The abuses occur,
however, not in simple sentences
like this with a common noun or
pronoun following as well as ; in¬
deed, it is usually not possible in
these, to tell whether the construc-
uon intended is right or wrong ; in
i My killed tvotMTi us well us men,
men may be rightly meant to be
governed by killed, or wrongly
meant to be governed by as well as
~ besides ; only the writer, & very
likely not he, can say. They occur
m places where the part of a verb
chosen revels the grammar : —The
i err }tortal officer still has to put his
nand in his pocket as well as giving
his time. Read give ; it depends on
nas to ; or else substitute besides./
^u„n Tmar L contro1 of the Baltic must
aff ? Ct the lioes °f aXl the
Scandinavian Powers as well as
/*»^ GnClng the interes * s of a mari-
tim* country like England. Read
j^wcnce ; it depends on must ; or
Z™Lo SUb tUte besi des./His death
elpriinn £ a *L as We ^ as creating a by-
creafr?. ^° SS & Cromarty. Read
else *nih i*L 1S P a f a ^ e * to leaves ; or
gjwbrtrtute besides./As well as
the r 9 dm W> il Mould make
Mtoeen Turkey db the Central Powers.
«ead besides ; os well as should
never precede ; or else read as well
as close & put this after Powers./
What should be made into cheap
meals is now being used by doe-
biscuit <& other animal food makers
as a basis of their wares, as well as
converting it into manure. Read
converted for converting it, continuing
the construction of being. A more
obviously illiterate sentence than
the rest.
The process of first noticing that
as well as means nearly the same as
besides, & then giving it a wrong
construction that would be right for
besides, is illustrated in Analogy.
well & well-. In combinations of
a participle & well there is often a
doubt whether the two parts should
be hyphened or left separate. The
danger of wrong hyphens is greater
than that of wrong separation ;
e. g., to write His courage is well-
known (where well known is the only
tolerable form) is much worse than
to write His well known courage
(where well-known represents the
accent more truly). Some help will
be found under Hyphens (E, &
group *put-up) ; & it may be here
repeated that if a participle with
well is attributive (a well-aimed
stroke) the hyphen is desirable but
not obligatory, but if the participle
is predicative ( the stroke was well
aimed) the hyphen is wrong. Simi¬
larly in such phrases as well off :
They are not well off, but Well-off
people cannot judge.
well-nigh. See Wardour Street.
Archaeology had strengthened its hold
on art, dc went well-nigh to strangling
it. The natural English would have
been & came near strangling it, or
db nearly strangled it. But if the
writer was bent on displaying his
antique, he should at least have said
db well-nigh strangled it ; the use of
well-nigh is purely adverbial ; i.e.,
it needs a following verb or adjective
or noun to attach itself to ; well
nigh worn to pieces, & well nigh dead,
says Shakspere, & well nigh half the
angelic name, says Milton. To say
WELL-READ
704
WHAT, 1
come well-nigh to is to put the
antique in an incongruous frame.
As the OED had not reached well
when this was written, the idiomatic
restriction may be proved false, &
is to be taken only as a guess.
well-read. See Intransitive p.p.
Welsh, Welch. The established
modern spelling is -sh, except in the
official names of regiments, for
which -ch is used. That distinction,
being meaningless, is regrettable.
A much more profitable one would
be that -sh should be universal for
the national adjective, while -ch
was assigned to the verb to welch
& to welcher —& that whether the
verb is or is not etymologically con¬
nected (a disputed point) with
Welsh. Which spelling is in itself
preferable, apart from custom, de¬
pends merely on the prevalent pro¬
nunciation, which is -sh. The
analogy of French & Scotch & Dutch
is irrelevant because the preceding
dentals account for the harder ch
in them, & that of English, Scottish,
Irish, & British, because the familiar
-ish, to which Welsh has not sur¬
rendered, disqualifies them.
wen. For the W., see Sobriquets.
were. For the subjunctive uses in
the singular, as If I were you, Were
he alive. It were futile, some of which
are more inconsistent than others
with the writing of natural English,
see Subjunctives.
werewolf, werw-. The first is
recommended ; it is the more
familiar, it suggests the usual pro¬
nunciation, & it dates back to Old
English.
wert. See be 7.
westerly. See easterly.
westernmost. See -most.
Westminster, = Parliament. See
Sobriquets.
westward(s). See -ward(s).
WH. The sounding of h in words
containing wh {what, whether, no¬
where, &c.) is a matter of locality or
nationality, & comes under the
general principle suggested in Pro¬
nunciation.
wharf. For plural &c., see *ve(d)
wharfinger. Pronounce -j er.
what is a word of peculiar interest,
because the small problems that it
poses for writers are such as on the
one hand yield pretty readily to
analysis, & on the other hand
demand a slightly more expert
analysis than they are likely to get
from those who think they can
write well enough without stopping
to learn grammar.
1. Wrong number attraction. 2.
What singular & what plural. 3. One
what in two cases. 4. What resumed
by {and, but) which. 5. Miscellaneous.
1. Wrong number attraction. In
each of the examples to be given it
is beyond question that what starts
as a singular pronoun ( = that which,
or a thing that), because a singular
verb follows it ; but in each also the
next verb, belonging to the that of
that which, or to the a thing of a
thing that, is not singular but plural;
this is due to the influence of a
complement in the plural, & the
grammatical name for such influence
is attraction ; all the quotations arc
on the pattern What is said are
words, instead of What is said is
words. Whether attraction of verb
to complement is idiomatic in Eng¬
lish has already been discussed in
Number, 1 ; it is here assumed that
it is not ; in all the quotations,
which are multiplied to show how
common the mistake is, the roman-
type verb should have its number
changed from plural to singular:
What is of absorbing & permanent
interest are the strange metamorphoses
which this fear underwent./What is
required are houses at rents that the
people can pay./What seems to be
needed, <& what, I believe, public
opinion calls for, are stringent regula¬
tions to restrict the sale./What makes
the omission still more amazing are,
first, that the Allies . . .; secondly,
that . . ./What is required are three
bedrooms, a good large living-room
. . ./What puzzles us very much are
the constant references in the Observer s
WHAT, 2 705
article to Mr Borden./What is really
at issue in the present conflict are not
questions of territory, but the future of
democracy./What is wanted to meet it
are proposals which are practical./
What is wanted now are men who
are Liberals today./What strikes the
tourist most are the elegant Paris
toilettes ./ What xs needed are a few
recognized British financial corpora¬
tions./What is of more importance in
the official statement of profits are the
following figures.
2. What singular & what plural. In
each of the above quotations, the
writer made it plain, by giving what
a singular verb, that he conceived
what there as a singular pronoun.
But the word itself can equally well
be plural: I have few books, A what
there are do not help me. So arises
another problem concerning the
number of verbs after what, & this
°^ e naturally gets mixed up
th the first. It will here, however,
be kept to itself, & the position will
be that attraction has already been
disposed of, & that the number of
nothin g whatever to
^ * he number of the comple-
me - rely the outward sign
that what is singular or is plural.
senSn C ° m - eS \ Particular form of
better C fh ^ Cl \ pIural what is
words jn h K • S L n ? uIar > or in other
Plwal ThI hlCh ltS Verb should be
^/^olved, comes out as the
nj llr 7, inat > --« standing for a
complement "a}?? 7 pr £ sent in the
d Jimhle l • flrst 8 iven if « is
SP sr&Tfre
seems to” xTTo^be th abandon what
Parts of niir n° the . most valuable
abandon + h !/ ons Jf tutlon (read seem ;
tion th* J*® pai * s ° f . our Constitu-
WHAT, 2
Council
Manchester
a <6 a - Was doubtless
tote not
for
Reasons
taken t,
secret a hTm'* • TV* 1 ™ t
axctatorxal methods
Poincart in the Ruhr (read were •
to the methods that were)./// is a
diatribe against M. Loucheur & M
Clementel, but the personal aspect is
ofhMe importance to English readers ;
what are important are the criticisms
of the operation of protective duties in
trance (The criticisms that; but
What is important is would have
been ^ better, what is standing for
the thing that is, in contrast with
aspect)./They specially approved what
j]verals was the most reactionary
<& disastrous parts of it (read were-
approved the parts of it that to
Liberals wer e)./Confidence being in¬
spired by the production of what
appears to be bars or bricks of solid
gold (read appear ; production of
bars or bricks that appear)./Mr
Wheatley urged a curtailment of what
is called luxury buildings (read are •
of buildings that are called; but
probably the plural buildings is a
misprint).
But resolution of what often pre¬
sents us not with a noun found in
the complement, but with some
other noun of wider meaning, or
again with the still vaguer that which.
A writer should make the resolution
& act on it without allowing the
number of the complement to force
a plural verb on him if the most
natural representative of what is
that which or the thing that ; in
several of the following quotations
the necessary courage has been
lacking ; corrections & resolutions
are given as before :— 1 can well
believe that Mr B. Russell's whip is
heavy ; however, what 1 wish to point
out are certain instances wherein
philosophy has made serious error
(read is ; the thing that)./IVo other
speaker has his peculiar power of
bringing imagination to play on what
seems, until he speaks, to be familiar
platitudes (read seem ; on sayings
that seem)./Instead of the stupid
agitation noto going on in South
Wales, what are needed are regular
working A higher outputs (read what
is needed is ; the thing that is
needed—rather than things, as opp.
A a
WHAT, 3
706
agitation)./What are wanted are not
small cottages , but the larger houses
with modern conveniences that are
now demanded by the working classes
(read what is wanted is ; the thing
that is wanted—rather than the
buildings that ar e)./What provoke
men's curiosity are mysteries , mys¬
teries of motive or stratagem ; astute
or daring plots (read provokes . . . is ;
that which provokes—rather than
the things that provoke)./in order
to reduce this material to utility &
assimilate it, what are required are
faith & confidence , & willingness to
work (read what is required is ; but
the qualities that are required
justifies the plurals, though it does
not make them idiomatic).
It will be observed that there is
more room for difference of opinion
on this set of examples than on
either those in 1 or the previous set
in 2, & probably many readers will
refuse to accept the decisions given ;
but if it is realized that there are
problems of number after what, &
that solutions of them are possible,
that is sufficient.
3. One what in two cases. For the
general question whether in a lan¬
guage that like English has shed
nearly all its case-forms the gram¬
matical notion of case still deserves
respect, see Cases ; it is here as¬
sumed that it does, to the extent
that no word, even if it has not
different forms such as / & me for
the subjective & objective uses,
ought to be so placed that it has,
without being repeated, to be taken
twice over first in one & then in the
other case. The word what is pecu¬
liarly liable to such treatment.
There are two chief ways of sparing
grammatically-minded readers this
outrage on their susceptibilities ;
sometimes a second what should be
inserted ; sometimes it is better to
convert a verb to the other voice,
so that what becomes either object,
or subject, to both. Corrections are
given in brackets ; to correct Pater,
from whom the last example comes,
is perhaps impudence, but grammar
WHAT, 4
is no respecter of persons : — This is
pure ignorance of what the House is
& its work consists of (& what its)./
But it is not folly to give it what it had
for centuries & was only artificially
taken from it by force rather more than
a hundred years ago (what belonged
to it for )./Mr - tells us not to
worry about Relativity or anything so
brain-tangling, but to concentrate on
what surrounds us, & we can weigh
db measure (& can be weighed &
measured). /Impossible to separate
later legend from original evidence as
to what he was , & said, & how he said
it (& what he said).
4. What resumed by (and, but)
which. Francis Turner Palgrave,
whose name is inseparably connected
with what is probably the best, &
which certainly has proved the most
popular, of English anthologies (what
is probably the best, & has certainly
proved). /It is an instructive con¬
spectus of views on what can hardly
be described as a ‘ burning question ’,
but which certainly interests many
Irishmen (but certainly interests)./
Mr Gladstone received a peculiarly
warm welcome when he appeared
clothed in what has been described as
a Yeomanry uniform, but which was
really the peaceful but picturesque
scarlet & silver of a Lord Lieutenant
(but was really)./IFe are merely
remembering what happened to our
arboreal ancestors, & which has been
stamped by cerebral changes into the
heredity of the race (& has been
stamped). A want of faith either
in the lasting power of what (which
has a good second wind & can do
the two laps without turning a hair),
or in the reader’s possession of
common sense, has led to this
thrusting in of which as a sort of
relay to take up the running. These
sentences are not English ; nothing
can represent what —except indeed
what. That is, it would be English,
though hardly idiomatic English,
to insert a second what in the place
of the impossible which in each.
If the reader will try the effect, he
will find that the second what,
WHAT, 5
though permissible, sometimes makes
ambiguous what without it is plain ;
in the last example, for instance,
what happened ’ & ‘ what has been
stamped might be different things,
whereas ‘ what happened, & has
been sta,mped ’ is clearly one & the
same thing. The reason why which
has been called ‘ impossible ’ is that
what & which are of different gram¬
matical values, which being a simple
relative pronoun, while what ( = that
which, or a thing that) is a com¬
bination of antecedent & relative ;
but the second verb needs the ante-
cedent-relative just as much as the
first, if but or and is inserted ; if
neither but nor and is present, which
will sometimes be possible, & so
omission of but & and would be
another cure for the last two
examples.
Two specimens are added in which
the remedy of simply omitting which
or substituting for it a repeated
what is not possible without further
change. The difficulty is due to,
& vanishes with, the superstition
against Preposition at end. I can
never be certain that I am receiving
what I want & for which I am paying
Read what 1 want dk am paying for /
But now we have a Privy Councillor
& an ex-Minister engaged daily in
saying & doing what he frankly admits
is illegal , & for which he could be
severely punished. Read <& what he
could be severely punished for. The
repetition of what is required because
the relative contained in the first
what is subjective, & that in the
second objective ; see 3.
5. Miscellaneous. The beautiful
o^f ,S !T eS f ponging to what as
antecedent-relative seems to lure the
unwary into experiments in further
thaf k 10 +v.' The ^ raust rer nember
that both parts of it, the antecedent
(that or those) & the relative (which),
u^ n ? their share of attention
* a ™ concerned in the present
but £t • 0 show ihat not onl y the °ry
VtLU C f ™PP° Tt the unrestricted
exercise of the prerogative. Read
concerned to do, or the which in
707
WHAT EVER
what is without government./ What
my friend paid less than a pound a
day for last year he had to pay two
guineas a day at a minor Brighton
establishment last Easter. Read two
guineas a day for, or the that in
what is without government ./Enter-
ing the church with feelings different
from what he had ever entered a church
before, he could with difficulty restrain
his emotions. Read entered a church
with, or the which of what is without
government.
The following shows a different
what. When one reflects what great
importance it is to the success of the
league of Nations that America
should become a member of it. Read
of what, & see value.
what ever, whatever. The various
uses are complicated, & cannot be
all set out, for readers who are not
specialists in grammar, without
elaborate explanations that would
demand too much space. This
article will avoid all technicalities
except what are needed in dealing
W . lth Ji! VO Or three common mistakes'!
l. the interrogative use. 2. The
antecedent-relative use. 3 . The
concessive use.
1. The interrogative use. What
ever can it mean ? What ever shall
™* do ? for the status of this, see
ever. It should never appear in
print except when familiar dialogue
is being reproduced, & should then
be in two separate words, differing
m this from all other uses. Three
examples follow in which both these
rules are disregarded ; in the second
of them we have an indirect instead
of a direct question, but the same
hold : ~Which is pretty , but
whatever can it mean ?/ Whatever you
mean by patriotic ’ education 1 do
not know, but Lord Roberts's use of
the term is plain enough./And, con¬
sidering ihat 180,000 actually arrived
in the country, whatever was the cost ?
iv - antecedent-relative use.
fort T/ T , this USfc is an emphatic
(see what 4. 5); i. e ., while what
WHAT EVER, 3
WHENCE
means that which or the {thing, things)
that, whatever means all that or
anything &c.) that. The point
ignored in the quotations below is
that whatever contains in itself the
relative {that or which) as well as the
demonstrative or antecedent {all,
any, &c), & that another relative
cannot grammatically be inserted
after it ; whatever (or whatsoever)
means not any, but any that, &
xohatever that is as absurd as any that
that. In the first two, omit the
roman-type that ; in the third,
which has gone wrong, as often
happens, owing to the Preposition-
at-end superstition, get rid of which
by rewriting in whatever component,
big or small, their attention is con¬
centrated upon :—His cynical advice
shows that whatever concession to
Democracy that may seem to be
involved in his words, may not be of
permanent inconvenience./Keep close
in touch with Him in whatsoever
creed or form that brings you nearest
to Him./They see in the shell, the gun
—in whatever component, big or
small, upon which their attention is
concentrated—the essence of all that
matters.
3. The concessive use. Whatever
one does, you are not satisfied ; I am
safe now, whatever happens ; What¬
ever you do, don't lie. These are con¬
cessive clauses, short for Though
one does A or B or C, Though this
or that or the other happens, Though
you do anything else. They differ
from the whatever clauses dealt with
above in being adverbial, whatever
meaning not all or any that {that
beginning an adjectival clause), but
though all or any. The difference is
not a matter of hair-splitting ;
Whatever he has done he repents may
mean (a) He is one of the irresolute
people who always wish they had
done something different, or {b)
Though he may be a great offender,
repentance should count for some¬
thing ; whatever antecedent-relative
gives a, & whatever concessive gives
b. In practice it should be noticed
that proper punctuation distin¬
guishes the two, the a meaning not
having the two clauses parted by
a comma, since whatever belongs to
& is part of both, & the b meaning
having them so parted, since what¬
ever belongs wholly to one clause.
In the following sentence, the reader
is led by the wrong comma after
have to mistake the whatever clause
for a concessive & adverbial one:
Sir Edward Grey has no reason to be
displeased with this sequel to his
effort, and, whatever responsibility he
may have, he will no doubt accept
gladly. The words concerned should
run : and whatever responsibility
he may have he will no doubt accept
gladly.
wheal. See wale.
wheaten. See *en adjectives.
whence, whither. The value of
these subordinates of where for
lucidity & conciseness seems so
obvious that no-one who appreciates
those qualities can see such help
being discarded without a pang of
regret. Why is it that substitutes
apparently so clumsy as where . . .
from, & where ... to, can be pre¬
ferred ? It is surely because the
genius of the language actually likes
the Preposition at end that wise¬
acres have conspired to discourage,
& thinks * Where are you coming
to ? ’ more quickly comprehensible
in moments of threatened collision
than * Whither are you coming ?
We who incline to weep over whence
& whither must console ourselves by
reflecting that in the less literal or
secondary senses the words are still
with us for a time ; 4 Whither are
we tending ? ’, & 4 Whence comes it
that ...?’, are as yet safe against
where ... to & where . .. from ; & the
poets may be trusted to provide our
old friends with a dignified retire¬
ment in which they may even
exercise all their ancient rights*
But we shall do well to shun a
attempts at restoration, & in Parti¬
cular to eschew the notion (see
Formal words) that the writer®
duty is to translate the where * • •
WHENEVER
709
WHICH
from or where . . . to of speech into
whence & whither in print. On the
other hand, let us not be ultra-
modernists & assume that whence &
whither, even in their primary senses,
are dead & buried ; that must be the
view of the journalist who writes :
The Irregulars have been compelled to
withdraw their line from Clonmel, to
where it is believed they transferred
their headquarters when they had to flee
from, Limerick. If whither was too
antiquated, the alternative was ‘ to
which place ’, but occasions arise
now & then, as in this sentence, to
which whence & whither are, even
for the practical purposes of plain
speech, more appropriate than any
equivalent.
whenever, the right form for the
ordinary conjunction, should not be
used instead of the colloquial when
ever (When ever will you be ready ?),
for which see ever.
Where- compounds, a small
number of these are still in free
general use, though chiefly in limited
applications, with little or no taint
of archaism ; these are whereabouts
(as purely local adv. & n.), whereas
(in contrasts), wherever, wherefore
(as noun plural in whys & where -
fores), whereupon (in narratives), &
wherewithal (as noun). The many
others— whereabout, whereat, where¬
by, wherefore (adv. & conj.), where¬
from, wherein, whereof, whereon,
wherethrough, whereto, wherewith, &
afew more—have given way in both
the mterrogative & the relative uses
either to the preposition with what
& which & that {whereof = of what ?
what. . . of ?, of which, that. . . of)’
or to some synonym ( wherefore =
why); resort to them generally
suggests that the writer has a
tendency either to Formal words
or to Pedantic humour.
wherever, where ever. As when-
wherewithal. The noun, as was
mentioned m Where- compounds,
has survived m common use {but
l haven't eot th*> \
cause the quaintness of it has struck
the popular fancy. But the noun
should remember that it is after all
only a courtesy noun, not a noun in
its own right ; it means just * with
which ’, but seems to have forgotten
this in : They [France’s purchases]
have been merely the wherewithal
with which to start business again.
whether. 1. For w. & that after
doubt(ful), see doubt(ful). 2. W.
or no{t). Whether he was there or
was not there easily yields by ellipsis
Whether he was there or not, & that
by transposition Whether or not he
was there. Whether or no he xvas
there is not so easily accounted for,
since no is not ordinarily, like not
an adverb (see no) ; & in fact the
ongm of the idiom is uncertain ; but
the fact remains that whether or not
1S _ COED) ‘ less frequent ’ than
whether or no —especially, perhaps,
when the or follows whether imme¬
diately : Whether or no he did it •
whether he did it or not. Whichever
torm is used, such a doubling of the
alternative as the following should
be carefully avoided : But clearly,
whether or not peers will or will not
have to be made depends upon the
number of the Die-Hards. Omit
either or not or or will not.
which. Relative pronouns are as
troublesome to the inexpert but
conscientious writer as they are
useful to everyone, which is saying
much. About which, in particular!
problems are many, & some of them
complicated1 ; that the reader may
not be frightened by an article of
too portentous length, the two that
5?i U K re * m ° S l . s P ace are deferred, &
will be found m the separate articles
WHICH)(THAT)(WHO, & WHICH WITH
° R U BUT - The points to be
treated here can be disposed of with
more certainty & at less length
under the headings :_ *
tive R 1 at n e ‘ ns , tcad of demonstra-
tive. 2. One relative in two cases.
relative for main & sub-
V< ? r 4 f Br ? ak - awa y from
relative. 5. Confused construction.
WHICH, 1
710
WHICH, 8
6. Late position. 7. One of the best
which has. 8. Commas. 9. In
which to.
1. Relative instead of demonstra¬
tive. The type is : He lost his
temper, which proving fatal to him.
The essence of a relative is to do
two things at once, to play the part
of a noun in a sentence & to convert
that sentence into, & attach it to
another as, a subordinate clause.
lie lost his temper ; this proved fatal ;
these can be made into one sentence
(a) by changing the demonstrative
this into the relative which, or (b)
by changing the verb proved to the
participle proving ; one or the other,
not both as in the false type above.
Actual examples of the blunder,
with corrections in brackets, are :—
It was rumoured that Beaconsfield
intended opening the Conference with
a speech in French, his pronunciation
of which language leaving everything
to be desired (read of that language ;
or else left for leaving)./Surely what
applies to games should also apply to
racing, the leaders of which being
the very people from whom an ex¬
ample might well be looked for (read
of this or of the latter ; or else are for
being)./Persons who would prefer to
live in a land flowing with milk
honey if such could be obtained without
undue exertion, but, failing which,
are content to live in squalor, filth, &
misery (read failing that ; or else
failing which they for but failing
which)./The World Scout principle —
namely, of bringing into an Order of
the young the boys of different races,
by which means not only educating
the children in scouting, but . . . (read
by this means ; or else we should not
only educate for not only educating).
2. One relative in two cases. See
what 3 for this question ; in all the
following extracts, a single which is
once objective & once subjective.
The cure is either to insert a second
which in the second clause, or to
convert one of the two verbs into
the same voice as the other, e. g.
in the first example 4 & others to
study ’ :— Mr Roche is practising a
definite system, which he is able to
describe, db could be studied by
others./He went up to a pew in the
gallery, which brought him under a
coloured window which he loved db
always quieted his spirit./It gone
a cachet of extreme clericalism to the
Irish Party which it does not deserve,
but must prejudice it not a little in
the eyes of English Radicalism./The
queer piece, which a few find dull, but
to most is irresistible in its appeal./
Shakespearian words db phrases which
the author has heard, db believes can
be heard still, along this part of the
Avon valley.
3. One relative for main & sub¬
ordinate verbs (or verb & preposi¬
tion). The following sentence is
provided with three endings. A, B,
C, with each of which it should be
read successively: This standard
figure is called Bogey, which if you
have beaten (A) you are a good player,
(B) you are apt to mention, (C) is
sometimes mentioned. In A the
grammar is unexceptionable, which
>eing the object of have beaten, &
laving no second job as a pronoun
though as relative it attaches to
3ogey the clause that is also attached
)y if to you are &c.). In modem
ise, however, this arrangement^ is
are, being usually changed to ‘ if
mu have beaten which ’. In B we
iome to questionable grammar,
vhich being object first to have
\eaten & then to mention ; English
hat is both easy & educated usually
ivoids this by making which object
>nly to mention, & providing have
\eaten with another— which , if you
lave beaten it, you are apt to mention.
deeting the B form, we incline to
isk whether the writer has used it
>ecause he knows no better, or
>ecause he knows better than we do
k likes to show it. Grammatically,
t must be regarded as an ellipsis,
k to that extent irregular, but many
llipses are idiomatic; "tins "
:ular kind is perhaps less called for
is idiomatic than noticeable
rregular. About C thereare f u c
uch doubts ; it is indefensible, the
WHICH
WHICH
which having not only to serve
twice (with have beaten, & with is
mentioned), but to change its case in
transit; see 2.
Illustrations follow of B & C • A
being both legitimate & unusual’
having been introduced only for
purposes of comparison, need not be
quoted for.
B, doubtfully advisable
With a fire in her hold which he
managed to keep in control, although
unaote to extinguish (add it 7)./Mr
Masterman was a little troubled bu
the spirit of his past, which, if he had
not evoked, no one would have remem¬
bered {evoked it ‘l)./And it was doubt¬
less from Weldon that he borrowed the
phrase which his use of has made so
famous {of it ? or his use of which
has made it?). This last is no more
ungrammatical, though certainly
more repulsive, than the others.
C, undoubtedly wrong
The programme is divided up into
a senes of walks, which, if the indus¬
trious sightseer can undertake, will
su PPly hint with a good everyday know¬
ledge of Pans (undertake them)./
, general the wife manages to
establish a status which needs no legal
proviso or trade union rule to protect
(protect it; or which it needs ; or
to protect which needs no . . . rule).
4. Break-away from relative. He
hlTns ?!f extremely zealous
he had greatly indulged, <fc was him¬
self an example of their ill effects./
It imposes a problem which we either
sobe or perish. Both of these are
• ^grammatical. In the
18 J he easier to deal with.
tLrf“ I £ e rt n ?i ced that in sense thc
clearly coupled by and not to the
hret part or main sentence {He
shows to practices), but to the second
part °r relative clause (in some to
££?'tal 1 " definite^ broken
& become grammatically, but il-
logically, a second main sentence
with, for subject, the He that begins
the first* There are two possible
correct versions of the second &
third parts, (a) some of which he had
i. ^ i . i himself exem-
plified the ill effects of, or (b) in some
% ™ htc h h t h ad greatly indulged, dc
of the ill effects of {some of) which he
was himself an example ; a will be
repudiated, perhaps more justifiably
than usual, by those who condemn
final prepositions ; b fails to give
the precise sense, whether the
bracketed some of is inserted or not ;
to both these the break-away, which
is not an uncommon construction,
will be preferred by some.
The other example (It imposes a
problem which we either solve or
perish) is, owing to Lord Grey’s
I he nations must learn or perish *
of a now very popular pattern. The’
break-away depends on the nature of
either ... or alternatives, in which
whatever stands before either must
be common to both the either & the
or groups. Either we solve this or we
Perish can therefore become We
either solve this or perish, but cannot
become This we either solve or S
because this is peculiar to the either
group else the full form would be
\Vith %t SOlVe l i lS ° r We perish this -
With this as object the escape is
wit k • P ut this af ter solve _
With Which as Object that is not
- e i ther solve Which or
pemA), & strict grammar requires
us to introduce into the or group
tha ‘ can take £
object —a problem which we either
solve or perish by not solving, either
solve or are destroyed by, &c? Even
those who ordinarily are prepared
to treat either with proper respect
(see either S, & Unequal yoke-
se E it“ W the m n y P ? rha ? s allow them-
‘ flrotaa uZi i f o “°'t
oo«Sdering! riSh ' (S “ 3 A > is
5. Confused construction. He mau
forZ e T d i t0 ^ ake a determirZSbSi
for the dual rdle which is his right db
WHICH, 6
712
WHICH,
duty as Prime Minister to occupy.
In that sentence, is which subject to
is, or object to occupy ? It is in fact,
of course, the latter, occupy having
no other object, & not being able to
do without one ; but the writer has
effectually put us off the track by
dropping the it that should have
parted which from is. To occupy
ivhich is his right becomes, when
which is given its normal place,
which it is his right to occupy. This
mistake is very common, & will be
found fully discussed under it 1.
6. Late position. In the examples,
which are arranged as a climax, the
distance between which & its ante¬
cedent is shown by the roman type.
Grammar has nothing to say on the
subject, but common sense protests
against abuse of this freedom. The
specimens given may easily be
matched or surpassed by anyone
who will search the newspapers.
She is wonderful in her brilliant
sketch of that querulous, foolish little
old lady which she does so well./
Lord Hemphill made his maiden
speech from the Front Opposition
Bench in the House of Commons, his
place on which he had won by filling
the position of . . ./The whole art of
clinching is explained in this little
book from the concentrated harvest of
wisdom in which we present some
specimens to our readers./Nothing has
more contributed to dispelling this
illusion than the camera, the remark¬
able & convincing evidence it has been
possible to obtain with which has
enormously added to the knowledge
of the habits of animals.
7. One of the best which has. In
which case one of the greatest <& most
serious strikes which has occurred
in modern times will take place. Has
should be have. For this very com¬
mon but inexcusably careless blun¬
der see Numbeb, 5.
8« Commas. In the present article
the distinctions between which &
other relatives—see which)(that)
(who —have been left alone, & it has
been assumed, as it seems to be in
most matters by 99 out of 100
writers, that which is the relative
& the relative is which. A conse¬
quence of this is that the defining
& the non-defining kinds of relative
clause alike begin with or contain
which, & are not known apart by the
difference between that & which.
This being so—& it is not a mere
hypothesis, but in most writers a
patent fact—, it is important to
have another means of distinguish¬
ing. A comma preceding which
shows that the zti/ueA-clause is non¬
defining, & the absence of such a
comma shows that it is defining.
He declares that the men were treated
like beasts throughout the voyage, &
he gives the worst description of the
general mismanagement which was
most conspicuous. There is no
comma before which, & therefore
the clause must be a defining one;
i. e., it limits the sense of the general
mismanagement by excluding from
it such parts as were less con¬
spicuous ; the most conspicuous
part of the mismanagement is
described as very bad indeed—that
is what we are told. Or is it not so,
& are we to understand rather that
the whole of the general mismanage¬
ment is described as very bad, &
moreover that it was conspicuous ?
Surely the latter is meant; but the
loss of the comma forbids us to take
it so. The difference between the
two senses (or the sense & the
nonsense) is not here of S 1 ®"
importance, but is at least perfectly
clear, & the importance of not
misinterpreting will vary infinitely
elsewhere. That right interpreta¬
tion should depend on a mere comma
is a pity, but, until that & which are
differentiated, so it must be, ®
writers must see their commas sateiy
ough the press. .
In &c. which to. England is,
cover, the last country in which to
t so./l have no money with whwh
buy food. The current Engh*h
the second is indisputably i
money to buy f ood Y nt l* \ 5 ia
i hardly be a doubt that this haB
:n formalized into the other by
WHICH)(TH AT)( WHO
the influence of the Preposition at
end superstition. No-one need
hesitate about going back to nature
& saying to buy food with. And even
for the first the last country to say
so m is here recommended, though
the very light word so happens to
make with the other very light
word in an uncomfortably weak
ending ; much more is ‘ a good land
to live in superior to ‘ a good land
in which to live A confessedly
amateur guess at the genesis of
these constructions may possibly
throw light. The assumption under-
ymg the tn which to form is obvious¬
ly that there is an elliptical relative
clause—-perhaps This is a good land
m which (one is) to live. The
amateur guess is that there is no
relative clause in the case at all,
& that the form to live in originated
m an adverbial infinitive attached
to the adjective good. He is a hard
man to beat ; how hard ? whv I
to beat; what Greek grammars call
an epexegetic (or explanatory) i n -
nitive. It is a good land to in-habit
is precisely parallel, & to live-in is
preciseiy the same as to in-habit.
It this account should happen to be
true, the unpleasant form ‘ in which
to live might be dismissed as a
grammarians’ mistaken pedantry.
M^!S J h)( f that ]i Wh °* 1 - General. 2.
Whwh for that. 3 . Which after
superlat've &c 4. Which in It is...
5. Which as relative adverb
6 . Elegant variation. 7. That for
which. 8. Which, who, & nouns of
multitude. 9. Who & that.
fi L G , eneraL . the evidence of a
®r*:° Ias s who was no purist
Morley’s opinion exhibited below
should make it worth while to
«i ter ^Terences between which
& the other relatives. The extracts
are from an article in the West
713 WHICH)(THAT)(WHO, 2
carefully revised edition, & made
one or two attempts at revising it
hin^elf . . . He then asked me
whether I would care to help him
& explained what my part of the
work would be. It sounded rather
dull, for he was particularly keen on
having the word which, wherever
there was the possibility, exchanged
ior that . . . He was always ready &
very willing to go with me through
he notes I had jotted down while
going through a book page by page
“ which ” hunting & lookinguK;
other errors ’.
Let it be stated broadly, before
coming to particular dangers, that •
(A) of which & that, which is appro¬
priate to non-defining & that to
wSnTf■■ 3; < B > of which &
who, which belongs to things, & who
suit P s CrS n n i ; ( i C) ° f Who & that > who
suits particular persons, & that
generic persons. (A) The river
Thf k - here ,i s ti( tal> is dangerous, but
T he ™er that flows through London
is the Thames (B) The crews, which
Vilwl L ascars, mutinied, but
Six Welshmen, who formed the crew
were drowned. (C) You who are a
walking dictionary, but He is a man
that is never at a loss. To substitute
for the relative used in any of those
six examples either of the others
S'd main!
change for the worse ; &, roughly
speaking, the erroneous uses (if thev
ahL S t° lIIu f trated below are traced
able to neglect or rejection of A, B,
2. Which for that. The in.n«. _
SKtt * « <><*• 1923 by
Messrs Macmillan published a new
He was determined to m „ ’ J
1351
A a 3
natch lor that. The importance
has been fully illustrated® under
that rel. rron., & no more need
thanTn hCre ° n that g enera l point
whichs that 6 an exan ?P^ e or two of
nucleus crews were not Z S V th
WHICH)(THAT)(WHO, 3
certainly a great improvement on the
old plan of having ships in reserve
without crews . . . But Mr Robertson
does not mention the case of the
nucleus-crew ships, which are a
substitute, not for unmanned ships,
but for fully manned ships. It is
startling to read that Mr R. does
not mention nucleus-crew ships
when we have just been told
that he did ; we recover after a
bewildered moment, but we should
have been spared that moment if
‘ the nucleus-crew ships that ’ had
been written instead of ‘ the nucleus-
crew ships, which ’./Serious works
on Russia from Polish sources, which
are not intended as merely propa¬
gandist pamphlets, are a valuable
contribution towards a better under¬
standing of that country. If the
clause is non-defining, as ‘ , which *
suggests, none of these serious works
are propagandist, & all are valuable.
The real meaning is that some of
them are free of propaganda, & are
therefore valuable ; but this real
meaning requires ‘ that ’ instead of
’ , which ’./The second statement
which, taken as it stands in Mr
Wedgwood’s letter, is misleading is that
which implies that . . . Impossible to
tell, since there are no commas after
statement & misleading, whether the
clause is defining ( = the second mis¬
leading statement) or non-defining
(= the second statement made—a mis¬
leading one) ; probably it is defining,
& should have that instead of which.
Much more often there is no danger
of misinterpretation, but that is
desirable because its regular asso¬
ciation with defining clauses helps
to establish a workmanlike distribu¬
tion of the relatives to the work that
has to be done. Examples need not
be multiplied ; that should be
preferred to which in all such places
as : If the amending Bill is to serve
the purpose which responsible men in
all parties profess to desire. Special
circumstances that make which un¬
desirable are set out in N 03 3-5.
3. Which after superlative &c.
When the antecedent of a defining
714 _WHICHXTHAT)(WHO, j
clause includes a word of exclusive
meaning, such as a superlative, an
ordinal numeral, or 6 the few \ the
use of which instead of that (or who
as second best) is bad enough to be
almost a solecism even in the present
undiscriminating practice. The
question between that & who in such
places will be touched upon in 9;
but at least which should be expelled
from the extracts ; by rule B who is
better than which, & by rule C that
is better than who :—All three will
always be ranked among the foremost
physical theorists db experimenters
which Great Britain has produced./
Lord Spencer came to be regarded as
one of the best Viceroys which the
country had ever had /Had the two
men of greatest genius in the respective
spheres, which the British Navy has
ever produced, had their way . . ./He
was a true musical poet — perhaps,
with one exception, the most gifted
which England has ever produced /
The Bishop of Salisbury, is the third
bishop which his family has given to
the world /One of the few composers
of the first rank which England has
produced.
Besides the particular type here
described there are others in which
for various reasons which is wrong,
but whether who, or that, should
replace it is doubtful, e. g. persons or
corporations which, against an enemy
which, the many friends which ; these
will be dealt with in N° 9.
4. Which in It is . . . that ... The
constructions exemplified in simple
forms by It was the war that caused it,
It was yesterday that we came, are
often difficult to analyse gram¬
matically or account for ; the diffi¬
culty need not concern us here;
one thing can be confidently said
about them, which is that they
require that & not which—that the
defining relative (It was Jones that
did it, the clause defining It; orten
tacit, as It was Jones did it), or thm
the conjunction (It is with gnef trm
I learn . . .). In the three examples,
that should replace to which, jn
which, & which :—It is to the o *
WHICH)(THAT)(WHO, 5
to the State alone, to which we
must turn to acquire the transfer of
freeholds compulsorily, expeditiously,
cheaply./It is in the relation
between motive, action, db result in a
given chain of historical causation, in
which history consists./So once again
East is West, db it is shown that it is
not only the Japanese which have the
imitative instinct strongly developed.
5. Which as relative adverb. The
curious & idiomatic use of that in
this construction is explained in
THAT REL. pron. 3, where it is added
that which is unsuitable for similar
treatment. The clauses are defining,
attached to such words, expressed
or implied, as way, extent, time,
place. That should be substituted
in each example for which. It will
be noticed that in the last of all
in which has been used, which is in
itself not irregular ; but see the
comment there :— In England the
furthest north which 1 have heard the
nightingale was near Doncaster./
Parliament will be dissolved not later
than Monday week—the earliest mo¬
ment, that is to say, which it has ever
been seriously considered possible for
the dissolution to take place./The
curtain went up db down db up db
down in a way which only the
curtain at the New Theatre when
Miss Julia Neilson is at home to
worshippers can do./So long as the
Unionist Party is conducted on the
lines which Mr Locker-Lampson
desires it to be./Before we can find
a Government or a Parliamentary
majority expressing itself in the way
which Americans express themselves./
He made a good ‘ legend ’ during his
lifetime m a way which very few
actors have done./Before railway
working was ‘ sped up ’ to the extent
** ** present, continuous
work of this character was no great
stram./The opportunity has been
denied me of showing in the way
which I am convinced a contest would
have enabled me to do how small the
opposition is./The public will
not be likely to misinterpret it in
the way in which the party-capital
715 WHICH)(THAT)(WHO, 6
makers would desire. In this last,
singularly enough, the insertion of in
makes matters worse ; which, or
better that, might have been a pro¬
noun, object to desire; but with
in which the clause needs to be
completed with ‘ that they should ’
or some equivalent.
6. Elegant variation. I was sur¬
prised many years ago when a very
well known writer gave me his
notion of the relation between which
& that : When it struck him that
there was too much which about, he
resorted to that for a relief. So he
said ; it was doubtless only a flip-
evasion, not a truthful account
of his own practice, but still a tacit
confession that he followed instinct
without bothering about principles.
Of the unskilled writer’s method it
would be a true enough account ;
here is a specimen : Governments
jind themselves almost compelled by
previous & ill-informed pledges to do
things which are unwise db to refrain
from, doing things that are necessary.
the two relative clauses are exactlv
parallel, & the change from which to
that is Elegant variation at its
worst. When two relative clauses
are not parallel, but one of them
depends on the other, it is not such
a simple matter ; as is stated in
Repetition (dependent sequences),
there is a reasonable objection to
one u^tcfc-clause, or one that- clause,
depending on another. Two ex¬
amples will show the effect (a) of
scorning consequences & risking
repetition, & (b) of trying elegant
variation ; neither is satisfactory :—
W S yr el y. the reductio ad absurdum
of tariffs is found in a German treaty
with Switzerland which contains a
clause which deserves to remain
famous ; (6) The task is to evolve an
effective system that shall not imperil
the self-governing principle which is
the corner-stone of the Empire. The
repetition is easily avoided in a bv
the change of which contains to con¬
taining ; both whichs ought to have
been that, which is here irrelevant,
in b the absence of a comma shows
W HICH)(THAT)(WHO, 7
716
that the which is meant as a defining
relative & should therefore be that ;
but, as a non-defining clause would
here give a hardly distinguishable
sense, the escape is to use one &
keep which, merely inserting the
necessary comma. The reader may
like another example to play with:
. . . was recalled to the passer-by in
Pall-Mall by Foley's fine bronze
statue of the War Minister who deeply
cared for the private soldier, which
stood in front of the now destroyed
War Office, that has very recently
given place to the palatial premises of
the Royal Automobile Club.
7. That for which. After all these
intrusions of which into the place of
that, it must be recorded that
retaliation is not quite unknown ;
but it is rare. In the island of South
Uist, that I have come from, there is
not one single tree./A really happy
party was the Chiverton family, that
had a carriage to itself & almost
filled it. The justification of that
in these would require that there
should be several South Uists from
one of which I have come, & several
Chiverton families of which one only
had a carriage to itself ; but even
those suppositions are precluded by
the commas. Other examples are
given in that rel. pron. 2.
8. Which, who, & nouns of multi¬
tude. Words like section, union,
world, sometimes mean all the per¬
sons composing a section &c. ; idiom
then allows us to regard them as
grammatically singular or plural as
we prefer, but not to pass from one
to the other ; see Personification
&c. 2. Now a section, if we elect to
treat it as singular, is a thing ; but,
if we make it plural, it is persons,
& by rule B which belongs to things,
whereas who belongs to persons.
Three examples that accordingly
need correction are :— There was
a strong section which were in favour
of inserting the miners' 5s. & 2s., as
the debate proved (which is required
by the preceding was, but in turn
requires a second was instead of
were)./All the world who is directly
3 WHICH)(THAT)(WHO,
interested in railway projects will
have paid a visit to the Brussels
Exhibition (who is possible, but only
if are follows; otherwise not indeed
which since the clause is defining,
but that is required)./TAe Canon is
writing in justification of the Chris¬
tian Social Union, which, he tells us,
are tired of the present state of things
(which is, or who are, tired).
9. Who & that. It would be satis¬
factory if the same clear division of
functions that can be confidently
recommended for that & which, viz
between defining & non-defining
clauses, could be established also for
that & who ; this would give us that
for all defining clauses whether
qualifying persons or things, & who
for persons but which for things in all
non-defining. But at present there
is much more reluctance to apply
that to a person than to a thing.
Politeness plays a great part in
idiom, & to write The ladies that
were present, or The general that most
distinguished himself, is perhaps felt
to be a sort of slight, depriving them
of their humanity as one deprives
a man of his gentility by writing
him Mr instead of Esq. At any
rate the necessarily defining that is
displaced by the not necessarily
defining who especially where the
personal noun to be defined denotes
a particular person or persons, &
holds its own better when the person
is a type or generic. In It was you
that did it, the It defined is the doer—
a type, not an individual ; & such
antecedents as all, no-one, a
ask for nothing better than that.
Expressions in which we may PF ete *
that without being suspected or
pedantry are : The most impartial
critic that could be found ; The y
man that I know of ; Anyone that
knows anything knows this ; It was
you that said so ; Who is it thatt
about moral geography ?. *
crease by degrees the range .
referring to persons 1S ..%
violent attempts are
failure. Accordingly, in the foil
WHICH WITH AND
u- t ;r- t’ — exhibiting a wrong
which, that should be sparingly pre-
ferred to who, though it is in all of them
strictly legitimate :—The greater pro -
portion of Consols are held by persons
or corporations which neverplacethem
on the market {that, the only relative
applicable to both persons & things,
is here specially suitab le)./With the
Allies moving forward against an
enemy which has nowhere been able to
make a successful stand (who )./They
are harassing an enemy which is mav-
ing in the open (who )./Among other
distinguished visitors which the Craw-
J°l ds had at Rome was Longfellow
(that)./^4 woman who is devoted to the
many dear noble friends, famous in
art, science, <& literature, which she
possesses (whom).
OR BUT
which with and or but. It is well
known that and which & but which
are kittle cattle, so well known that
tne more timid writers avoid the
dangers associated with them bv
keeping clear of them altogether--
hurS^f? ? ay be in gIorious,
cult. Others, less pusillanimous or
“° re , f ao . rant » their trust in a
nje of ttumb & take the risks.
I hat rule is that and which or but
whfrh i h ° Uld be j US f d only if another
which has preceded. It is not true •
wlthnnl Ch clause ®. ma y be legitimate
natural if illogical corollary4hat
another which b J p'SSi-in.
duces a false security that begets
it a nrn^ ! m detS * 0n the ° ther ^nd,
and-whichs than it produces. Any¬
one who asks no more of a rule of
thumb than that it should save him
the trouble of working out his
Sah^T 8 se P? ratel y» & take him
right more often than it takes him
wrong, should abandon the present
article at this point. P rese nt
Those for whom such a rule is not
good enough may be encouraJId &
SmST 1 not * fe - B 5 ntences in which
it has not averted disaster:_ The
Mjcui OJ m. roineare for the office for
which he has put himself forward —
* wbi .ch, b y th e way, he has been
much criticized—would be regarded as
an Anii-R p. triumph./A special
su PP° rt & sympathy
should be extended to the Navy &
Admiralty, wliich have certainly
never been more in need of it, & to
th A fy have never been more
entitled than today./After a search
*°T. V™l ra l da y s he found a firm
which had a large quantity of them
& which they had no use for./A
P e Jl od xn which at times the most
ungenerous ideas db the most ignoble
aims have strutted across the stage,
& which have promptly been ex-
Ploited by unscrupulous journalists db
politicians. True, it is easy to see
^ a11 these, viz that the
cedent, & to say that common sense
is to be expected of those who apply
1 - bU J * hen rules of thumb are
meant just for those who have not
tW g ^ C ° mi ? 0n sense to do without
them, & ought to be made foolproof.
Here, on the other hand, are ex¬
amples in which there is no pre-
ccdmg winch & yet and which is
blameless '.—Mandates issued, which
the member is bound blindly db im-
phcUly to obey, to vote db to argue for,
victinn the clea ™ st con*
°f his Judgment db conscience—
these are things utterly unknown to
land ’ and which arise
llh i fundamental mistake of the
(BURKF? ° f our Constitution
dlce > most extensive prevalence
and which had a great share in pro¬
ancients in their 'physical inquiries
S *\, M T *'/ /n
ithm the London area but
Which require more than three pennies
Br&n ^ ^Mr
umk/J/r. *? lhe ear ‘y evening a
flrSt , °l these is from Burke
the second from Mill, & the othei
WHICH WITH AND
OR BUT
718
two from the most ordinary modern
writing. Supporters of the rule of
thumb will tind it more difficult to
appeal here to common sense, <fc will
perhaps say instead that, no matter
who wrote them, they are wrong ;
it will be maintained below that
they are right. The rule of thumb
fails, as such rules are apt to do, for
want of essential qualifications or
exceptions. The first qualification
needed is that the which that has
preceded must belong to the same
antecedent as the one that is to be
attached by and or but ; our set of
wrong examples would have been
written otherwise if that had been
part of the rule. The next amend¬
ment is both more important &, to
the lovers of simple easy rules, more
discouraging : the 4 another which ’
that was to be the test must be
changed to 4 a clause or expression
of the same grammatical value as
the coming te/ucft-clause ’. Now
what is of the same grammatical
value as a which- clause is either
another zo/ric/i-clause or its equiva¬
lent, & its equivalent may be an
adjective or participle with its be¬
longings ( utterly unknown to the laws
of this land ; discovered by Mr B. in
the summer), or an adjectival phrase
(of most extensive prevalence ; within
the London area) ; for before these
there might be inserted which are,
which was, &c., without any effect
on the meaning. But, secondly,
what is of the same grammatical
value as the which- clause that is
coming is an expression that agrees
with it in being of the defining, or
of the non-defining, kind ; i.e., two
defining expressions may be linked
by and or but, & so may two non¬
defining, but a defining & a non¬
defining must not.
A defining expression is one that
is inserted for the purpose of en¬
abling the reader to identify the
thing to which it is attached by
answering about it such questions
as which -?, what -— what
sort of-?. If the Burke quota¬
tion had stopped short at things
(Mandates ... are things.), we should
have said No doubt they are things,
but what sort of things ? we cannot
tell what sort of things Burke has in
mind till the expressions meaning
4 unknown to law ’ & 4 arising from
mistake ’ identify them for us ; both
expressions are therefore of the
defining kind, & legitimately linked
by and ; whether which occurs in
both, or only in one, is of no impor¬
tance. In that example there can,
owing to the vagueness of the
antecedent things , be no sort of
doubt that the expressions are de¬
fining. Often there is no such
comfortable certainty ; in the Mill
sentence, for instance, 4 another
natural prejudice ’ is not a vague
description like things, demanding
definition before we know where we
are with it ; if the sentence had run
simply Another natural prejudice
was this , we should not have sus¬
pected a lacuna ; it cannot be said
with confidence whether the two
expressions were defining, so that
the summary might be Another
natural, widespread, db fatal prejudice
was this, or non-defining, so that it
would be Another natural prejudice
cfc it was a widespread cfc fatal one
was this. It is clear, however, that
whichever 4 of most extensive pre¬
valence ’ is the wAic/i-clause is also,
& the and which is legitimate. It
was because it is not always possible
to say whether clauses & expressions
of the kind we are considering are
defining or non-defining that tbe
phrase 4 inserted for the purpose o
enabling the reader to identify was
so worded ; the difference is often
though not usually, a matter of t
writer’s intention. ,
After these explanations the rule,
as now amended, can be set do •
And which or but which should not be
used unless the coming winch- -clause
has been preceded by a claus
expression of the same grammatical
value as itself. And a reasonable
addition to this is the warning
though the linking of a retobve
oinnen *n. o vs>dl1v narallel express
WHICH WITH AND
719
OR BUT
that is not a relative clause is
logically & grammatically permis¬
sible, it has often an ungainly effect
& is not unlikely to convict the
writer of carelessness ; if he had
foreseen that a relative clause was
to come (& not to foresee is careless¬
ness), he could usually have paved
the way for it by throwing his first
expression into the same form.
It may possibly be noticed by
persons who have read other parts
of the book that so far that has not
been mentioned in this article,
though defining & non-definino
clauses have been in question. That
is so ; it has been assumed, to suit
the large number of people for whom
the relative that hardly exists in
print, that which is the only relative
ijor the advantages of recognizing
that & giving it its fair share of work,
especially that of distinguishing the
dehningfromthe non-defining clause,
see THAT REL. PEON. ; & i n what
lollows, which will consist largelv
of bad and-which or but-which clauses
with corrections, the assumption
will be, on the contrary, that which
& that are, with some special excep-
V° r respectively the non-defining
& the defining relatives.
Quotations will be arranged, with
a view to their serving a practical
purpose, in groups for each of which
a particular cure is the best or
simplest, & not according to the
necessitat es a change,
out, that any doubts about the
Kjf* ma y be resolved, an index
letter appended to each quotation
will refer to the following table •
A. No preceding parallel clause or
equivalent
S' Site ™ 111 antecedents
C. Defining & non-defining expres-
sions linked p
S' Srru ™! 1 1 nst ead of that
F P re feding (see what 4)
Kl ght but ungainly
There is often room for difference
of opinion either about the fault
ound or about the remedy offered
tive pronoun who. op th*
adverb where (= at or in which ) plays
a part instead of which or that but
need cause no difficulty.
USE DEMONSTRATIVE IN¬
STEAD OF RELATIVE
1 h ? ve als ° much Russian literature
on that subject, but from which, out
of respect to certain English * pre¬
judices, I forbear to quote (C : from
this)./Every male Kaffir must go to
a Pass Office & obtain a form, which
he presents to his employer imme¬
diately he enters his employ, & who
keeps it as long as the Kaffir is with
him (A ; & the latter)./TAe tunnel
will be closed daily for several hours
whilst the work is in progress, & which
is expected to take two years (A :
& this)./At one time there was a drop
of something over 35 per cent, but
from which point there has been
a recovery (A ; from that )./I n the
next act—Athens during the Trojan
War—w e meet Diogenes, & are
entertained by many clever allusions
Grc - ck m y thol °gy> & where
millionaire tourist falls in love
Mntn Helen f Troy (A » & there)./
Motor-car accessories have been taxed
in America, in the belief that the
5 per cent would be absorbed by the
makers or dealers, but which in
reality is being passed on to the
consumer (A ; but in reality it).
OMIT THE RELATIVE
A book the contributors to which
'ome from many different countHes,
™ h r l . c J}. nec essanly impose some re¬
writing) \./liow different from hers is
Saint Augustine’s, whose ‘ ConfeT.
SIOTIS CLTE thp. iiTof _,_* ^ «
T 6 the fi rst au t°biography &
to distinguish them
they are addressed d&X to God
Erection
shtuld’be’ f W !f cb .’ V£ <ven effecUo,
effectual Juffl-\%%Tey a °r{
Duffenn’s hands in the autumn of
WHICH WITH AND
720
OR BUT
1882 , & which, so far as I am aware,
have not yet been published (A ; &,
so far )./That is a speech that might
have been delivered by one of the
Labour leaders , but which, in spite
of its emphatic language, ended in
smoke (D ; but, in)./The first peer
was Attorney General in the first
Reform Government, & who developed
into what Greville calls ‘ a Radical oj
considerable vehemence ’ (A; & de¬
veloped).
USE A THAT IN THE FIRST
EXPRESSION ONLY
This does not include the amount
payable in respect of the buildings &
improvements erected & provided
during the past year, & which were
not the property of the company
vendors (D ; that were erected . . .
& were not). /I have carefully noted
the earnest & sagacious advice con¬
stantly given in your columns to the
Ottoman Government, & which may
be summed up in the phrase ‘ Put
your house in order ’ (D ; that has
constantly been given ... & may)./
The ‘ Matin ’ details the policy
agreed upon at yesterday’s meeting
of the Cabinet, & which the French
Government will pursue in dealing
with the grave problem of Reparations
(D ; that was agreed upon . . . &
will be pursued by). When both
expressions are defining, if the first
is not a clause, the unfortunate
result follows that the second re¬
quires a that far removed from its
antecedent, on which point see that
eel. pron. 4 ; correction may entail
a change of voice or some other
detail, as shown above.
OMIT THE AND OR BUT
Vastly the greater number of mis¬
takes, whether they are of the worse
or the more venial kinds, can be
treated thus, but the number of
examples need not be correspond-
ingly greater :— Again, take Pascal ,
the praise of whom in Sainte-Beuve
never rings true, & who sees in the
* Pensdes ’ which Pascal crowded into
his short life mainly attacks on Papal
Catholicism (B ; whom is Pascal,
but who is Sainte-Beuve ; who
without the and is bad enough ; it
should really be for he sees)./He has
attempted to give an account of certain
events of which , without doubt, the
enemy knew the true version, & which
version is utterly at variance with
everything that fell from my hon.
friend (B ; the writer has tried to
mend things by putting in the second
version, but failed ; omit that as well
as and)./His Majesty then took up
the case of the Dartmoor Shepherd,
who had been three times in the
Church Army, & whose officers had
failed to produce any lasting results
upon the shepherd (B)./Large crowds
congregated in the vicinity of the
Dublin Mansion House last night,
where the James Connolly anniversary
concert was to have been held, & which
was proclaimed (A)./So he sent him
what he spoke of to Forster as a
‘ severe rating ’, but which was in
reality the mildest of remonstrances
(E )./Mr Asquith said he would be
glad to go into the question later in
order to justify every statement he had
made, & every recommendation he had
ever suggested to the House with
regard to Iraq during the last four
years, and which were absolutely
consistent with the pledges given by
the Governments of the past (C).
USE (THAT) . . . WHICH
The class to which 1 belong & which
has made great sacrifices will not be
sufferers under the new plan (C;
class I belong to, which). /No-one
can fail to be struck by the immense
improvement which they have wrought
in the condition of the people, &
which often is quite irrespective oj
the number of actual converts (C *
improvement they have . . whic
is)./The Pan-German papers are
calling for the resignation of Herr von
rr •• i i__ Of IflC
Kuhlmann in consequence or
speeches which he has just made
the Reichstag, & in which he odmitt
that it was impossible for Germany
win by force of arms (D ; speech
to
| that he
in which).
WHICH WITH AND OR BUT
721
ADVANCE THE WHICH INTO
THE FIRST EXPRESSION
If this is done the which after and
&c. may be omitted or retained as
seems best i — The enormous wire
nets, marked by long lines of floating
barrels 6s buoys, & which reach to the
bottom of the sea, were pointed out to
me (F ; which are marked . . &
reach )./Mr Corbett's Nelson is a very
great commander, bountifully endowed
with that indispensable gift, a sound
imagination ’, but who scorned to
rely upon mere uncorroborated insight
(F ; who was bountifully . . M but
scorned )./Hallam, that most impas¬
sive of writers, & whose Liberalism
would at the present day be regarded
as tepid, tells us that ... (A ; who
was the most . . & whose)./^
Byzantine cross, reported to be
valued at £250,000 , & which belonged
to a church in the province of Aquila,
has to be returned to the parish
priest (F ; which is reported .... &
which).
Anyone who has lasted out to this
point may like to finish up with
a few specimens of exceptional
interest or difficulty, to be dealt
with according to taste :—
^With what difficulty had any of
these men to contend, save that
eternal & mechanical one of want of
means & lack of capital, 6s of which
thousands of young lawyers, young
doctors, young soldiers & sailors, of
inventors, manufacturers, shop¬
keepers, have to complain ? — Thack-
vray ,/N othi ng would gratify, or
serve the purpose of, our enemies so
much as would a panic in the capital
ot the Empire, as a result of their
murderous aircraft attacks, 6s which
might involve serious national con¬
sequences./An amendment setting
forth that the Government’s action
J? accordance with the strict
Constitutional practice of the coun-
try & is the only method by which the
will of the people as expressed by
the majority of the elected repre-
““ ta ^ vea °. f the House of Commons
can be made effective, and among
WHILE
the good consequences of which will be
that the absolute veto of an unrepre¬
sentative & hereditary Chamber
will for ever cease to exist./But the
review contains several criticisms
which are uncalled-for, incorrect,
and to which I wish to take excep-
tion./Dealings are allowed in securi¬
ties in such cases as those where
negotiations between buyer & seller
had been in course before the close
of the House, but which were not
completed by three o’clock./Mr
De Havilland made a preliminary
test with consummate success, and
which was all the more impressive as
the craft went through it in a casual
way./Bulgaria announces a Servian
repulse with severe losses at Koch-
ana, where the fourth & fifth Bulgar
armies are uniting, and which is only
some twenty miles distant from
Ishtib./It is precisely in those trades
m which unionism is the strongest
that we have the most stability and
m which we have made the greatest
advance./I got him to play in one
of the charity matches at Lord’s
many of which were held during
the war, and by which means we
raised a good deal of money.
whichever, which ever. See ever.
while (or whilst) is a conjunction of
the kind called strong or subordinat¬
ing* i.e. one that attaches a clause
to a word or a sentence, not a weak
or coordinating conjunction that
joms two things of equal gram¬
matical value ; it is comparable,
that is, with if & although , not with
iminrf° r ’ T1 i e dis ^ inction of some
importance to what follows. No-
tfirng, perhaps, is more characteristic
Jabbier kind of journalese
that winch is described by the OED
as colourless \ The stages of de¬
gradation may be thus exhibited :_
l. temporal strong conjunction =
during the time that: J While she
m? ihe UaTS “w* running down.
“kj” 1 ? 1 * o* 1 s And while is being
noticed just now the advance Germany
WHILE
722
& other nations are making in aerial
navigation, zve see that . . .
3. Non-temporal strong conjunc¬
tion in contrasts, = whereas : While
this is true of some, it is not true of all.
4. Strong conjunction with correct
ellipsis : While walking in the road
he was run over (— while he was
walking).
5. Strong conjunction with incor¬
rect ellipsis of two kinds (a) disregard
of the full form, (b) wrongly attached
participle &c., see Unattached :
But while being in agreement with
Sir Max Waechter's main thesis,
1 am bound to confess my opinion
that he .. . (the full form is not while
1 am being, but while 1 am, which
should be used without ellipsis)./TFe
abide by that generous gesture, &
while being prepared to remit all that
our Allies owe to us ... we ask only
that they should . . . Omit being./
While willing to sincerely sympathize
with those who would suffer by such
an order, they can only console them¬
selves with the thought how lucky they
have been that the fortunes of war
have not affected them sooner (the
full form would be not while they are
willing, which could be got from
what follows, but while I am or we
are willing, which cannot, so that
willing is wrongly attached ; read
while we are willing)./Whilst admit¬
ting that much could still be done to
speed up the production, it is absurd
to suggest that . . . (this contains both
faults, a & b ; read whilst we admit)./
While battling savagely inside the
northern ditch of the Fort to extend the
footing he had gained, repeated at¬
tacks were made in force from
Caillette wood (what is to be under¬
stood between while & battling ?)./
An action was brought on account of
injuries received in an accident whilst
being driven in one of the company's
cars (were the injuries or the accident
or the action being driven ?).
6. Strong conjunction playing the
part of weak, i. e. introducing what
may be defended as a subordinate
clause but is in sense a coordinate
sentence ; the 4 colourless ’ use, =
and, so common in bad newspaper
writing that illustration is almost
superfluous : White outfought Ritchie
in nearly every round, & the latter
bled profusely , while both his eyes were
nearly closed at the end.
7. The same as 6, but with the
defence prevented by the interroga¬
tive form of the while sentence;=
and : There is surely in this record
a plain hint to the twin-Protectionist
members for the City , Mr Balfour &
Sir Frederick Banbury; while was
it not Disraeli who in 1842 admir¬
ingly traced the close connexion of the
Tory Party with Free Trade prin¬
ciples ?/We can only console our¬
selves with the thought that the German
people are also 4 slaves * on this
showing ; whilst what are we to think
of a House of Lords which permitted
this Slavery Act to become law ?
8. Use as Formal word or Ele¬
gant variation for and, with com¬
plete abandonment of the strong
conjunction character : Archbishops,
bishops, & earls were allowed eight
dishes ; lords, abbots, & deans six;
while mere burgesses, or other 4 sub-
stantious ’ men, whether spiritual or
temporal, no more than three./1 he
initial meridian to be that of Green-
wich, while the descriptive text to be in
the language of the nation concerned.
whilom. For the adverbial use
(the wistful eyes that w. glanced down),
see Wardour Street ; for the ad¬
jectival (a w. medical man), late.
whilst. See while.
whin. See furze.
whine. Adj . -ny ; -ey & -y.
whinny, vb. For inflexions see
/erbs in -ie &c., 6. ,.
whip. Whip hand, not whip-hand ,
ee Hyphens 3 B.
whirlwind. See wind, n.
whir(r). The second r is now usual,
n the noun as well as in the verb.^
whisht, whist, mt. The firs
ecommended. f
whisky, -ey. The OED treats the
irst as the standard D ,
whiskyfled. For spelling see -fied.
whit. See Wardour Street.
WHIT
723
WHO & WHOM
Whit. The forms recommended
are Whit Sunday, Whit Monday,
&c.. Whit-week, Whitsuntide. The
adjective is Whit (i. e. white), & the
word Whitsun is a curtailment of
Whit Sunday, used attributively in
the forms Whitsun Monday, Whitsun
week. It is true that Whit with
other words than Sunday is merely
a further curtailment of Whit Sun-
duy j but, as Whit Monday is now
established, it is better to prefer
Whit to Whitsun wherever the latter
is not, as in Whitsuntide, too firmly
m possession to be evicted. It must
be remembered, however, that Whit¬
sun- Week & Whit-Sunday are the
Prayer-Book forms, & that the
Oxford Almanack prints Whitsun
vay, so that the advice given above
can be neglected without danger.
It was designed to suit modern
convenience & pronunciation ; the
Oxford Whitsun Day implies two
accents, neither of them on -sun-,
5 Prayer-Book Whit-Sunday
implies (see Hyphens) at most a
secondary accent on -sun-, whereas
n modern speech -sun- bears the
r e l, aCCent - The Whitsun forms
mTS^ eir j UrV1Val P artl y aJ so to the
English popular etymology ’—Skeat)
from German Pfingsten- pentecost .
HJK®, a x d P’ makes whity ; -ey & -y.
FO?^ Vb * SeC " EN VERBS.
chalwL n ?? D m ? anin 8 Prepared
aAifing; but it is being ousted by
thelTrh g: perha P s Partly because
M A SC 1 distinction
See WHENCE.
WWtsun, whity. See
^miTE(N), Whit, white adi.
i^ndid ' The Single z “ recom-
fons t o wW lu tbe verb inflex -
where is doubtless due; -z-, -zz-.
questing W ? 0m ‘ 1 • Miscellaneous
3S? 2 - Youn S F "-
defining. 4. And or but who(m).
5. Person & number of wholm)
6. Personification. 7. Who(m) &
participle. v ’
1. Miscellaneous questions of case.
Who .being subjective & whom
vpJv Ct i>M & En gbsh-speakers being
very little conversant with case-
forms, mistakes are sure to occur.
One is of importance as being extra-
ordinanly common, & is taken by
^ P 2 5 the others can be
quickly disposed of here.
The interrogative who is often used
in talk where grammar demands
whom, as in Who did you hear that
from?. No further defence than
colloquial is needed for this, &
in the sort of questions that occur in
pnnted matter other than dialogue
the liberty is seldom taken. The
opposite mistake of a wrong whom
is not uncommon in indirect ques-
V loas ' Examples are ’.—Speculation
is still rife as to whom will captain
the English side to Australia./There
is quite a keen rivalry between father
<& son as to whom is to secure the
greater share of distinction as a cattle-
breeder./There has been some specu¬
lation as to whom the fifth repre-
sentative from South Africa was./
The French-Canadian, who had learn¬
ed whom the visitors were, tried to
apologize to Prince Albert . The
mistake is a bad one, but fortunatelv
so elementary that it is nearly con¬
fined to sports-reporters & patrons
of the as-to style (see as 3), & needs
no discussion.
The relative who now & then slips
m for whom, giving the educated
reader a shock ; so :—». . . qyi the
charge of * feloniously receiving, com¬
forting, harbouring, assisting, db
maintaining one Hawley Cnipen
then knew to ha ve com¬
mitted the murder of his wife './There
is the Lord Chancellor, for example,
who m other days we knew as
Galloper Smith./As Mr Benin re¬
minds those who in other circum¬
stances we should call his followers
the agreement provided for . . That
is a mistake that Rhnl _
WHO & WHOM, 2
in print ; & at least as bad is the
making of one whom serve two
clauses of which the first requires it
as the object, & the second as
subject ; this practice is untidy
enough with words that, like which
& that, have only one form for both
cases (see that rel. pron. 5,
which 2), but is still worse with
ivho & whom ; the correct form
should invariably be inserted in the
second clause when a different case
is wanted :— He ran upstairs &
kissed two children whom he only
faintly recognized, db yet were cer¬
tainly his own./But there has emerged
to the final a Spaniard, in Sehor
Alonso, whom few people would have
supposed to have a good chance a
fortnight ago but is delighting the
advocates of the older style by the
beauty & rhythm of his strokes.
For the incorrect formula whom
failing, see Absolute construc¬
tion ; & for than whom see than 6.
2. Young Ferdinand, whom they
suppose is drown'd. —Tempest in.
iii. 92. It was said in 1 that the
question between who & whom
illustrated by this Shakspere quota¬
tion is of importance. That is be¬
cause the whom form, though
probably no grammarian would
have a word to say for it, is now so
prevalent in the newspapers that
there is real danger of its becoming
one of those Sturdy indefensibles
of which the fewer we have the
better, & of good writers’ taking to
it under the hypnotism of repetition.
We have not come to that pass yet ;
good writers keep clear of it; but
it is high time for emphatic protests.
What makes people write whom in
such sentences ? In the Shakspere,
the preceding words are ‘ while I
visit’, so that Ferdinand is objective;
the relative, which should be who
as subject to is drown'd, may have
become whom by attraction to the
case of Ferdinand ; or by confusion
with another way of putting the
thing— whom they suppose (to be)
drown'd ; or again a writer may
have a general impression that with
724
M _WHO & WHOM,:
who & whom to choose between it is
usually safer to play whom except
where an immediately following
verb decides at once for who. Any
of these influences may be at work,
but none of them can avail as a
defence against the plain fact that
the relative is the subject of its
clause ; nor can Shakspere’s author¬
ity protect the modern solecist j did
not the Revisers, in an analogous
case, correct the whom of a more
familiar & sacred sentence (But
whom say ye that 1 am ?—Matt,
xvi. 15) into conformity with modern
usage ? Of the newspaper extracts
that follow, the earlier show easily
intelligible whoms, because an active
verb follows that could be supposed
by a very careless person to be
governing it, while in the later ones
a passive verb or something equi¬
valent puts that explanation out of
court :—Madame Vandervelde spoke
for women, whom, she claimed, most
hated war because they suffered most
from it./Mr Austen Chamberlain,
whom we are glad to see has returned
to lead the House./Success depended
entirely upon the attitude of the
Prussians, whom Pitt believed would
assist him, but whom Mr Fortescue
knows well could never be depended
upon./The witness was Admiral
Birileff, whom the Kaiser well knew
was a thoroughly improper person to
witness a document of the kind./The
letter gives the name of a wan whom
the writer alleges was responsible for
the child's death./Arrangements were
made to accommodate a few ladies
whom it was certain would not be
likely to raise any Suffragist inter¬
ruption. /Lord Justice Younger , whom
it is rumoured may be nominated for
the Lord-Chancellor ship./Mr Asquith,
a statesman whom we are convinced
will be more honoured by posterity
than by the present generation./A very
modern Japanese, one whom it may
be observed spoke English fluently./
Amongst others whom it is hoped wn
be among the guests are . . ./Mention
was made of 4 Ayesha ’, whom w
alleged meant Mrs Bryce .
WHO & WHOM, 2
725
WHO & WHOM, 4
After reading these we can perhaps
fix upon the vague impression that
whom is more likely beforehand to
be right as probably the decisive
influence ; but it need hardly be
said that slapdash procedure of that
kind deserves no mercy when it fails.
That every whom in those quotations
ought to be who is beyond question,
& to prove it is waste of time since
the offenders themselves would
admit the offence ; they commit it
because they prefer gambling on
probabilities to working out a cer¬
tainty.
As, however, an unsound proof is
worse than no proof at all, dis¬
crediting the truth that depends
on it when itself discredited, an
argument sometimes used in this
matter should be abandoned. It is
that the necessity of the correct
form (whether who or whom) is shown
when it is realized that the words
between who(m) & what decides its
case are parenthetic— Ferdinand who
{they suppose) is drown'd . It is true
that that analysis is much more
often possible than impossible, e. g.
in all the above examples ; it is even
sometimes, though rarely, probable,
e. g. in the first (Vandervelde)
example ; but it is often impossible,
as in ; Jones, who I never thought
was in the running, has won. That
sentence is built up thus. Jones
has won; I never thought that
Jones was in the running : Jones,
I never thought (that) who was in
the running, has won : Jones, who
I never thought was in the running,
has won. No parenthesis there;
nor, surely, in most examples where
it is logically possible. A single live
example of the impossible paren¬
thesis is : Cambridge's Vice-Chan¬
cellor lumped all these interesting &
inspiring folk together as ‘ foreigners
& others , whom he did not intend
should desecrate Cambridge by their
presence on a Sunday. Whom should
be who , not on the parenthesis
argument, since ‘ he did not intend *
cannot be parenthetic, but because
the object of did not intend is the
clause ‘ that who should desecrate ’.
The argument from parenthesis is
unsound, unless indeed its cham¬
pions are prepared to support it
seriously by the analogy of ‘ You
are a beauty, I don’t think ’, where
the essential main statement is play¬
fully dressed up as a parenthesis.
But it is as true that who is the only
right case in the quoted sentences
as if the parenthesis argument were
unassailable.
3. Who{m) defining & non-defining.
As has been suggested in which)
(that)(who, 9, the thing to aim at
is the establishment of that as the
universal defining relative, with
which & who(m) as the non-defining
for things & persons respectively.
That consummation will not be
brought about just yet ; but we
contribute our little towards it every
time we write The greatest poet that
ever lived, or The man that I found
confronting me, instead of using who
& whom; see which)(that)(who
9 & 3. Failing the use of that as the
only defining relative, it is parti¬
cularly important to see that who
defining shall not, & who non¬
defining shall, have a comma before
it. Readers of the 4 Westminster
who are also readers at the great
Bloomsbury institution, will be able
to admire the new decorations for
themselves. Those wrong commas
(see Stops, Commas C) make the
sentence imply that all readers of
Westminster* frequent the
British Museum.
4. And or but who(m). The use of
these is naturally attended by the
same dangers as that of and which.
These have been fully discussed
under wmcH with and, & nothing
need here be added beyond a few
specimens containing who(m) : the
letters, appended refer to the table
ot faults in which with and (see
p. 719) :— Alfred Beasley was ex¬
amined as to a meeting at which Mrs
Fankhurst was present & a note of
whose speech he had taken (A)./A
fetter spco&s of the sorrows of children
which their nanntji nr* __
WHO & WHOM, 5 726 WHO & WHOM, 7
assuage , & who have little experience
of the joys of childhood ( 8)./They
have noticed the apparent importance
which these men seem to occupy in
the councils of the nation, and who
are granted passports to Russia, in
order to assist our Ally in settling his
domestic difficulties ! (A)./The work¬
ing classes, for long in enjoyment of
all the blessings of ‘ Tariff Reform ’,
& who are therefore fully competent
to appreciate their value, are moving
ivith a startling rapidity towards
Socialism ( F)./We should be glad of
further assistance to pay the cost of
putting up relatives of men who live
in the provinces, & to whom we like
to extend invitations to come & stay
near them for a few days at a time
(B). In this last, the antecedent of
who is men, but that of whom is
relatives.
5. Person & number of who(m).
To me, who has also a copy of it, it
seems a somewhat trivial fragment.
Read have ; the relatives take the
person of their antecedents ; the
Lord’s Prayer & the Collects, with
which art, who shewest, & scores of
other examples, are overwhelming
evidence that who is not a third-
person word, but a word of which¬
ever person is appropriate.
The relatives take also the number
of their antecedents—a rule broken
in : The death of Dr Clifford removes
one of the few Free Churchmen whose
work had given him a national repu¬
tation. The antecedent of whose is
not one, but Churchmen, whereas the
use of him instead of them shows
that the writer assigned whose to
one ; read either removes a Church¬
man whose work had given him, or
removes one of the few Churchmen
whose work has given them.
A less simple point is raised by :—
I cannot help feeling that some of us
who feel as strongly as 1 do that the
Lord Chamberlain's authority ought
to be swept away are malcing our¬
selves a little ridiculous by protesting
at the appointment of Mr Brookfield./
A1I of us who have not the oppor¬
tunities which Mr Jonescu has
enjoyed wish to know all that we
can of the personality of the men who
play a great part in the world. In
these the ourselves & the we show
that who is to be taken as first-
personal ; its antecedents, however,
are some, & all, not us, & ourselves
& we should in strict grammar be
themselves & they. The writers have
treated some of us, & all of us, as=
we people, & all we. That will pass
if the first writer means (which is
a little doubtful) that he too is
making himself ridiculous. The
question sometimes arises in con¬
texts where more turns on the
person of who(m) than here.
6. Personification. Who(m) must
be ventured on in personifications
only with great caution. It will be
admitted that in the following who is
intolerable, & which the right word:
The joint operation for ‘ pinching out'
the little kingdom of Serbia, who had the
audacity to play in the Balkan Penin¬
sula a part analogous to that which the
little kingdom of Piedmont had played
in the old days in Italy. Yet, if we had
had little Serbia instead of the little
kingdom of Serbia, who might have
passed. Again, when we say that
a ship has lost her rudder, we per¬
sonify ; yet, though She had lost her
rudder is good English, The ship,
who had lost her rudder is not, nor
even The Arethusa, who &c. ; both
these can do with her, but not with
who ; possibly Arethusa, who (& the
naval writers drop the the with
ships’ names) is blameless ; if so>
it is because the name standing a |^ n ®
emphasizes personification, which
must not be half-hearted or dubious
if who is to follow. See Peesoni-
F 7 ^W°ho(m) & participle. I have
been particularly struck by the un
selfishness of the majority of sons a
daughters, many of whom even * "
maining unmarried because thy
lacked the wherewithal to do more than
help their parents. The mistake h
been treated under which 1.
many of them, remaining, or many oj
whom remain.
WHOEVER
727
WHOSE
whoever &c. 1. Forms. 2. Who
ever)(whoever. 3. Case.
1. Forms. Subjective : whoever,
whosoever (literary), who-e'er (poet.),
whoso (arch.). Objective : whom¬
ever (rare), whoever (colloq.), whom¬
soever (literary), whomsoever (poet.),
whomso (arch.). Possessive: whose-
ever, whoever's (colloq.), whosesoever
(literary).
2. Who ever)(whoever . See ever.
Whoever can it be ? is illiterate, &
Who ever can it be ? is colloquial
only. In print, when an emphasiz¬
ing ever is used, it should not come
next to who ; correct the following
to But who could ever &c. : But
whoever could have supposed that the
business interests which are threatened
would not have organized to resist ?
3. Case. “ For whoever was re¬
sponsible for that deliberate lie there
can be no forgiveness.” The review¬
er who quotes these words does so
after saying ‘ His views on . . . are
by an accident ungrammatical, but
vigorous ’. Obviously there is no-
thing ungrammatical in the sentence
unless whoever is so, & we must
conclude that the reviewer would
have written whom-ever or whomso¬
ever, & that the subjective case
therefore requires defence. The
defence is not difficult, & whom-ever
would be wrong. This, the ordinary
use of the pronoun, should be dis¬
tinguished from (a) the incorrect
interrogative use mentioned in 2 &
(b) the concessive use as in Whoever
consents, I refuse ; apart from these,
whoever is a relative that resembles
what in containing its antecedent in
itself; as what— that which, so
whoever—any person who ; the that
& the which of what may or may not
be in the same case, & similarly the
any person & the who of whoever are
often in different cases ; but the
case of whoever is that of the who ,
not that of the any person, that is*
it is decided by the relative clause,
not by the main sentence: He
asked whom-ever he met, but He
asked whoever came near him ; For
whomever he met he had a nod.
but For whoever met him he had
a nod.
wholly. So spelt, but pronounced
as if it were wholely & normally
formed like palely, vilely, & solely ;
see Mute e.
whom. See who.
whortleberry. Pronounce wer-.
whose. 1. General. 2. Whose = of
which.
1. General. The word is naturally
liable to some of the same misuses
as who, which need not be here
discussed separately ; see who &
whom, 3-6. Even the making of
whose serve in two clauses requiring
different cases (cf. who & whom, 1)
is not unexampled : The whole
scheme may be likened to the good
intentions of the dear old lady whose
concern for the goldfish led her to put
hot water into their bowl one winter's
day, & was grievously surprised
when they died.
2. Whose = of which. A literary
critic observes of an author : ‘His
style is clear & flexible ; yet it still
needs a little clarifying—weeding
out “ whose ” as a relative pronoun
of the inanimate, & the like ’. If
one knows neither who the author
nor who the critic is, one cannot
help suspecting that the flexibility
commended may owe something to
the condemned whose ; in the starch
that stiffens English style one of the
most effective ingredients is the rule
that whose shall refer only to per¬
sons ; to ask a man to write flexible
English, but forbid him whose * as
a relative pronoun of the inanimate \
is like sending a soldier on ‘ active ’
service & insisting that his tunic
collar shall be tight & high ; activity
& stocks do not agree. If the reader
will glance at the specimens of * late
position of which ’ given in which 6
he will see how cumbrous a late-
placed relative is ; now insistence
on of which instead of whose accounts
for more late-placed relatives than
anything else ; whose would often
replace not only of which, but in
&c. which ; even the specimens just
WHOSE
728
referred
selected
to, though they were
long before the present
article was designed, supply illustra¬
tions of that ; ‘ This book, from the-
concentrated - harvest-of-wisdom-in-
which we ’ would become ‘ This
book, from whose concentrated
harvest of wisdom we
The
camera, the-remarkable-&-convinc-
ing-evidence-it-has-been-possible-to-
obtain-with-which has ’ would be¬
come 4 The camera, whose remark¬
able & convincing evidence has *.
To take everyday samples instead
of such monstrosities, would not
4 Courts whose jurisdiction % & 4 a
game of whose rules it is ignorant ’
be clear improvements in the
following ?— The civilians managed
to retain their practice in Courts the
jurisdiction of which was not based
on the Common Law./In Whistler v.
Ruskin—the subject of a most enter¬
taining paper—we have the law stand¬
ing as umpire in a game of the rules
of which it is quite ignorant. Of
course they would, & of the con¬
venience of whose = of &c. which
there can really be no question ;
nor is the risk of ambiguity worth
considering, so rare is it in com¬
parison with that of artificial
clumsiness. The tabooing of whose
inanimate is on a level with that of
the Preposition at end ; both are
great aids to flexibility ; both are
well established in older as well as in
colloquial English ; My thought,
Whose murder yet is but fantastical
(Macbeth), & The fruit Of that for¬
bidden tree whose mortal taste Brought
death into the world (Paradise Lost),
are merely the first instances that
come to mind. The Milton happens
to be a little out of the ordinary in
that whose is not a mere possessive,
but an objective genitive ; but that
even such a use is not obsolete is
shown by the following from a news¬
paper: Sir William Harcourt thrice
refused an earldom , whose acceptance
he feared might be a barrier to his
son’s political career.
Let us, in the name of common
sense, prohibit the prohibition of
whose inanimate ; good writing is
surely difficult enough without the
forbidding of things that have his-
toncal grammar, & present intelligi.
bility, & obvious convenience, on
their side, & lack only—starch.
why. PI. whys.
wicker makes -ered ; see -R-, -br-.
wide. 1. For the distinction be¬
tween w. & broad, which is of con¬
siderable idiomatic importance, see
BROAD. 2. Widely). It should be
remembered that there are many
positions in which, though widely is
grammatically possible, wide is the
idiomatic form ; see Unidiomatic
-ly for other such adjectives ; yawn
wide y aim wide , wide apart , wide
awake , open one’s eyes wide, is wide¬
spread, are all usually better than
widely apart &c., & there are many
more.
wide(-)awake. He is wide awake ;
A very wide-awake person ; He was
wearing a wideawake or wide-awake.
widely. See wide.
widish, not wideish ; see Mute e.
wife. For the verb &c. see -ve(d).
Diminutive wifie, see -ey, -ie, -y.
For all the world & his wife see
Worn-out humour.
wight. A Ward our Street word,
wild. 1. Hyphens &c. We saw
a wild boar or a wild duck , but They
were hunting wild-boar or wildboar
or shooting wild-duck ; a wild cat
is an untamed one of the domestic
kind, a wildcat or wild-cat one of the
species so named ; wild oa ^ s *J^9,
wild-oats ; see Hyphens. 2. Wua-
(ly). For play, run, shoot, talk, &c.,
wild, see Unidiomatic -uy.
wilful. So spelt; see -ll-, -l-» 4 *
will, n. 1. Phrases like the will to
power, in which a noun is tacked on
to will by to, have come from Ger¬
many & been allowed to sojourn
amongst us for a time ; ^ut
is a stronger case for their deporta-
lion & repatriation than against
many human aliens, & it h® y if
be hoped that our philosophers, »
they really do require the meaning
WILL, VB.
of them, will at least dress it in
English clothes. Meanwhile, GROW¬
ING WILL TO RECONSTRUC¬
TION, says a newspaper headline. 2.
Will makes will-less ; see skill-less.
will, vb. 1. Forms. 2. Will &
shall.
1. Forms. There is a verb to will,
conjugated regularly throughout—
will, wiliest , wills, willed, willedst,
willing ; it means to intend so far as
one has power that so-&-so shall
come about, the so-&-so being ex¬
pressed by a noun or a that-dause
or an infinitive with to : You willed
his death, that he should die, to kill
him. The much commoner auxiliary
verb has none of the above forms
except will, & on the other hand has
wilt & would & would(e)st ; it has
also none of the above constructions,
but is followed by an infinitive
without to : lie will die. Would it be
ttue ? The meaning of this auxiliary
is curiously complicated by a partial
exchange of functions with shall,
the work of merely giving future &
conditional forms to other verbs
being divided between certain per¬
sons of shall & certain persons of
will, while the parts of each not so
employed retain something of the
senses of ordering (shall) & intending
(will) that originally belonged to
the stems.
2. Will & shall. There is the Eng¬
lish of the English, & there is the
English of those who repudiate that
national name ; of the English of
the English shall & will are the
shibboleth, & the number of those
who cannot ‘ frame to pronounce it
right ’, as they talk to us in the
newspapers, best reveals to us the
power in the English Press wielded
by Scots & others who are not
English. That power need not be
grudged them, & it is perhaps pre¬
sumption to take for granted that
shibboleth is better than sibboleth ;
but the mere Englishman, if he
reflects upon the matter at all, is
convinced that his shall dh will
endows his SDeech with a. Hplinato
729
WILL, VB., 2
precision that could not be attained
without it, & serves more important
purposes than that of a race-label.
i^ orn * s a s f ran g e one, & under
shall has been sufficiently illustrated
to save those who may wish to
acquire it some of the usual mis¬
takes. The general statement will
be enough here that nearly all
misuses are of will for the idiomatic
shall, not of shall for will; to which
may be added a small selection of
various common wrong forms, with
references to the sections of shall: _
See shall, 1
If we add too much to these de¬
mands we will be in grave danger
of getting nothing./We are facing
the consequences today, & will
have to face them for many years to
come in the affairs of Europe./We
have no proper place at the Corona¬
tion of King George, & would lav
ourselves open to the gravest mis¬
understanding by departing, on this
occasion, from the settled policy of
our party.
See shall, 2
We would like to bring together
two extracts dealing with the effects
of the Budget on land./But at any
rate we would feel sorry to have
missed anything that is told us of
Edison in the biography.
See shall, 3
The Gold Medal of the Royal
Astronomical Society will go to a
foreign astronomer, when this even¬
ing the President of the Society will
present it to Professor Max Wolf.
See shall, 4
The Greeks will now decide whether
their country shall continue to be
a Monarchy or will become a Re-
public./In a very few years we shall
not remember, & will scarcely care
to inquire, what companies were
included.
See shall, 5
The King has expressed a desire
that on Sunday all flags will be
flown at the masthead./It is in-
WILLY
730
WIND, N.
tended that the exterior scenes in no
fewer than four different pictures
will be taken before they return.
Willy, -ie. See -ey, -ie, -y.
wily makes wilily ; see -lily.
wind, n. Words for wind, & names
of particular winds, are apt to be
troublesome & to be confused with
one another. The following words
are in alphabetical order, & the
definitions are those of the OED,
except where (for wind itself only)
the OED was not available :—
anti-trade wind. A wind that blows
steadily in the opposite direction
to the trade-wind, that is, in the
northern hemisphere from S.W., &
in southern hemisphere from N.W.
bise. A keen dry N. or NNE. wind
prevalent in Switzerland & the
neighbouring parts of France, Ger¬
many, & Italy.
blast. A strong gust of wind.
blizzard. A furious blast of frost-
wind & blinding snow.
breath. A gentle blowing, a puff.
breeze. A gentle or light wind.
cloud-burst. A violent storm of
rain, a 4 waterspout ’.
cyclone, a. A storm in which the
wind has a circular course, b. A
hurricane or tornado of limited
diameter & destructive violence,
c. A system of winds rotating
around a centre of minimum baro¬
metric pressure.
draught. A current of air, esp. in
a confined space, as a room or a
chimney. .
fohn. A warm dry south wind
which blows down the valleys on
the north side of the Alps.
gale. a. A wind of considerable
strength, b. A gentle breeze.
gust. A sudden violent rush or
blast of wind.
harmattan. A dry parching land-
wind, which blows during December,
January, & February, on the coast
of Upper Guinea in Africa ; it
obscures the air with a red dust-fog.
hurricane. A name given primarily
to the violent wind-storms of the
West Indies, which are cyclones of
diameter of from 50 to 1000 miles,
wherein the air moves with a velocity
of from 80 to 130 miles an hour
round a central calm space, which
with the whole system advances in
a straight or curved track ; hence,
any storm or tempest in which the
wind blows with terrific violence.
mistral. A violent cold north-west
wind experienced in the Mediter¬
ranean provinces of France & neigh¬
bouring districts.
monsoon. A seasonal wind pre¬
vailing in southern Asia & esp. in
the Indian Ocean, which during the
period from April to October blows
approximately from the south-west,
& from October to April from the
north-east.
samiel. The simoom.
simoom. A hot, dry, suffocating
sand-wind which sweeps across the
African & Asiatic deserts at intervals
during the spring & summer.
sirocco. A hot blighting wind reach¬
ing Italy from Africa.
squall. A sudden & violent gust,
a blast or short sharp storm, of wind.
storm. A violent disturbance. of
the atmosphere, manifested by high
winds, often accompanied by heavy
falls of rain, hail, or snow, by
thunder & lightning, & at sea by
turbulence of the waves. Hence
sometimes applied to a heavy fa
of rain, hail, or snow, or to a violent
outbreak of thunder & lightning,
unaccompanied by strong wina.
tempest. A violent storm of wind,
usually accompanied by a downfall
of rain, hail, or snow, or by t hun< ^*
tornado, a. A very violent storm,
affecting a limited area, in winch th
wind is constantly changing its
direction or rotating ; loosciy, any
very violent storm of wind, a hur
ricane. b. On the west coast of
Africa, a rotatory storm in winch
the wind revolves violently under
a moving arch of clouds, c &r the
Mississippi region of U.S., a ^destnn b
shaped & like a waterspout,
which advances in a narrow P
over the land for many miles.
WIND, VB
731
WIT
trade-wind. The wind that blows
constantly towards the equator
from about the thirtieth parallels,
north & south ; its main direction
in the northern hemisphere being
from the north-east, & in the
southern hemisphere from the south¬
east.
typhoon, a. A violent storm or
tempest occurring in India, b. A
violent cyclonic storm or hurricane
occurring in the China seas &
adjacent regions, chiefly during the
period from July to October.
waterspout, a. A gyrating column
of mist, spray, & water, produced
by the action of a whirlwind on
a portion of the sea & the clouds
immediately above it. b. A sudden
& violent fall of rain ; a cloudburst.
whiff. A slight puff or gust of
wind, a breath.
whirlwind. A body of air moving
rapidly in a circular or upward
spiral course around a vertical or
slightly inclined axis which has also
a progressive motion over the sur¬
face of land or water.
wind. Air in more or less rapid
natural motion, breeze or gale or
blast ( Concise Oxf. Diet.),
zephyr. A soft mild gentle wind or
breeze.
wind, verbs. Wind, wound, to
twist &c. Wind, winded (or wound),
to blow (a horn). Wind, winded,
to give breath to or exhaust the
breath of. The two latter are from
the noun wind (wound being a
natural corruption), & unconnected
with the first.
windward(s). See -ward(s).
wine makes winy ; see Mute e.
winning makes -est; -er & -est, 4.
winter. W. garden, w. quarters, w.
solstice ; each should be two words,
unhyphened ; see Hyphens 3 B.
For the w. of our discontent, see
Irrelevant allusion.
wire makes wirable, wiry; see
Mute e. Wire rope should be two
words unhyphened; Hyphens 3 B.
wise, n. In the phrases in no wise,
in any wise, &c., wise should be a
separate noun unhyphened ; see
Hyphens, Group *From hand to
mouth; if in does not precede,
there is no objection to any of the
three forms no wise, no-wise, nowise.
-WISE,-WAYS. 1. The ending -ways,
or occasionally -way, is often used
indifferently with -wise, & is very
seldom the only form without one in
-wise by its side—perhaps only in
always. 2. In a few established
words, -wise is alone, esp. clockwise,
coastwise, likewise, otherwise, sun¬
wise. 3. In other established words
both forms are used, as breadth-,
broad-, end-, least-, length-, long-,
no-, side-, slant-. 4. In words
made for the occasion from nouns,
as in Use it clubwise or pokerwise.
Go crabwise or frogwise, Worn cloak-
wise or broochwise or chainwise.
Placed studwise or fencewise, -wise is
now much the commoner.
wishful is a word chiefly used by
those who disapprove of the phrase
anxious to, & it has consequently
a certain taint of purism about it.
If it should ever lose that, & come
into general use, it would at once
relieve anxious of a meaning that is
open to exception, & provide
desirous with a grammatically con¬
venient synonym ; compare desirous
of doing with wishful to do. In the
mean time, wishful (with its ludicrous
suggestion of wistful) gives the reader
a slight shock as he comes to it :
We should recommend a perusal of
the whole article to those wishful to
understand the real nature of the
conflict.
wistaria. So spelt.
wit, n. See humour ; that the two
are different names for the same
thing is no doubt still a popular
belief; but literary critics at least
should not allow themselves to
identify the two, as in : It is to be
doubted whether the author's gifts
really do include that of humour .
Two jests do not make a wit.
wit, vb. Pres., wot, wottest ; past
wist; infin., to wit ; part, witting.
See Wardour Street.
WITCH-
732
WITHOUT
witch-. See wych-..
witenagemot. Pron. wl'tenaglmS't.
with. Writers who have become
conscious of the ill effect of as to &
in the case of, casting about for a
substitute that shall enable them
still to pull something forward to
the beginning of a sentence (‘ The
modern journalistic craving for im¬
mediate intelligibility ’ said Dr
Henry Bradley), have lately hit
upon with , which is sometimes
found displacing of or some really
appropriate preposition—a trick that
should be avoided :—With pipes, as
with tobacco, William Bragge was one
of the most successful collectors./
[Collins, Blair, Parnell, Dyer, Green]
Collins has had his excellent editors,
tfc we must suppose that the manu¬
script has finally disappeared ; but,
with the others, we suspect that the
poems are extant ./Read of pipes , of
tobacco, the poems of the others.
withal. See Wardour Street.
withe, withy. Both spellings, &
the monosyllabic as well as the
disyllabic pronunciation, are in use.
As against those who condemn the
monosyllable as a novelty or an
ignorance, there is the plural withs
in the A. V. of Judg. xvi. 7. But
probably withy, pi. -ies, is the best
form for modern purposes, obviating
uncertainty.
without. 1. W. = outside. 2. W.=
unless. 3. Without or without. 4.
Without hardly. 5. Without him
being. 6. Negative confusion.
1. W. — outside. Both as adverb
(listening to the wind without; clean
within db without), & as preposition
(is without the pale of civilization),
the word retains this meaning ; but
it is no longer for all styles, having
now a literary or archaic sound that
may be very incongruous.
2. W. = unless. No high efficiency
can be secured without we first secure
the hearty cooperation of the 30,000,000
or so workers. The use is good old
English, but bad modern English-
one of the things that many people
say, but few write ; it should be
left to conscious stylists who can
rely on their revivals* not being
taken for vulgarisms.
3. Without ... or without ... It
can be done without any fear of his
knowing it, or without other evil
consequences. The well meant re¬
petition of without is not merely
needless, but wrong. See or 4.
4. Without hardly. The introduction
of the vast new refineries has been
brought about quickly, silently, &
effectively, & without the surround¬
ing community hardly being aware
of what was happening. Again, like
2, a common colloquialism, but,
unlike it, one that should never
appear outside spoken or printed
talk ; the English for without hardly
is almost without.
5. Without him being. The word is
peculiarly apt to usher in a Fused
participle, e. g. The formidable
occasion had come db gone without
anything dreadful happening. The
fused participle is no worse after
without than elsewhere, but those
who are prepared to eschew it
altogether should take warning that
without will sometimes try their
virtue, so often does the temptation
present itself; it is, for instance,
a pure accident that the sentence
quoted in 4 for a different point
contains the fused participle without
the community being aware. Escapes
are usually not hard to find ; here
* & nothing dreadful had happened
or * without any dreadful results ,
would do, but particular suggestions
for a particular case are of little
value ; the great thing is general
readiness to abandon & recast any ot
one’s phrases that one finds faulty.
6. Negative confusion. . Like all
negative & virtually negative words,
without often figures in such absur¬
dities as \—lt is not safe for any
young lady to walk along the bpan-
iards-road on a Sunday evening by
herself without having unpleasant
remarks spoken as she passes along./
Rendering it possible for a G 00 *™’
ment to accept some at any rate oj me
recommendations of the Committee
WITTICISM
733 WORKING & STYLISH WORDS
without any loss of face, & least of
all without loss of office.
witticism. A Hybrid derivative.
Wive. See -ve(d).
Wizard. For W. of the North, see
Sobriquets.
wizened, wizen, weazen. All three
forms are or have been used as
adjectives, but the first is now
usual. The -en of wizen & weazen
is a p.p. termination, as well as the
-ed of wizened.
wizier. See vizier.
wobble, wab-. The first is now the
established spelling.
wolf. See -ve(d).
wolverene, -ine. The first appears
to be accepted.
woman. For woman suffrage, as
a phrase, see female)(woman. For
chairwoman & chairman, as applied
to a woman, see Feminine designa¬
tions. Womankind, not womenkind,
for the whole sex or women in
general; but womenkind is common
lor one’s female relatives &c.
womanly. See female, feminine.
wonder. For 1 shouldn’t w. if it
didn’t rain, see not 4, & Sturdy
INDEFENSIBLES.
wood. Wood anemone is better as
two separate words ; also, without
question, wood pavement ; see Hy¬
phens 3 B. Woodbine, not -bind,
is the established form, esp. with
Shakspere & Milton to maintain it.
Tomorrow to fresh woods, not fields ;
a pasture, by the way, is a field; see
Misquotation.
%
wooden makes woodenness.
woof, warp, web, weft. The warp
is a set of parallel threads stretched
out; the threads woven across &
between these are the woof or weft ;
& the fabric that results is the web.
t
wool makes, in British spelling,
woollen, woolly, & in American
woolen, woolly ; woollen is perhaps
anomalous even by British standards
(see -LL-, -L-), but is certainly
established; &, on its analogy,
-woolled should be better than
•wooled.
woolly bear. No hyphen ; see
Hyphens 3 B.
WORD-PATRONAGE. Under Super¬
iority, the tendency to take out
one’s words & look at them, to
apologize for expressions that either
need no apology or should be quietly
refrained from, has been mentioned.
To pat oneself on the back, instead of
apologizing, for one’s w T ord is a con¬
trary manifestation of the same
weakness, viz self-consciousness ;
it is rare, but perhaps deserves this
little article all to itself : . . . propose
to use their powers to force a dissolu¬
tion. That is a contingency which has
been adumbrated (to revive a word
which has been rather neglected of
late) ; but this is one more case in
which we must be content to wait <£ see.
work, vb. The disappearance of
the form wrought is so manifest, yet
so far from complete, that it is
impossible to say from year to year
where idiom still requires it & where
it is already archaic. A few sen¬
tences with blanks for wrought or
worked will illustrate. As the
direction of progress is clear, pru¬
dence counsels falling in with it in
good time. A contemporary who
- in brass. These things have -
together for good. She - upon his
feelings. This - infinite mischief.
They have - their will. Con¬
science - within him. He -
his audience into fury. When they
were sufficiently - up.
workaday is now displaced, wholly
in the noun use, & for the most part
as an adjective, by the normal
workday, of which it is regarded as
a slipshod pronunciation to be used
only as a genial unbending ; ‘ this
workaday world * is still usual.
working. W. capital, w. expenses ,
w. man, &c., should have no hyphens ;
see Hyphens 3 B.
WORKING & STYLISH WORDS.
Anyone who has not happened upon
this article at a very early stage of
bis acquaintance with the book will
not suppose that the word stylish is
WORKING & STYLISH WORDS
WORN-OUT HUMOUR
meant to be laudatory. Nor is it ;
but neither is this selection of
stylish words to be taken for a
blacklist of out-&-out undesirables.
Many of them are stylish only when
they are used in certain senses, being
themselves in other senses working
words ; e. g., antagonize is a working
word for ‘ to arouse antagonism in
the mind of ’ or ‘ make hostile ’,
though nothing if not stylish for
4 to oppose ’ ; category is a working
word in the philosopher’s sense,
though stylish as a mere synonym
for class ; protagonist a working
word for the one person upon whom
the interest centres, but aggressively
stylish for an advocate ; college
stylish for school but the working
word for— college. Others again,
such as bodeful & deem & dwell &
maybe, lose their unhappy stylish
air when they are in surroundings of
their own kind, where they are not
conspicuous like an escaped canary
among the sparrows.
What is to be deprecated is the
notion that one can improve one’s
style by using stylish words. Those
in the list below, like hundreds of
others, have, either in certain senses
or generally, plain homely natural
companions ; the writer who prefers
to one of these the stylish word for
no better reason than that he thinks
it stvlish, instead of improving his
style, makes it stuffy, or pretentious,
or incongruous. About the words
in small capitals remarks bearing on
the present subject will be found in
their dictionary places :—
STYLISH
ANGLE, Vb
ANTAGONIZE
assist
beverage
BODEFUL
catarrh
CATEGORY
COLLATION
COLLEGE
comestibles
COMMENCE
comprise
WORKING
fish
oppose
help
drink
ominous
cold
class
repast, meal
school
eatables, food
begin
INCLUDE
STYLISH
CRYPTIC
deem
DESCRIPTION
DWELL
ENVISAGE
FEASIBLE
FORENOON
MAYBE
PORCELAIN
PROTAGONIST
sufficient
VIOLIN
WORKING
obscure, mysterious
think
kind, sort
live
face, confront
possible
morning
perhaps
china
champion, advocate
ENOUGH
FIDDLE
workless. In the article ’s incon¬
gruous some illustrations have been
given of how the newspaper head¬
line is affecting the language ; see
also wed. Workless gives another
example. We have all known 4 the
unemployed * as long as we can
remember. But unemployed fills up
a good deal of headline ; something
shorter is wanted, & workless is
invented for the need. But, second¬
ly, workless by itself is shorter than
the workless ; so workless is turned
from an adjective into an indeclin¬
able plural noun—all to make
possible such gems as :
KENT
WORKLESS WANT TO
SEE PREMIER
TO AID WORKLESS
& his wife is
it has been
see Worn-out
but
un¬
world. All the w.
like the Psalmist ;
young & now is old ;
HUMOUR.
worldly. So spelt, not wordly ;
the mistake is common; cf.
wieldly for unwieldy.
WORN-OUT HUMOUR. ‘ We are
not amused * ; so Queen Victoria
baldly stated a fact that was discon¬
certing to someone,; yet the thing
was very likely amusing in its
nature ; it did not amuse * he P e f® OI J
whose amusement mattered, that
was all. The writer’s Queen Vic¬
toria is his public, & he would do
well to keep a bust of the old Queen
on his desk with the legend We are
not amused ’ hanging from it. His
WORN-OUT HUMOUR
735
WORTH)( WORTH WHILE
public will not be amused if he
serves it up the small facetiae that it
remembers long ago to have taken
delight in. We recognize this about
anecdotes, avoid putting on our
friends the depressing duty of
simulating surprise, & sort our stock
into chestnuts & still possibles.
Anecdotes are our pounds, & we
take care of them ; but of the
phrases that are our pence we are
more neglectful. Of the specimens
of worn-out humour exhibited below
nearly all have had point & liveliness
in their time ; but with every year
that they remain current the pro¬
portion of readers who * are not
amused * to those who find them
fresh & new inexorably rises.
Such grammatical oddities as much¬
ly ; such puns as Bedfordshire & the
Land of Nod ; such allusions as the
Chapter on Snakes in Iceland ; such
parodies as To - or not to -;
such quotations as On - intent,
or single blessedness , or suffer a sea
change ; such oxymorons as The
gentle art of doing something un¬
gentle ; such polysyllabic uncouth¬
ness as calling a person an individual
or an old maid an unappropriated
blessing ; such needless euphemisms
as unmentionables or a table’s limbs ;
such meioses as the herringpond, or
Epithets the reverse of complimentary ,
or ‘ some * as a superlative ; such
playful archaisms as hight or yclept ;
such legalisms as (the) said -, &
the same , & this deponent ; such
stuffings of application as innocent
or guiltless of hs, or of the military
persuasion, or to spell ruin or discuss
a roast fowl or be too previous ; such
metonymies as the leather & the
ribbons for ball & reins ; such meta¬
phors as timberyard & sky-pilot &
priceless ; such syllepses as in top-
boots <& a temper ; such happy
thoughts as taking in each other's
washing —with all these we, i.e. the
average adult, not only are not
amused; we feel a bitterness, possi¬
bly because they remind us of the
lost youth in which we could be
tickled with a straw, against the
scribbler who has reckoned on our
having tastes so primitive.
worry. For inflexions see Verbs
IN -IE &c., 6.
worsen. See -en verbs.
worship makes - ipped, -ipper ,
-ipping ; see -p-, -pp-.
worsted, n. Pronounce woos-.
worth)(worth while. In certain
uses great confusion prevails, which
can be cleared up with the aid of
grammar. The important fact is
that the adjective worth requires
what is most easily described as an
object ; it is meaningless to say
This is worth, but sense to say This
is worth sixpence, or This is worth
saying (i.e. the necessary expendi¬
ture of words), or This is worth while
(i. e. the necessary expenditure of
time) ; but one such object satisfies
its requirements, so that This is
worth while saying, with the separate
objects while & saying, is ungram¬
matical. A less essential point,
which must nevertheless be realized
if all is to be clear, is the doubt¬
ful nature of the It that is often pre¬
sent in sentences containing worth.
Though This is worth while saying
is wrong. It is worth while saying this
is right, but again It (viz whatever
has just been said) is worth while
saying is wrong ; the last It is the
ordinary pronoun, & this or that
might have stood instead of it, but
the It of It is worth while saying this
is what is called the anticipatory it
(see it, 1, 2) & means not this or
that, but saying this. In the follow¬
ing table, this source of confusion
will be avoided, every it used being
of the anticipatory kind. A & B
are two faultless forms, B usually
appearing not in the direct order,
but with It; C is another correct
form, but slightly less idiomatic than
A & B ; it, like B, is usually not in
direct order, but with It. Of the
a,, b, c , forms, a is A spoilt by having
worth while instead of worth , which
means that worth has two objects ;
6 is B spoilt by the verb say's having
no object, the cause being, as will
WORTH)( WORTH WHILE
730
WORTH)(WORTH WHILE
a PP ear when we come to examples,
the mistaking of an anticipatory it
for something else ; c is C spoilt by
worth's having no object.
A. This is worth saying.
B. To say this is worth while, or
It is worth while to say this.
C. Saying this is worth while, or
It is worth while saying this.
a. This is worth while saying.
b. To say is worth while, or
It is worth while to say.
c. Saying this is worth, or
It is worth saying this.
The faults are obvious enough in
these naked specimens, stripped of
disguising additions, except possibly
in b, about which it must be remem¬
bered that the sentences are com¬
plete ones, & that there is nothing
to be supplied as object to say.
The earlier examples will be simple,
& it will suffice to give after each
a small letter indicating the wrong
type to which it belongs, & a capital
for the right type to which it should
be corrected :— A spare captain, to
take charge of any prize that might be
worth while turning into a raider
(a. A)./Was not that a line worth
while pursuing ? (a. A)./A problem
which should be quite manageable—if
we make up our minds that it is
worth while tackling (a. A)./An ex¬
perience of weariness slashed with
crowded hours of intensest life ; & it
was worth while putting on record
(a. A)./It is worth recalling Lord
Salisbury's declaration in 1885 that,
if she yielded to pressure, we should
consider ourselves released from our
obligations (c. B )./It is worth tabu¬
lating the more important of matters
thus communicated to us (c . B).
The next two are clear examples of
C, & are given merely that the
reader may try whether the conver¬
sion of them to B, by the change of
harking & remarking to to hark &
to remark does not produce more
idiomatic English :— It is not often
worth while harking back to a single
performance a fortnight old./It is
worth while remarking on Signor
Nitti's very curious attitude toward
the question of responsibility for the
war.
But of many sentences that are
defensible as C it is open to doubt
whether they are really C, or A gone
wrong; these are sentences in
which, while an anticipatory It is
used, there are two possible views of
what It stands for ; an example will
first be examined, & some more on
the same pattern will show how
common the type is.
It is worth while remarking that the
Greek National Anthem is really a
very interesting & harmonious air .
Does It represent ‘ remarking . . .
air *, or 4 that ... air ’ ? If the
first, the direct form is (1) Remark¬
ing (2) that the Anthem is so-&-so
(3) is worth while ; which is exactly
C (1) Saying (2) this (3) is worth
while. But if the second, the
direct form is (1) That the Anthem
is so-&-so (2) is worth while (3)
remarking ; which spoils A (1) This
(2) is worth (3) saying, by having
worth while instead of worth.
The reader will easily apply this to
the three next examples. Each is
defensible as a C, yet it may be
doubted whether it was so meant,
& also whether B (it may be worth
while to recall &c.) would not have
been better. It is worth while
pointing out that out of an electorate
of nearly fourteen <& a half millions
no fewer than four & a quarter
million votes were recorded in 1912
for the Socialist candidates./It is
worth while saying, if one thinks so,
that Mr Kipling is a great writer ,
some of whose work will survive as
long as anything contemporary with
it./It may be worth while recalling
that the most interesting account of the
novelist's visit to the. little German
capital is contained in his letter to
George Henry Lewes.
It may be asked, however, why
a conversion of A should not be
recommended, & only B be offered ;
‘ A in the table is not provided with
a conversion, which would be It t3
worth saying this ; was the omission
an oversight ? * No, it was not;
WORTH)( WORTH WHILE
737
WOVE
that conversion is impossible because
anticipatory it represents a deferred
subject of is, whereas the this in
the proposed conversion is object
of saying & cannot be also subject
of is.
The only further point that needs
special discussion is the complication
sometimes introduced by a relative
clause. The Chinese Labour Corps
dk its organization was one of the side
issues of the war which is well worth
while to hear about. The skeleton of
this, before subordination by the
relative, is : The Corps was a side
issue; to hear about this (issue) is
voorth while, or it is worth while to
hear about this. Subordination by
the relative should give accordingly
cither to hear about which is worth
while, or which it is worth while to
hear about. But the writer has
taken that anticipatory it (= to hear
about which) for the ordinary pro¬
noun it ( = this issue), & has there¬
fore left it out because he supposes
it to mean only the same thing as
the which that is to connect the
clause ; the result is that his which
is both subject to is (which he has
deprived of its it) & object to about.
Correct grammar would be A which
is well worth hearing about, or B
which it is well worth while to hear
about, or C which it is well worth
while hearing about.
Some mixed examples now follow,
with references to the table as be¬
fore, & with a note where it seems
called for. In choosing between
A & B or C, it is plain that A, being
incapable of conversion, is disquali¬
fied for places where the worth part
of the sentence cannot comfortably
be deferred owing to the length of
the other part or for other reasons:—
In your excellent account of the late
Miss - there is one omission, db it
is worth filling it up (c. A). Observe
that the first it is it anticipatory
( = filling it up), & the second is the
ordinary pronoun ( = the omission).
When it is corrected to A, the first
it becomes the pronoun=the omis¬
sion, & the second disappears./On
1351
that point it is worth quoting a passage
from Mr Carroll's election address
(c. B)./lt is worth adding its opinion
upon the measures that Germany is
taking (c. B or A)./It is worth
dwelling on this method of approach
to the characters ( c . B )./It is worth
quoting the ‘ Echo de Paris ’, which
was one of the journals which cried
loudest for large reparations (c. B).
worth-while. This attributive-ad¬
jective compound recently extracted
from the phrase ‘ is worth while 5
(a worth-while experiment from the
experiment was worth while) is at the
best of doubtful value ; &, having
been seized upon as a Vogue-word,
it is fast losing all precision of mean¬
ing : That motherhood is a full-time
job all worth-while mothers will readily
admit./An attractive programme of
w.-w. topics has been arranged for
discussion.
worthy. The construction in which
w. was treated like worth & like,
governing a noun (in words worthy
the occasion, a deed worthy remem¬
brance, without of), is now rare, &
appropriate only in exalted contexts.
would. The very common misuses
of would for should are dealt with
under will vb, & more fully under
shall. A few specimens, in all of
which would is wrong, are here
given to enable those who doubt
their mastery of the idiom to test
it : If we were to go on borrowing
money in this country we would keep
the position of the unemployed belter
while borrowing, but we would have
to pay for it./If we could but hear
what post-Georgians will have to say
on the matter we would be even less
inclined to value Georgian criticism./
We would like to see a little less talk
about Constantine./He might well
have struck such a blow as we would
have felt to the quick./1 would feel
safer in backing England had their
batting not been so disappointing in
the first Test.
wove, p.p., instead of the usual
b
WRAITH
738 WYKEHAMIST
woven, is chiefly in commercial terms,
as wove paper , hard-wove fabrics ,
wire-wove.
wraith. Pronounce the plural -ths ;
see -th & -dh.
wrapt, wrapped, rapt. See rapt for
the confusion between the English
adjective made from Latin raptus &
the p.p. of wrap. It might perhaps
be well if the form wrapt could be
abandoned, so that writers would
have to make up their minds between
rapt & wrapped.
wrath, wrathful, wroth. It is very
desirable that differentiation should
be clearly established. The OED
should be consulted on the history of
these words ; but it may safely be
said (1) that many people ignore the
existence of wroth & treat wrath as
both noun & adjective, pronouncing
it always rawth, & (2) that the
useful arrangement would be for
wrath to be noun only = anger &
pronounced rawth, & for wroth to be
the adjective = angry & pronounced
roth. This does not put wrathful
out of use ; it is the attributive
adjective, & wroth is the predicative :
A wrathful god , but God was wroth.
For wroth, the pronunciation r5th
is better not only than rawth, but
also than roth, because much more
easily distinguishable from the rawth
of wrath.
wreath. Pronounce the plural
-dhz ; see -th & -do for this, & for
wreathe, vb.
wrestle. Pronunciation, silent t.
wrick. See crick.
wrinkle makes wrinkly', see Mute e.
wristband. Pronounce ri'zband.
write. 1. W. with personal object.
2. Writ large.
1„ W. with personal object. In
1 will write you the result, there are
two objects, (direct object) the re¬
sult, & (indirect object) you. In
literary English, an indirect object
is used after write only if there is
also a direct object, but the direct
object may be used without an
indirect ; that is, 1 will write the
result, & I will write you the result,
are idiomatic, but I will write you
soon, or about it, is not ; if a direct
object is wanting, the person written
to must be introduced by to : I will
write to you about it. We wrote you
yesterday. Please write us at your
convenience , &c., are established in
commercial use, but avoided else¬
where. The following from a novel
is to be condemned: The Lady
Henrietta, she who was to keep him
out of Arcadia, & who believed him
to be in Cannes or Mentone, wrote him
regularly through his bankers, & once
in a while he wrote her.
2. Writ large. The famous line
New Presbyter is but old Priest writ
large (Milton, Sonnet On the New
Forcers of Conscience . . .) owes its
fame to its double sense ; priest &
presbyter being derived alike from
Gr~ek presbuteros, the second word
is literally a larger writing of the
first ; &, metaphorically, a presbyter
turns out to be a priest, only more
so. Nowadays, whenever a reform
disappoints, the new state is said to
be the old writ large ; but, as cir¬
cumstances seldom allow the literal
sense as well as the other, some
wrong is done to the inventor of the
phrase by blunting its point.
wrong is one of the words whose
adverbial use should be remem¬
bered ; did his sum wrong is better
than with wrongly, but cf. a wrongly
done sum. See Unidiomatic -ly.
wroth. See wrath.
wrought. See work.
wry makes wryer, wryest, wryly,
vryness, wryish ; see dry.
wych-, wich-, witch-, in w.-elm&c.
rhe first & third forms are those
isually seen, though the second best
■epresents the earliest spelling wice
= drooping). Of the current forms
ouch- has the real advantage of not
;uggesting connexion with witches,
fc is recommended.
Wykehamist. So spelt.
739
y&i
X
-X, as French plural. It is still
usual, in various degrees, to write
-x instead of the English -s in the
lurals of words in -eau & -eu
orrowed from French, the pro¬
nunciation being -z, as in English
plurals. It is to be hoped that some
day all of these that are in familiar
English use will be anglicized with
-s ; but a list of the chief words,
here given in the plural in order
that the reader may judge of their
looks, is admittedly forbidding:
adieus ; beaus ; chateaus ; flam¬
beaus ; plateaus; portmanteaus ;
rondeaus; rouleaus ; trousseaus.
The fact, however, that purlieu,
which has all the air of a French
word without being one, looks right
with the plural -s ( purlieus ) because
we are used to it suggests that
courage with the others might soon
be rewarded. Phrases such as feux
de joie & jeux d'esprit would
naturally keep their French -x, & so
would any single words whose
anglicization was so far from accom¬
plished that the plural was still
pronounced like the singular,without
the sibilant ; that is hardly true of
any of the list above ; we say not
* bo like Brummell ’, but ‘ boz like
Brummell & ‘ all portmantoz will
be opened not ‘ all portmantS ...’.
xebec. Pronounce ze'bSk or zlbfi'k.
►XION, -XIVE. About certain nouns,
especially connexion, deflection, in¬
flexion, db reflection, there is a doubt
whether they should be spelt with
-xion or -ction, & the adjectives in
-ive are also concerned. The forms
connexion, deflexion, inflexion, &
reflexion, are all called by the OED
the * etymological spellings \ In the
first place, each is derived from an
actual Latin noun in -xio, the change
to English -ction being due partly
to the influence of the verbs connect
& de-, in-, re-, fleet, & partly to that
of the multitude of English nouns
in -tion ; & secondly, a vast majority
of nouns in -ion were formed from
the p.p. stem & not from the present
stem of Latin verbs, so that flecto
flex-, & necto nex-, would be ex¬
pected to use flex- & nex- as the
basis of their -ion nouns. As a few
Latin nouns in -io were nevertheless
formed from present stems, e. g.
oblivio, the philological lapse is of
no great importance. It may be
well to retain the x in connexion &
inflexion, in which it has by no
means gone out of use, though the
earlier connexive has been displaced
by connective. For reflection & re¬
flexion, reflective & reflexive, with
which attempts at differentiation
have had unequal success, see the
separate articles.
-Y. For the suffix used in making
adjectives from nouns ( slaty &c.),
as it affects spelling, see -ey & -y in
adjectives. For the diminutive
suffix ( Johnny, doggie, &c.), see -ey,
-ie, -y, in diminutives.
yacht. So spelt.
yager. The form now usual is the
German word Jdger itself.
yahoo. See faun.
Y & I were in older English writing
freely interchanged ; that general
liberty has long been abandoned,
but there are still a few words in
which usage varies or mistakes are
common ; they are, in the spelling
here recommended: cider, cipher;
gypsy ; Libya(n); lichgate ; My-
tilene ; pygmy ; sibyl & Sibyl; sil¬
labub ; silvan & Silvanus ; siphon ;
siren ; stile (in hedge) & style (man¬
ner); stimy; tiler (in free-masonry);
tire (of wheel); tiro ; WYCH-elm.
In Libya, sibyl, & Mytilene, the
right spelling is indisputable, but
with the same sound in successive
syllables it is difficult to remember
which is i & which y ; even those
who have read Herodotus & Thucy¬
dides are often fain to visualize the
Greek words before they feel safe.
In cypher, lychgate, syllabub, sylvan,
syphon, syren , & tyro , the intrusive
YANKEEFIED
740
y is probably due to a vague feeling
that an unEnglish-looking word is
all the better for a little aggravation
of its unEnglishness. In tyler & tyre
differentiation may have been at
work, but without need ; & on tyre
it may be added that in some
people’s opinion to say that tire is
the American spelling is a sufficient
reason for our using tyre \ on the
contrary, agreement between Eng¬
lish & American spelling is much to
be desired wherever it is practicable.
In gipsy & pigmy, we have dissimi¬
lation, again without need ; for if
invisibility can carry five is, these
can surely do with two ys. But the
fact that slimy & stymie, not stymy,
are the usual forms illustrates the
power of dissimilation ; & it may be
guessed that the y starts in the
oftener used stymied, in which the
necessary i of the second syllable
tends to produce y in the first ;
with this compare the greater fre¬
quency of the correct y in gypsies
& pygmies than in gypsy & pygmy.
On the words in the list that are in
small capitals, further remarks will
be found in the separate articles.
yankeefied. See -fied.
yclept. See Worn-out humour.
y e . The pronunciation of this is
the, not ye, the y being not our
letter, but a representation of the
obsolete single letter (p, called thorn)
now replaced by th.
year. Phrases such as last year,
next year, may be either nouns or
adverbs ( Next year may be warmer ;
We may have warmer weather next
year) ; they should not be both at
once, as in : Disquiet will be caused
in Tariff Reform circles by the
announcement that in the quinquen¬
nium ending & including last year
Canada has borrowed the enormous
sum of over six hundred million
dollars from this country. The ‘ last
year ’ that the quinquennium in¬
cluded was a noun; the ‘ last year ’
that the quinquennium ended was
an adverb; indeed, far from the
quinquennium’s ending the year,
YET
the year ended the quinquennium.
It is the same kind of mistake as
making one word serve twice in two
different cases, for which see, e. g
THAT REL. PRON. 5. 6 ’*
yearly. See -lily 2.
ye(a)sty. The spelling & pronun¬
ciation yesty, still alive up to the
19th c., are regarded by the OED
as now obsolete.
yelk, yolk. ‘The spelling yelk
appears to have ceased to be fre¬
quent since the third quarter of the
19th century, but it is found in
recent scientific & technical works ’
—OED.
yellow. Y. fever, y. jacket, y.
jaundice, y. ochre, all two words
without hyphen ; see Hyphens 3 B.
In yellow-(h)ammer, it cannot be
said with safety either that h is due
to ignorant assimilation by popular
etymology to hammer, or that the
absence of h is mere h-dropping ;
each form has an etymological
theory on its side, & OED says that
both forms * are historically justi¬
fiable ’. The only reason for resist¬
ing the prevalent h is thus removed.
yen. PI. the same,
yeoman. Yeoman service & yeo¬
man's service are both in use.
yes. PI. yeses.
yester-. Other combinations than
yesterday are incongruous except in
verse or in designedly poetic prose.
It is true that yestereve is shorter
than yesterday evening, but the
saving of space is paid for by the
proof that one has no literary sense.
yet. 1. Inversion. 2. Illogical
pregnant use.
1. Inversion. The tendency of yet
to inspire foolish inversions has been
specially treated in Inversion under
the heading Yet, Especially, Rather.
The effect of ill-timed rhetoric that
attends it is obvious in : Mr
Domville-Fife does not recommend
South America to the Englishman
with small capital desirous of settling
on the land & living on his own
labour . Yet are there Englishmen
YET, 2
741
ZEUGMA
so settled—in the Argentine & in
Chile, for instance.
2. Illogical pregnant use. When
yet is used to point a contrast, the
opposition between the fact it intro¬
duces & that which has gone before
should be direct & clear. Examples
of failure in this respect must
necessarily be of some length ; some
simpler specimens of a rather similar
kind will be found under but 3.
In each of those that follow it will
be noticed that the particular fact
with which the Yet sentence is in
contrast is by no means the essential
contents of the previous sentence,
but has to be got out of it at the
cost of some thought. We confess
to being surprised at the line taken
by the railwaymen at Crewe with
reference to Colonel Yorke’s conclu¬
sion that the Shrewsbury disaster
occurred through the engine-driver
hewing momentarily fallen asleep.
Yet at a meeting the Crewe railwaymen
are very indignant at the suggestion ,
<& denounce Colonel Yorke as an
Army officer who does not understand
the real working of railways. Here
the Yet fact is that the men are
indignant. What is that in contrast
with ? Apparently with the cor¬
rectness of Colonel Yorke’s con¬
clusion ; but, though many other
things not in contrast with their
indignation can be got out of the
sentence, the correctness of the
conclusion is inferable only from the
newspaper’s surprise at the men’s
indignation at the conclusion. If
yet were omitted, the second sen¬
tence would come in logically
enough as an explanation of what
the men’s * line ’ referred to had
actually been.
Sir,—I doubt if sufficient attention
has been drawn to the injustice of
throwing on the landlord in whose
house they happen to be resident the
cost of a large additional insurance
benefit for those who are sick. Yet ,
under Clause 51, a sick tenant would
be able to live rent free for a year at
the expense of his or her landlord.
This is a less glaring case. The
essence of the Yet sentence is that
a tenant has power to injure a land¬
lord. What is that in contrast
with ? with the fact that justice
would protect landlords ; that is,
not with the main sentence preced¬
ing, which is a statement of why the
writer is writing, but with a mere
inference from a noun that occurs
in it, viz injustice. As in the first
example, the logical work of the
second sentence is to explain the
nature of a noun contained in the
first, viz (again) injustice, but an
explanation is presented in the guise
of an opposition ; the sentence
would do its work properly if yet
were omitted.
Yiddish is not a kind of Hebrew,
but a kind of German. As miscon¬
ception is common, the OED de¬
finition follows : The language used
by Jews in Europe & America,
consisting mainly of German (orig.
from the Middle Rhine area) with
admixture (according to local or
individual usage) of Balto-Slavic
words, & printed in Hebrew char¬
acters.
yodel, vb, has -lied, -lling; -ll-, -l-.
yoke, vb, makes -kable; see Mute e.
yokel makes yokelish ; -ll-, -l-, 2.
yon. See Wardour Street.
Yorkshire pudding. No hyphen ;
see Hyphens 3 B.
young. For Y. Chevalier, Y. Pre¬
tender, see Sobriquets.
yours. For misuses in place of
your, see Absolute possessives.
For epistolary uses, Letter forms.
youth. Plural pron. -dhz; -th & -dh.
Z
Zarathustrlan. See Zoroastrian.
Zeitgeist. Pronounce tsl'tgist.
zemstvo. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 6.
zephyr. See wind, n.
zero. PI. -os ; see -o(e)s 3.
ZEUGMA. PI. -as or - ata . The
meaning of the word & its relation to
syllepsis are explained under syl¬
lepsis in Technical terms. Inten-
ZIGZAG
742
-Z-, -zz-
tional use of these figures has been
so much overdone as to be now
a peculiarly exasperating form of
Worn-out humour. To judge from
the few specimens below, it is un¬
fortunately still in favour with
dramatic critics. The first example
is perhaps not of the intentional
kind meant to amuse, & is, as an
established formula, hardly realized
to be a syllepsis. Sir Charles Wilson
(C7.), the newly elected member for
Central Leeds , took the oath & his
seat. /Mr Basil Sydney played the
Duke quite ably; cfc the flood of
flowers <& enthusiasm was terrific./
Half-clad stokers toiled in an atmo¬
sphere consisting of one part air to
ten parts mixed perspiration, coal-
dust, & profanity. /And the rest was
Miss McCarthy playing parody with
languor, washing clothes with hap¬
piness & Pears’ soap, & playing the
business man with energy ./ Impas¬
sively malignant Chinamen scramble
after each other in hot haste, db three-
line paragraphs.
zigzag, vb, has -gged, -gging ; -g-,
-GG-.
zinc, n. & vb. Inflexions & deriva¬
tives give trouble with spelling &
pronunciation. The forms zinced &
zincing are obviously wrong ; cf.,
from nouns in -c, trafficking, mim¬
icked, panicky, picnicker, bivouacked ;
the c, clearly, is not allowed to come
before the English suffixes -ing, -ed,
-er, & -y, the change of sound to s
being before them intolerable ; zinc
differs from traffic & the others in
having a consonant before the c
instead of i or a, & the natural
result of that is that zinked &
zinking are better than zincked,
zincking. Before classical suffixes,
as -ism, -ist, there is, on the other
hand, no objection to the s sound,
ior winch compare cynicism , criti¬
cism, classicist, rubricist; & in
physicist by the side of physicked &
physicking we have a proof of this
distinction between the English &
the classical suffixes when attached
to the same word. The forms should
therefore be (with c pronounced as s
before i, according to the regular
custom) : zinked; zinking ; zinkish ;
zinky ; but zincic ; zinciferous ;
zincify ; zinco- ; zincoid.
Zingaro. Fern, -ara ; pi. - ari .
zithern. See cithern.
zodiac. A dictionary definition
may be quoted as likely to be
useful:—A belt of the heavens
outside which the sun & moon &
major planets do not pass divided
crosswise into twelve equal areas
called signs of the z. each named
after a zodiacal constellation former¬
ly but not now contained in it (signs
of the z. : Aries or Ram, Taurus or
Bull, Gemini or Twins, Cancer or
Crab, Leo or Lion, Virgo or Virgin,
Libra or Balance or Scales, Scorpio
or Scorpion, Sagittarius or Archer,
Capricornus or Capricorn or Goat,
Aquarius or Water-carrier, Pisces
or Fishes).
zollverein. Pronounce tso'lferin.
Zoo. See Curtailed words.
Zoroastrian, Zarathustrian. For
the substitution of Zarathustra &c.,
see Didacticism, & Mahomet.
Zulu. For pronunciation see u, 4.
zwieback. Pronounce tswe'bahk.
-Z-, - ZZ-. In buz(z), fiz(z), quiz, &
whiz(z), friz{z) there is no need for a
second z, & when it appears it is doubt¬
less due to the influence of inflected
forms like buzzer, quizzed, & whizzing,
in which it serves to show that i & ti,
not i & u, are the sounds ; buz, fiz,
quiz, & whiz, are recommended.
PRINTED IN
GREAT BRITAIN
AT THE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
BY
CHARLES BATEY
PRINTER
TO THE
UNIVERSITY
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